Commun. math. Phys.

1, 150--158 (1965)

On a Class of Generalized Poincar@ Groups:

Inhomogeneous SL(n, C)
By
H. BA CRY*
CEt~N-Geneva
and
A. I~LBERe
ChMmers University of Technology, GSteborg, and CERN - Geneva

Abstract. A certain class of non semi-simple Lie groups ISL(n, C) based on

S L (n, C) is investigated. Its Lie ~Igebra and invariants are determined. The connec-
tion between ISL(2, C) and the Poinear~ group is discussed.

Introduction
I n recent time much attention has been paid to the problem of
extending relativistieally the S U (6) supermultiplet theory which has been
proposed independently b y m a n y authors [1--3]. Such an extension
should have the property t h a t the resulting invariance group contains
the Poincar6 group ~ as a subgroup and S U (6) as a "little group". The
latter assumption is motivated b y the fact t h a t S U(6) is supposed to
describe the spin as well as the S U(3) internal degrees of freedom of the
elementary system.
One such relativistic extension** is tile "inhomogeneous SL(6, C)"
group [hereafter denoted I SL (6, C)]. I t is built in complete analogy with
ISL(2, C) which is isomorphic to the covering group of the Poincar6
group ~ . The group ISL(2, C) contains as a subgroup SL(2, C) -- the
group of 2 × 2 complex matrices with determinant 1 - - which is iso-
morphic to the covering group of the proper Lorentz group. I t contains
also an invariant Abelian subgroup, the translation group, which is the
additive group of 2 × 2 tIermitian matrices. Correspondingly the
ISL(6, C) group contains as a subgroup SL(6, C), the group of 6 × 6
complex matrices with determinant 1, which constitutes the "homo-
geneous p a r t " of 1SL(6, C). I t also contains as an invariant Abelian
subgroup the 36 dimensional additive group of 6 × 6 Hermitian matrices.
* On leave from Vniversitg de MarseiIle, Institut de Physique Th~orique.
** The ISL(6, C) group has been proposed independently by B. SAKITX[1],
L. l-~mm~L(private communication), T. FtrLTO-~and J. W]~ss [4], and H. BAcnY [5].
 On a Class of Generalized Poincar6 Groups: Inhomogeneous SL(n, C) 151

Despite difficulties of interpretation, the S U6 theory has had con-

siderable success, not only in classifying the baryons and mesons, but
also in relating form factors*. Moreover, m a n y attractive results have
been derived from the ISL(6, C) group [7] and it should be interesting
to investigate it from a mathematical point of view.
I n order to find the irreducible unitary representations of ISL (6, C)
one can either use global methods in analogy with WIG~CE~'s procedure
for the Poincar6 group, or on can use purely infinitesimal methods, i.e.,
look for the Hermitian irreducible representations of the Lie algebra.
I t is the purpose of this paper to give a suitable realization of the Lie
algebra of 1SL(6, C) or, more generally, of ISL(n, C). Having given the
elements of the Lie algebra with their commutation relations, we deter-
mine all invariants of the group. This is done b y generalizing the Pauli-
Lubansky vector Ws, which for the Poincarg group is the covariant spin
operator. I n fact all invariants of I S L (n, C) are built from this generalized
spin operator and the generalized translation operator. J u s t as for the
Poincar6 group, the components of the generalized spin operator generate
the little groups. For ISL(6, C) tdlere are 16 distinct little groups, one of
which of course is SU e. Although we mainly consider 1SL(n, C) we
shall find some results also for IGL(n, C), i.e., the group where SL(n, C)
is replaced b y the full linear group GL(n, C). The eases ISL(6, C) and
ISL(2, C) are also considered in more detail.
1. Definition of the groups IGL (n, C) and ISL (n, C)
and their Lie algebras
The group IGL(n, C) is defined as follows: an element of IGL(n, C)
is a pair (A, b) where A is a non.singular n × n complex matrix and b is
a n × n Hermitian matrix. The multiplication taw is
(A1, hi) (A2, b2) = (A1A2, bl + Alb~A+) (1)
where A + denotes the Hermitian conjugate of A. The group ISL(n, C)
is a subgroup of IGL(n, C) and is obta'med b y restricting the A's to
unimodular matrices.
I t readily follows from Eq. (1) t h a t the matrices b form an invariant
AbeHan subgroup (under addition). I t s order is n 2. The homogeneous parts
GL(n, C) and SL(n, C) are subgroups of order 2n ~ and 2n 2 - - 2, respec-
tively.
Each matrix A can be put iu an exponential form, namely

