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Versor - Wikipedia
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This article is about the quaternions of norm one. For other uses, see Versor (disambiguation

In mathematics, a versor is a quaternion of norm one (a unit quaternion).

Each versor has the form

where the r2 = −1 condition means that r is a unit-length vector quaternion (or that the fi
component of r is zero, and the last three components of r are a unit vector in 3 dimension
In case a = π/2, the versor is termed a right versor.

The corresponding 3-dimensional rotation has the angle 2a about the axis r in axis–an
representation.

The word is derived from Latin versare = "to turn" with the suffix -or forming a noun from t
verb (i.e. versor = "the turner"). It was introduced by William Rowan Hamilton in the conte
of his quaternion theory.

Presentation on 3- and 2-spheres[edit]

Hamilton denoted the versor of a quaternion q by the symbol Uq. He was then able to displ
the general quaternion in polar coordinate form

q = Tq Uq,

where Tq is the norm of q. The norm of a versor is always equal to one; hence they occupy t
unit 3-sphere in H. Examples of versors include the eight elements of the quaternion grou
Of particular importance are the right versors, which have angle π/2. These versors have ze
scalar part, and so are vectors of length one (unit vectors). The right versors form a sphere
square roots of −1 in the quaternion algebra. The generators i, j, and k are examples of rig
versors, as well as their additive inverses. Other versors include the twenty-four Hurw
quaternions that have the norm 1 and form vertices of a 24-cell polychoron.

Hamilton defined a quaternion as the quotient of two vectors. A versor can be defined as t
quotient of two unit vectors. For any fixed plane Π the quotient of two unit vectors lying in
depends only on the angle (directed) between them, the same a as in the unit vector–an
representation of a versor explained above. That's why it may be natural to understa
corresponding versors as directed arcs that connect pairs of unit vectors and lie on a gre
circle formed by intersection of Π with the unit sphere, where the plane Π passes through t
origin. Arcs of the same direction and length (or, the same, its subtended angle in radians) a
equivalent, i.e. define the same versor.

Such an arc, although lying in the three-dimensional space, does not represent a path o
point rotating as described with the sandwiched product with the versor. Indeed, it represen
the left multiplication action of the versor on quaternions that preserves the plane Π and t
corresponding great circle of 3-vectors. The 3-dimensional rotation defined by the versor h
the angle two times the arc's subtended angle, and preserves the same plane. It is a rotati
about the corresponding vector r, that is perpendicular to Π.

On three unit vectors, Hamilton writes[1]

and

imply

Multiplication of quaternions of norm one corresponds to the (non-commutative) "additio

of great circle arcs on the unit sphere. Any pair of great circles either is the same circle or h
two intersection points. Hence, one can always move the point B and the corresponding vect
to one of these points such that the beginning of the second arc will be the same as the end
the first arc.

An equation

implicitly specifies the unit vector–angle representation for the product of two versors.
solution is an instance of the general Campbell–Baker–Hausdorff formula in Lie group theo
As the 3-sphere represented by versors in ℍ is a 3-parameter Lie group, practice with vers
compositions is a step into Lie theory. Evidently versors are the image of the exponential m
applied to a ball of radius π in the quaternion subspace of vectors.

Versors compose as aforementioned vector arcs, and Hamilton referred to this gro
operation as "the sum of arcs", but as quaternions they simply multiply.

The geometry of elliptic space has been described as the space of versors.[2]

Representation of SO(3)[edit]
The orthogonal group in three dimensions, rotation group SO(3), is frequently interpret
with versors via the inner automorphism where u is a versor. Indeed, if

and vector s is perpendicular to r,

then
by calculation.[3] The plane is isomorphic to C and the inn
automorphism, by commutivity, reduces to the identity mapping there. Since quaternions c
be interpreted as an algebra of two complex dimensions, the rotation action can also be view
through the special unitary group SU(2).

For a fixed r, versors of the form exp(ar) where a ∈ (−π, π], form a subgroup isomorphic
the circle group. Orbits of the left multiplication action of this subgroup are fibers of a fib
bundle over the 2-sphere, known as Hopf fibration in the case r = i; other vectors g
isomorphic, but not identical fibrations. In 2003 David W. Lyons[4] wrote "the fibers of t
Hopf map are circles in S3" (page 95). Lyons gives an elementary introduction to quaternio
to elucidate the Hopf fibration as a mapping on unit quaternions.

Versors have been used to represent rotations of the Bloch sphere with quaterni
multiplication.[5]

Elliptic space[edit]
The facility of versors illustrate elliptic geometry, in particular elliptic space, a thre
dimensional realm of rotations. The versors are the points of this elliptic space, though th
refer to rotations in 4-dimensional Euclidean space. Given two fixed versors u and v, t
mapping is an elliptic motion. If one of the fixed versors is 1, then the motion is
Clifford translation of the elliptic space, named after William Kingdon Clifford who was
proponent of the space. An elliptic line through versor u is Parallelism in t
space is expressed by Clifford parallels. One of the methods of viewing elliptic space uses t
Cayley transform to map the versors to ℝ3

Hyperbolic versor[edit]
A hyperbolic versor is a generalization of quaternionic versors to indefinite orthogonal grou
such as Lorentz group. It is defined as a quantity of the form

where

Such elements arise in algebras of mixed signature, for example split-complex numbers
split-quaternions. It was the algebra of tessarines discovered by James Cockle in 1848 th
first provided hyperbolic versors. In fact, James Cockle wrote the above equation (with j
place of r) when he found that the tessarines included the new type of imaginary element.

