On supersymmetric Lorentzian Einstein-Weyl spaces

We consider weighted parallel spinors in Lorentzian Weyl geometry in arbitrary dimensions, choosing the weight such that the integrability condition for the existence of such a spinor implies the geometry to be Einstein-Weyl. We then use techniques developed for the classification of supersymmetric solutions to supergravity theories to characterise those Lorentzian EW geometries that allow for a weighted parallel spinor, calling the resulting geometries supersymmetric. The overall result is that they are either conformally related to ordinary geometries admitting parallel spinors (w.r.t. the Levi-Cività connection), or they are conformally related to certain Kundt spacetime. A full characterisation is obtained for the 4- and 6-dimensional cases.     

Discriminating the Weyl type in higher dimensions using scalar curvature invariants

We consider higher dimensional Lorentzian spacetimes which are currently of interest in theoretical physics. It is possible to algebraically classify any tensor in a Lorentzian spacetime of arbitrary dimensions using alignment theory. In the case of the Weyl tensor, and using bivector theory, the associated Weyl curvature operator will have a restricted eigenvector structure for algebraic types II and D, which leads to necessary conditions on the discriminants of the associated characteristic equation which can be manifestly expressed in terms of polynomial scalar curvature invariants. The use of such necessary conditions in terms of scalar curvature invariants will be of great utility in the study and classification of black hole solutions in more than four dimensions.     

Killing spinors on Lorentzian manifolds

The aim of this paper is to describe some results concerning the geometry of Lorentzian manifolds admitting Killing spinors. We prove that there are imaginary Killing spinors on simply connected Lorentzian Einstein–Sasaki manifolds. In the Riemannian case, an odd-dimensional complete simply connected manifold (of dimension n≠7) is Einstein–Sasaki if and only if it admits a non-trivial Killing spinor to . The analogous result does not hold in the Lorentzian case. We give an example of a non-Einstein Lorentzian manifold admitting an imaginary Killing spinor. A Lorentzian manifold admitting a real Killing spinor is at least locally a codimension one warped product with a special warping function. The fiber of the warped product is either a Riemannian manifold with a real or imaginary Killing spinor or with a parallel spinor, or it again is a Lorentzian manifold with a real Killing spinor. Conversely, all warped products of that form admit real Killing spinors.     

Supersymmetry in Lorentzian Curved Spaces and Holography

We consider superconformal and supersymmetric field theories on four-dimensional Lorentzian curved space-times, and their five-dimensional holographic duals. As in the Euclidean signature case, preserved supersymmetry for a superconformal theory is equivalent to the existence of a charged conformal Killing spinor. Differently from the Euclidean case, we show that the existence of such spinors is equivalent to the existence of a null conformal Killing vector. For a supersymmetric field theory with an R-symmetry, this vector field is further restricted to be Killing. We demonstrate how these results agree with the existing classification of supersymmetric solutions of minimal gauged supergravity in five dimensions.     

Spinor Factorizations of the Bel-Robinson Tensor

Recently Bonilla and Senovilla studied factorizations of the symmetric and tracefree rank four Bel-Robinson tensor T_abcd into two symmetric tracefree rank two tensors. While the Bel-Robinson tensor has the dimension of energy density squared, each of these factors has the dimension of energy density. When the two factors can be chosen to be equal they are called the square root of T_abcd. The approach used was purely tensorial. In this paper we use spinors and show that the factors can be found in a very simple way using the principal null directions of the Weyl tensor. We obtain a factorization of the Weyl spinor into two symmetric rank two spinors, which when multiplied by their complex conjugates give the tracefree and symmetric factors of T_abcd. The factorization is immediately seen to be non-unique in most cases and the number of essentially non-equivalent factorizations becomes clear. It also becomes obvious that the square root only can exist in spacetimes of Petrov types N, D and O, in which cases one can equally well speak about the square root of the Weyl spinor. Explicit formulas for the factors of the Weyl spinor are given for all Petrov types.     

Opening the Pandora’s box of quantum spinor fields

Lounesto’s classification of spinors is a comprehensive and exhaustive algorithm that, based on the bilinears covariants, discloses the possibility of a large variety of spinors, comprising regular and singular spinors and their unexpected applications in physics and including the cases of Dirac, Weyl, and Majorana as very particular spinor fields. In this paper we pose the problem of an analogous classification in the framework of second quantization. We first discuss in general the nature of the problem. Then we start the analysis of two basic bilinear covariants, the scalar and pseudoscalar, in the second quantized setup, with expressions applicable to the quantum field theory extended to all types of spinors. One can see that an ampler set of possibilities opens up with respect to the classical case. A quantum reconstruction algorithm is also proposed. The Feynman propagator is extended for spinors in all classes.     