A = exp [.~h (¢z~E~+ ifi~E~)] (2)

where ~b and fib are real coefficients and E~ is the n × n matrix all
elements of which are zero except one; this element equals 1 and belongs
* See, for instance, [6]. This paper al~o contains references to other papers.
152 H. BAe~Yand A. KntLB]~G:

to the a th row and the bth column. The matrices E~ and iE~ generate
GL(n, C). The SL(n, C) group is generated by
E~ = E~ - - %-

and by iE'ba which are traceless matrices.

The unitary subgroup U(n) of GL(n, C) is generate4 by a set of n 2
antihermitian matrices L~, for instance Eg' - - E b and i (E~ + Eba). Eq. (2)
can be written in the form
A = e x p [ ~ (,~'L~ + i#~L~)] (4)

where ~ and #~ are real. The matrices L~ obey

L + = -- L~. (5)
Correspondingly, the unimodular unitary group S U (n) is generated
by a set of n 2 - 1 antihermitian traceless matrices Li, for instance
E'ba -- E'ab and i(E~ a + Bah).
Let us examine the irreducible representations of SL(n, C). Let Vn
be an n dimensionM compIex vector space and ~ a vector in Vn. An in-
finitesimal transformation
A = 1 -~ ~ i i i q- i~iLi (6)
transforms ~ into
~,a= (A~)a = ~a + )i(Li)~b + i#i(Lt)~o. (7)
Such a transformation defines the representation denoted D (n, 1) which
is irreducible with respect to the subgroup 8 U (n). Three other represen-
tations of dimension n can be defined, namely
D(1, n): ~' = (A+)-I~ = ~ -F ~iLi~ -- i~aiLi~ (8)
whose vector components are written ~ ,
D(~, 1): ~' = (AT)-I~ = ~ ~- ~ i i ~ + i,uii.~ (9)
with vector components ~a,
D(1, ~): ~'=A*~=~+)/L*~--i#~L*~ (10)
with vector components ~h. Such a notation makes apparent the S U (n)
structure. ~rith respect to this subgroup D(n, 1) and D(1, n) are equi-
valent to the representation {n} of S U (n) and D (~, 1) and D (1, ~) are
equivalent to the conjugate representation {g}. As it has been shown
elsewhere*, all irreducible representations of S L (n, C) can be labelled by
two irreducible representations {p} and {q} of S V (n) in the form D (1o,q).
Moreover, one has the following rules
D(p, q) ® D(10', q') = D(p ® p', q ® q').
* It is a simple generalization of what is done in the ease of SL(6, C) in [8].
 On a Class of Generalized Poincar6 Groups: Inhomogeneous SL(n, C) 153

For S V (n), D (p, q) reduces to (p} ® {q}, the usual direct product of the
irreducible representations {p} and (q} of S U (n).
In the special case of SL(2, C) the numbers p and q are usually
replaced by the spin eigenvalues ] and )" with p = 2] ÷ 1 and q = 2]' ÷ 1.
The vector space V2 is the well-known two-dimensional Weyt spinor space
corresponding to the representation D 1 ° ~- D (2, 1). By taking the direct
sum D 1 0 ~ D 1 we get the four-dimensional Dirac spinor space.
0y
I t ~411 appear useful to generalize the Dirae representation to the
SL (n, C) case. It is built from the sum of the two representations D (n, 1)
and D(1, n). From Eq. (6) and definition (8) the generators of SL(n, C)
can be written in such a reducible representation in the form of 2n × 2n
matrices