This versor was used by Homersham Cox (1882/83) in relation to quaternion multiplicatio
[6][7] The primary exponent of hyperbolic versors was Alexander Macfarlane as he worked

shape quaternion theory to serve physical science.[8] He saw the modelling power
hyperbolic versors operating on the split-complex number plane, and in 1891 he introduc
hyperbolic quaternions to extend the concept to 4-space. Problems in that algebra led to use
biquaternions after 1900. In a widely circulated review of 1899, Macfarlane said:

…the root of a quadratic equation may be versor in nature or scalar in nature. If it is vers
in nature, then the part affected by the radical involves the axis perpendicular to the plan
 of reference, and this is so, whether the radical involves the square root of minus one or
not. In the former case the versor is circular, in the latter hyperbolic.[9]

Today the concept of a one-parameter group subsumes the concepts of versor and hyperbo
versor as the terminology of Sophus Lie has replaced that of Hamilton and Macfarlane.
particular, for each r such that r r = +1 or r r = −1, the mapping takes the real li
to a group of hyperbolic or ordinary versors. In the ordinary case, when r and −r a
antipodes on a sphere, the one-parameter groups have the same points but are opposit
directed. In physics, this aspect of rotational symmetry is termed a doublet.

In 1911 Alfred Robb published his Optical Geometry of Motion in which he identified t
parameter rapidity which specifies a change in frame of reference. This rapidity parame
corresponds to the real variable in a one-parameter group of hyperbolic versors. With t
further development of special relativity the action of a hyperbolic versor came to be called
Lorentz boost.

Lie theory[edit]
Sophus Lie was less than a year old when Hamilton first described quaternions, but Lie's nam
has become associated with all groups generated by exponentiation. The set of versors w
their multiplication has been denoted Sl(1,q) by Robert Gilmore in his text on Lie theory.[
Sl(1,q) is the special linear group of one dimension over quaternions, the "special" indicati
that all elements are of norm one. The group is isomorphic to SU(2,c), a special unitary grou
a frequently used designation since quaternions and versors are sometimes consider
anachronistic for group theory. The special orthogonal group SO(3,r) of rotations in thr
dimensions is closely related: it is a 2:1 homomorphic image of SU(2,c).

The subspace is called the Lie algebra of the group of versors. T

commutator product just double the cross product of two vectors, forms t
multiplication in the Lie algebra. The close relation to SU(1,c) and SO(3,r) is evident in t
isomorphism of their Lie algebras.[10]

Lie groups that contain hyperbolic versors include the group on the unit hyperbola and t
special unitary group SU(1,1).

See also[edit]
cis (mathematics) (cis(x) = cos(x) + i sin(x))
Quaternions and spatial rotation
Rotations in 4-dimensional Euclidean space
Turn (geometry)

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Elements of Quaternions, 2nd edition, v. 1, p. 146
2. ^ Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter (1950) Review of "Quaternions and Elliptic Space"
[permanent dead link] (by Georges Lemaître) from Mathematical Reviews
3. ^ Rotation representation
4. ^ Lyons, David W. (April 2003), "An Elementary Introduction to the Hopf Fibration"
(PDF), Mathematics Magazine, 76 (2): 87–98, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.583.3499,
doi:10.2307/3219300, ISSN 0025-570X, JSTOR 3219300
 5. ^ K. B. Wharton, D. Koch (2015) "Unit quaternions and the Bloch Sphere", Journal of
Physics A 48(23) doi:10.1088/1751-8113/48/23/235302 MR3355237
6. ^ Cox, H. (1883) [1882]. "On the Application of Quaternions and Grassmann's
Ausdehnungslehre to different kinds of Uniform Space". Transactions of the Cambridge
Philosophical Society. 13: 69–143.
7. ^ Cox, H. (1883) [1882]. "On the Application of Quaternions and Grassmann's
Ausdehnungslehre to different kinds of Uniform Space". Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 4: 194–
196.
8. ^ Alexander Macfarlane (1894) Papers on Space Analysis, especially papers #2, 3, & 5, B
Westerman, New York, weblink from archive.org
9. ^ Science, 9:326 (1899)
10. ^ Jump up to: a b Robert Gilmore (1974) Lie Groups, Lie Algebras and some of their
Applications, chapter 5: Some simple examples, pages 120–35, Wiley ISBN 0-471-30179
Gilmore denotes the real, complex, and quaternion division algebras by r, c, and q, rathe
than the more common R, C, and H.

References[edit]
William Rowan Hamilton (1844 to 1850) On quaternions or a new system of imaginaries
in algebra, Philosophical Magazine, link to David R. Wilkins collection at Trinity College
Dublin.
William Rowan Hamilton (1899) Elements of Quaternions, 2nd edition, edited by Charle
Jasper Joly, Longmans Green & Company. See pp. 135–147.
Arthur Sherburne Hardy (1887) Elements of Quaternions, pp. 71,2 "Representation of
Versors by spherical arcs" and pp. 112–8 "Applications to Spherical Trigonometry".
Arthur Stafford Hathaway (1896) A Primer on Quaternions, Chapter 2: Turns, Rotations
Arc Steps, from Project Gutenberg
Cibelle Celestino Silva, Roberto de Andrade Martins (2002) "Polar and Axial Vectors
versus Quaternions", American Journal of Physics 70:958. Section IV: Versors and unita
vectors in the system of quaternions. Section V: Versor and unitary vectors in vector
algebra.
Pieter Molenbroeck (1891) Theorie der Quaternionen, Seite 48, "Darstellung der Versore
mittelst Bogen auf der Einheitskugel", Leiden: Brill.

External links[edit]
Versor at Encyclopedia of Mathematics.
http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/versor
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Versor
Luis Ibáñez Quaternion tutorial from National Library of Medicine