The role of singular spinor fields in a torsional gravity,Lorentz-violating,framework

In this work, we consider a generalization of quantum electrodynamics including Lorentz violation and torsional-gravity, in the context of general spinor fields as classified in the Lounesto scheme. Singular spinor fields will be shown to be less sensitive to the Lorentz violation, as far as couplings between the spinor bilinear covariants and torsion are regarded. In addition, we prove that flagpole spinor fields do not admit minimal coupling to the torsion. In general, mass dimension four couplings are deeply affected when singular—flagpoles—spinors are considered, instead of the usual Dirac spinors. We also construct a mapping between spinors in the covariant framework and spinors in Lorentz symmetry breaking scenarios, showing how one may transliterate spinors of different classes between the two cases. Specific examples concerning the mapping of Dirac spinor fields in Lorentz violating scenarios into flagpole and flag-dipole spinors with full Lorentz invariance (including the cases of Weyl and Majorana spinors) are worked out.     

Weyl tensor classification in four-dimensional manifolds of all signatures

It is well known that the classification of the Weyl tensor in Lorentzian manifolds of dimension four, the so called Petrov classification, was a great tool to the development of general relativity. Using the bivector approach it is shown in this article a classification for the Weyl tensor in all four-dimensional manifolds, including all signatures and the complex case, in an unified and simple way. The important Petrov classification then emerges just as a particular case in this scheme. The boost weight classification is also extended here to all signatures as well to complex manifolds. For the Weyl tensor in four dimensions it is established that this last approach produces a classification equivalent to the one generated by the bivector method.     

Twistor spinors on Lorentzian symmetric spaces

An indecomposable Riemannian symmetric space which admits non-trivial twistor spinors has constant sectional curvature. Furthermore, each homogeneous Riemannian manifold with parallel spinors is flat. In the present paper we solve the twistor equation on all indecomposable Lorentzian symmetric spaces explicitly. In particular, we show that there are — in contrast to the Riemannian case — indecomposable Lorentzian symmetric spaces with twistor spinors, which have non-constant sectional curvature and non-flat and non-Ricci flat homogeneous Lorentzian manifolds with parallel spinors.     

A spinor equation of the pure electromagnetic field

In the early history of spinors it became evident that a single undotted covariant elementary spinor can represent a plane wave of light. Further study of that relation shows that plane electromagnetic waves satisfy the Weyl equation, in a way that indicates the correct spin angular momentum. On the subatomic scale the Weyl equation discloses more detail than the vector equations. The spinor and vector equations are equivalent when applied to plane waves, and more generally (in the absence of sources) on the large scale when the spinors are incoherent.     

Pure spinors and quadric Grassmanians

If, following E. Cartan, the simplest spinors (pure) are conceived as equivalent to isotropic (or null or optical) polarized planes in complex spaces, then the most natural tensors generated (bilinearly) by the simplest spinors are isotropic vectors rather than ordinary linear ones. The conjecture that spinors are fundamental would then imply that non-linear geometry of isotropic elements should be more elementary in general than the linear one; and the relevance of optical geometry (optical flags, optical groups) on space-time manifolds for the explanation of optical phenomenology in the frame of general relativity [5] could already constitute a first confirmation of this conjecture.Only 2- and 4-component spinors build up linear spinor spaces while 8, 16, 32,...component pure spinors, instead, are subject to covariant (quadratic) constraint equations and build up non-linear sets isomorphic, up to a sign, to quadric Grassmanians and, for neutral and conformal spaces, to Lie groups.The possible relevance of such pure spinor properties for physics is conjectured and exemplified.     

Dimensional reduction of Weyl,Majorana and Majorana-Weyl spinors

We discuss the dimensional reduction for Weyl, Majorana, or Majorana-Weyl spinors coupled to pure d-dimensional (d ? 4) gravity. The only case where a realistic four-dimensional low-energy spectrum for the fermions may be obtained, is for a Majorana-Weyl spinor in d = 2 mod 8 dimensions. Chiral massless fermions are not excluded in this case. The minimal number of dimensions for the construction of a realistic theory out of pure gravity is d = 18.     