(1t)

As it is well known, the generators of SL(n, C) belong to the adjoint

representation, namely D(n ~-- I, 1) $ D(1, n 2 - 1) where {n 2 -- 1}
denotes the ad]oint representation of S U (n) according to the rule
® {n} = {1} ¢ 1}. (12)
It can easily be shown* that the ISL(n, C) group has a very simple 2n
dimensional representation obtained by adding to the matrices (11)
the matrices representing the translation operators, namely

P~
L~

where L~ are for instance those of Eq. (4). The P~'s generate obviously
an invariant Abelian subgroup and they belong to the (~} ® {n} represen-
tation of S U (n) and to the D (~, n) representation of SL (n, C). It can
also readily be verified that the matrices Mi, Ni and P~ generate
I SL (n, C). Obviously we could have chosen the representation D (n, ~)
instead of D (~, n) for the translation operators P~, a choice which is
actually suggested by Eq. (1).
The 2n-dimensional representation t h a t we have just defined suggests
the following choice of generators for I GL (n, C). The generators of the
* This was shown for n = 2 and n = 6 in [9].
154 H. BACRr and A. KIHLB:ERG:

homogeneous group are E~, defined as before, and E~ where the dots mean
t h a t we have to find the only non-vanishing d e m e n t 1 in the bth row and
a th column of the right-lower n × n matrix. Those of the translation group
can be denoted Pai, whose non-vanishing element belongs to the a t~
column and bth row of the left-lower n × n matrix. We get the following
commutation rules for I G L (n, C)
[E ab, E~] ~ E ~ - - (5~E~ (13a)

~bEil + ~gE b (13b)

[ g < =0
[E~, Pc~] = - - ~, Pb3 (13d)

[Pa~, P ~ ] = 0 . (13f)
If we are interested in the subgroup, I S L ( n , C), we have to suppose
that ~" E a and ~ E~ are zero, but the commutation relations (13) are

still valid.
I n S L (n, C) there exists an invariant antisymmetric form of n th order
which is the well-known Levi-Civita-Ricci tensor e a ~... f. Moreover, given
a set of n vectors belonging to the D (~, n) representation (X1)ar~, (Xz)b;,...
(Xn)t; we can define the following symmetric form

A (Xl, X2, . . . in) = 8,ab'"fS, ';~',~'""~'(Xl)a,a(X2)b~...(Xn)]~-. (14)

Such a form will allow us to build the invariants of the group I S L (n, C).

2. The Poincar~ group

The Poincar6 group is well known t~o physicists in the form where the
transformations are realized on the four-dimensional space-time. I t s Lie
algebra is spanned b y the ten generators M , , , P , (#, v = 0, 1, 2, 3) with
the commutation relations
[M~ L Me ~] = i(g~qM ~ - g ~ M ~ - - g~°~M~ + g~'~M~)
05)
[M.~,, pe] = i(g~e p~, _ g.e p~)
where g 0 0 = _ g 1 1 = _ g ~ = _ g a a = I. I t is also well known that this
Lie algebra has two invariants

P~ = P" Pt, (16)

W ~ = Wt~ W~
 On a Class of Generalized Poinca% Groups: Inhomogeneous S L (n, C) 155
1
where W~ =-~%~aMe~P~ and Sol,a= 1. The vector W~, which is
generally called the Pauli-Lubansky polarization vector, is orthogonal
to P~:
W+'P, = O. (17)
Let us now see what is the correspondence between the elements
a
M,~, P~ and the elements Eb, E~, Pab of the algebra of I S L ( 2 , C) as de-
fined in Section 1. I t is easy to verify t h a t we obtain the commutation
relations (15) b y making the identifications
1 /
M~a= ~- ~E2 q- E 1 + E~ + El)

Mal= - -
i (Ei < ~+ "1+ "
2

M~,a_ 1 {~1 2 i ½
-- ~- ~*~1 - - E 2 + E i - - E:z)

