3.1 Lorentz Invariance in Wave Equations 39 operators. Thus, a set of matrices satisfying the commutation relations (3.12) produces, through exponentiation as in (3.13), a representation of the rotation group. In the example given in the previous paragraph, the representation of the angular momentum operators a (3.14) produces the representation of the rotation group given in Eq. (3.11). It is generally true that one can find matrix representations of a continuous group by finding matrix representations of the generators of the group (which must satisfy the proper commutation relations), then exponentiating these infinites- imal transformations For our present problem, we need to know the commutation relations of the generators of the group of Lorentz transformations. For the rotation group, one can work out the commutation relations by writing the generators as differential operators; from the expression J=xxp=xx (-iV), (3.15) the angular momentum commutation relations (3.12) follow straightforwardly. The use of the cross product in (3.15) is special to the case of three dimensions. However, we can also write the operators as an antisymmetric tensor, JO = ~i(e'V) — @V'), so that J? = J”? and so on. The generalization to four-dimensional Lorentz transformations is now quite natural: Jt!” = iad" — 2"), (3.16) We will soon see that these six operators generate the three boosts and three rotations of the Lorentz group. To determine the commutation rules of the Lorentz algebra, we can now simply compute the commutators of the differential operators (3.16). The result is [IMP JOT] = i(ghe Ter — gh yee — gl jhe 4. gt? J’). (3.17) Any matrices that are to represent this algebra must obey these same com- mutation rules. Just to see that we have this right, let us look at one particular represen- tation (which we will simply pull out of a hat). Consider the 4 x 4 matrices (Tap = 15%" — 6436"). (3.18) (Here j: and v label which of the six matrices we want, while @ and @ la- bel components of the matrices.) You can easily verify that these matrices satisfy the commutation relations (3.17). In fact, they are nothing but the