A Complete Set of Riemann Invariants

There are at most 14 independent real algebraic invariants of the Riemann tensor in a four-dimensional Lorentzian space. In the general case, these invariants can be written in terms of four different types of quantities: R , the real curvature scalar, two complex invariants I and J formed from the Weyl spinor, three real invariants I₆, I₇ and I₈ formed from the trace-free Ricci spinor and three complex mixed invariants K, L and M. Carminati and McLenaghan [5] give some geometrical interpretations of the role played by the mixed invariants in Einstein-Maxwell and perfect fluid cases. They show that 16 invariants are needed to cover certain degenerate cases such as Einstein-Maxwell and perfect fluid and show that previously known sets fail to be complete in the perfect fluid case. In the general case, the invariants I and J essentially determine the components of the Weyl spinor in a canonical tetrad frame; likewise the invariants I₆, I₇ and I₈ essentially determine the components of the trace-free Ricci spinor in a (in general different) canonical tetrad frame. These mixed invariants then give the orientation between the frames of these two spinors. The six real pieces of information in K, L and M are precisely the information needed to do this. A table is given of invariants which give a complete set for each Petrov type of the Weyl spinor and for each Segre type of the trace-free Ricci spinor This table involves 17 real invariants, including one real invariant and one complex invariant involving , and in some degenerate cases.     

A General Method for Obtaining Degenerate Solutions to the Dirac and Weyl Equations and a Discussion on the Experimental Detection of Degenerate States

In this work, a general method is described for obtaining degenerate solutions of the Dirac equation, corresponding to an infinite number of electromagnetic 4-potentials and fields, which are explicitly calculated. More specifically, using four arbitrary real functions, one can automatically construct a spinor that satisfies the Dirac equation for an infinite number of electromagnetic 4-potentials, defined by those functions. An interesting characteristic of these solutions is that, in the case of Dirac particles with nonzero mass, the degenerate spinors should be localized, both in space and time. The method is also extended to the cases of massless Dirac and Weyl particles, where the localization of the spinors is no longer required. Finally, two experimental methods are proposed for detecting the presence of degenerate states.     

States and operators in the spacetime algebra

The spacetime algebra (STA) is the natural, representation-free language for Dirac's theory of the electron. Conventional Pauli, Dirac, Weyl, and Majorana spinors are replaced by spacetime multivectors, and the quantum - and -matrices are replaced by two-sided multivector operations. The STA is defined over the reals, and the role of the scalar unit imaginary of quantum mechanics is played by a fixed spacetime bivector. The extension to multiparticle systems involves a separate copy of the STA for each particle, and it is shown that the standard unit imaginary induces correlations between these particle spaces. In the STA, spinors and operators can be manipulated without introducing any matrix representation or coordinate system. Furthermore, the formalism provides simple expressions for the spinor bilinear covariants which dispense with the need for the Fierz identities. A reduction to2+1 dimensions is given, and applications beyond the Dirac theory are discussed.Supported by a SERC studentship.     

Pure spinor integration from the collating formula

We use the technique developed by Becchi and Imbimbo to construct a well-defined BRST-invariant path integral formulation of pure spinor amplitudes. The space of pure spinors can be viewed from the algebraic geometry point of view as a collection of open sets where the constraints can be solved and a set of free and independent variables can be defined. On the intersections of those open sets, the functional measure jumps and one has to add boundary terms to construct a well-defined path integral. The result is the definition of the pure spinor integration measure constructed in terms of differential forms on each single patch.     

PP-waves with torsion: a metric-affine model for the massless neutrino

In this paper we deal with quadratic metric-affine gravity, which we briefly introduce, explain and give historical and physical reasons for using this particular theory of gravity. We then introduce a generalisation of well known spacetimes, namely pp-waves. A classical pp-wave is a 4-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime which admits a nonvanishing parallel spinor field; here the connection is assumed to be Levi-Civita. This definition was generalised in our previous work to metric compatible spacetimes with torsion and used to construct new explicit vacuum solutions of quadratic metric-affine gravity, namely generalised pp-waves of parallel Ricci curvature. The physical interpretation of these solutions we propose in this article is that they represent a conformally invariant metric-affine model for a massless elementary particle. We give a comparison with the classical model describing the interaction of gravitational and massless neutrino fields, namely Einstein–Weyl theory and construct pp-wave type solutions of this theory. We point out that generalised pp-waves of parallel Ricci curvature are very similar to pp-wave type solutions of the Einstein–Weyl model and therefore propose that our generalised pp-waves of parallel Ricci curvature represent a metric-affine model for the massless neutrino.     

A Comment on Differential Identities for the Weyl Spinor Perturbations

It is shown that in a type-D vacuum space-time with cosmological constant, the components of the Weyl spinor perturbations along the principal spinors of the background conformal curvature satisfy differential identities, which are valid in all the normalized spin frames {o ^A , ^A } such that o ^A and ^A are double principal spinors of the background conformal curvature.