• / 1 2 i
M 01__
- ~ ~ ~E2~- E l - E ; 2 - E ~ )

11 2 iE~) (18)
M ° ~= ~ (E 2 - - E 1 + E{

Mo.a_
-- ~i {~'q
~,l -- E~--
" E ii + E~)

po= Pli+ Pu~

pl= PlY+ Pei
Pz= i ( P l ~ - - P2i)
p a = P1 i - - P2"2.
I n a unitary representation M~ ~ and P , are Hermitian and therefore we
a h
find the following hermitieity properties for Eb, E b and P~b:
a
Ea
(E~) + = Eb (19)
(Pa~) + = Pbh"
NOW we want to construct the polarization vector Wa~ corresponding
a
to W~. I t should be linear in the generators Eb, E~ and in Pa~. Thus it
has the ~orm
e
Wab= aEaPcb + ~ZbPa~. (20)
By using the property t h a t Wah commutes with Pch we find t h a t ~ = fl
and we choose ~ = fl = 1. The correspondence between W~ and Wa~
156 H. BAcmc and A. KIiILBERG:

is the same as between Pz and P~b, i.e.,

W ° = W l i + W22
W~ = W12+ W2i
(21)
w 2 = i ( w ~ 2 - w2i)
W 8 = W1 i - - W2.2.

W h a t invariants can be built using the two vectors Pab and idab ? Since
they must be invariants with respect to SL(2, C) they must be scalars
for this group. The only scalar one can form from two vectors Aab and
Be~ is A (Aab, Bc~), according to Section I. One easily verifies t h a t

(Po~, Po~)= P~P,

zJ (Pab, Wc~) = P" W~ = 0 (22)
/l(w~, w~)= w.w~
so t h a t we get in this way all invariants of ISL(2, C) or ~ in a compact.
form.
The little group belonging to a given m o m e n t u m vector P . is defined
as t h a t subgroup of ~ which leaves P~ invariant. As is well known one
obtains four distinct little groups, namely SO 3 if P~ is timelike, the homo-
geneous Lorentz group L(1, 2) in case of spaeelike P~, the two-dimensio-
nal Euclidean group E 2 when P" is lightlike and finally L(1, 3) if P~ is the
null vector. For the group ISL(2, C) we expect,, of course, little groups
which should be the covering groups of SO a, L(1, 2) and E 2. In fact the
little group belonging to the m o m e n t u m matrix ~0 ~ {Pag} is t h a t
subgroup of SL(2, C) which satisfies
APA + = P. (23)
Since P is Hcrmitian it can be diagonalized and furthermore one can
always assume t h a t the eigenvalues are ! m or 0 b y applying a trans-
formation of SL(2, C). Therefore one sees t h a t the little groups can be
classified with three numbers p, q, r, namely the number of eigenvalucs + m,
- - m and 0, respectively. Let us call the corresponding groups S U (p, q; r).
Then one has the Table

det 25 little group

>0 SU(2, 0; 0) ~ SU(0, 2; 0) ~ S O a

<0 sv(1, 1;0) ~ L(1, 2)
SU(1,0; 1) ~ SU(0, 1; 1) ~ E~
=0 SU(O, O; 2) ~ SL(2, C) ~ L(1, 3)
Here m-. denotes isomorphic and ~ locally isomorphic-.
 Or~a Class of Generalized Poincar6 Groups: Inhomogeneous SL(n, C) 157

3. Invariants and little groups of ISL (n, C)

The generalization from ISL(2, C) to I S L (n, C) is straight-forward.
The vector
Wab = EaPcb + EbPa~ (24)
commutes with all translation operators P¢~. Therefore, by forming
scalars of Wab and Pc~ we obviously obtain invariants of the whole group.
According to Section 1 we can construct n + 1 scalars
A (Pub, Pe~,'.', Pah)
A (w~b, Po~,..., PgD
A (W~b, W~, Pc? . . . . . Pgh) (25)

A (W~, W ~ . . . . . WgD
involving, respectively, n P's, (n - - 1) P ' s and one W, . . . and so on up to
n W's. Due to the antisymmctry of the invariant tensor ~a b . . . f and to the
constraints ,~ E a = O, ~ E h = 0 one finds that the second invariant in-
tt

volving one W is identically zero.

The little groups of ISL(n, C) are the subgroups of elements Ap
which fulfil
ApI~A+ = / ~ , (26)
where P is the matrix {Pub}. J u s t as in the ease ISL(2, C) we m a y
assume t h a t P is diagonM and that its eigenvMues are ~ m or 0. I f / ~ has
p eigenvatues + m , q eigenvalues - - m and r eigenvalues 0 we denote the
corresponding little group by S U (p, q; r). For p = n, q = r = 0 we get
S U (n) as a tittle group. I n this case we can check that the number n of
invariants equals the number of generators minus twice the nmnber of
commuting operators which are not invariants*.
I n the case of ISL(6, C) we get 16 non-isomorphic little groups.
Clearly S U (6) corresponds to the ease p = 6, q = r = 0. This can also be
seen in a formal way by replacing Pab by m C~abin the commutation
relations for Wab :
[Wab, W~] = WebP~;~-- WahPeb. (27)
Then the Wab satisfy the commutation relations of SU(6) if dotted
indices are understood to be conVravariant indices of this group.
A vector belonging to the representation D (6, 6) splits into {1} ~ {35}
with respect to S U(6). Such a decomposition generalizes that of a four
vector into a scalar and a spatial vector in Minkowski space. I t might be
interesting to consider the usual space-time as embedded in a 36-dimen-
* This formula is implicitly given in Ref. [10], p. 52.
158 BAc~Y : On a Class of Generalized Poincar6 Groups: Inhomogeneous S L(n, C)

sional space; in such a case, m a n y questions arise: w h a t is the topology

of the generalized light cone (which is now of the 6 th order b u t reduces in
the "Minkowski subspaee" to a quadratic cone) ?
Such an investigation could lead to a new definition of the S L ( 6 , C)
i~volving the 5~inkowski space and the eightfold w a y description of inter-
nal s y m m e t r y rather t h a n one based on the covering group which is not
v e r y familiar to physicists.

AcIcnowledgement.v. One of us (A. K.) wants to express his gratitude to Professor

L. V ~ Hove for the hospitality extended to him at CERN. A grant from the Swedish
Atomic Research Council is also gratefully ~eknowledged.

References
[1] SAKITA,B.: Phys. Rev. 136, B 1756 (1964).
[2] Gi~sn~, F., and L. A. R2~DICATI:Phys. Rev. Letters 13, 173 (1964).
[3] B~cRY, H., and J. Nv¥~s: Phys. Letters 12, 156 and 13, 359 (1964).
[4] FvLTo~, T., and J. W~ss: Phys. Letters 14, 57 (1965).
[5] BAcR~~, H.: A possible enlarged Poincar~ group (unpublished).
[6] B ~ , hr. A. B., and A. P ~ s : Lorentz inva.rianee and the interpretation of S U {6)
theory (to be published in Phys. l~ev.).
[7] R~)tIL, W. : A relativistic generalization of the S U(6) symmetry group, CEI~N
peprint (TH. 505), and Baryons and mesons in a theory which combines
relativistic invarianee with S U(6) symmetry, CERN preprint (TH. 514).
[8] BAcR~, It., and J. NvYTs: Remarks on an enlarged Poincar6 group, to be
published in the Nuovo Cimento.
[9] BAcaY, H.: Some classical groups of space-time transformations and theh"
S U (6) generalization, CERN preprint (TH. 526), to be published in Annales
de l'Institut Henri Poincar~.
[10] R A c ~ , G. : Group theory and spectroscopy, Lecture given at the Institute for
Advanced Study, Princeton (1951).

(Received March 8, 1965)