Geometric Conformal Algebra and Galilean Spacetime

G. X. A. Petronilo
International Center of Physics,
Instituto de Fı́sica, Universidade de Brası́lia,
70910-900, Brası́lia, DF, Brazil∗
(Dated: January 10, 2024)
This paper explores the use of geometric algebra to study the Galilean spacetime and its physical
implications. The authors introduce the concept of geometric algebra and its advantages over tensor
algebra for describing physical phenomena. They define the Galilean-spacetime algebra (GSTA) as
a geometric algebra generated by a four-dimensional vector space with a degenerate metric. They
show how the GSTA can be used to represent Galilean transformations, rotations, translations,
and boosts. The authors also derive the general form of Galilean transformations in the GSTA
and show how they preserve the scalar product and the pseudoscalar. They develop a tensor
arXiv:2401.04205v1 [hep-th] 8 Jan 2024

formulation of Galilean electromagnetism using the GSTA and show how it reduces to the usual
Maxwell equations in the non-relativistic limit. They introduce the concept of Galilean spinors as
elements of the minimal left ideals of the GSTA and show how the Galilean spinors can be used to
construct the Levy-Leblond equation for a free electron and its matrix representation. They provide
a suitable matrix representation for the Galilean gamma matrices and the Galilean pseudoscalar.
They relate the GSTA to the four component dual numbers introduced by Majernik to express
Galilean transformations and show how the dual numbers can be used to develop a Newton-Cartan
theory of gravity. The paper concludes by summarizing the main results and suggesting some
possible applications and extensions of the GSTA.
Keywords: Conformal Geometric Algebra, Galilean spinors, Levy-Leblond equation, Newton-Cartan theory

I. INTRODUCTION

Geometric algebra is a powerful mathematical framework that unifies various branches of physics, such as classical
mechanics, electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics. It allows us to manipulate geometric objects, such
as vectors, bivectors, and spinors, using a single algebraic system. Geometric algebra also provides a natural way to
represent rotations, reflections, and boosts in any dimension. In recent years geometric algebra start to develop a
great interest among mathematicians and physicists as well as enthusiasts. Scientific dissemination videos had helped
this new enthusiasm [1–3]. David Hestenes Spacetime algebra (STA) is a successful tool to study relativistic theories
and quantum theory in a same framework [4].
One has been searching for a covariant version of Newtonian physics since the introduction of general relativity.
In this regard, Einsenhart [6] is credited with one of the earliest attempts when he proved that the trajectories of
conservative systems correspond to geodesics in a Riemannian manifold. In keeping with this, Duval et al. demon-
strated how to use Bargmann’s structures [7] to obtain a geometric structure for Newtonian physics. This resulted
in the development of the Newton-Cartan theory in Bargmann manifold, which produces a covariant version of the
Schrödinger equation when examined in flat space. On the other hand, Le Bellac and Lévy-Leblond were able to
derive two non-relativistic limits for electromagnetism, which allowed for the classification of irreducible unitary rep-
resentations of the Galilei group [9]. This further allowed for the argument that spin has a Galilean character [10].
Another significant contribution by Levy-Leblond was the determination of the non-relativistic Dirac equation [11]. A
comparable tensor formulation based on the Galilean group was constructed by Pinski in 1967 [12], but Takahashi was
the first to develop a systematic theory utilizing Lie algebras. In contrast to the formulation based on the Bargmann
structures that establishes the Galilei group from Poincaré group, Takahashi et al. offered a covariant formulation for
the Galilei group based on the direct representations of that group [13–15].
The main goal of this work is to construct a Galilean-spacetime algebra, which is a conformal geometric algebra
of the Galilean space. This algebra can be used to describe the physics of non-Lorentzian systems, such as Galilean
electromagnetism and Galilean spinors. In this paper, we will introduce the basic concepts and properties of the
Galilean-spacetime algebra, and show how it can be used to formulate the Galilei representation and the Levy-Leblond
equation.

∗ Electronic address: gustavopetronilo@gmail.com

2

II. GALILEAN-SPACETIME ALGEBRA

The Galilean-spacetime algebra may be built from a basis {γ1 , γ2 , γ3 , γ4 , γ5 }, with the multiplication rule
γµ γν + γν γµ = 2gµν , (1)
where
 
1 0 0 0 0
 0 1 0 0 0 
 
gµν =  0 0 1 0 0 . (2)
 0 0 0 0 −1 
0 0 0 −1 0
 
1
Thus, γ12 = γ22 = γ32 = 1, γ42 = γ52 = 0 and 2 γ4 γ5 + γ5 γ4 = −1, and otherwise γµ γν = −γν γµ . This follows
4
accomplished by extending the base space M with e− , e1 , e2 , e3 as the basis vectors, and a new basis vector e+ ,
orthogonal to the base space, with e2+ = 1, e21 = e22 = e23 = 1, and e2− = −1. After this, we choose two null vectors as
basis vectors in place of e+ and e− . Therefore, we get
e− − e+
γi = e i ; γ4 = ; (3)
2
γ5 = e − + e + . (4)
Thus, Galilean-spacetime algebra is the conformal geometric algebra, G(4,1) [5].
The properties of Galilean-spacetime algebra are
• ab ∈ G(4, 1) (Closure);
• 1a = a1 = a (Identity);
• a(bc) = (ab)c (Associativity);
• a(b + c) = ab + ac (Distributivity).
• a2 = g(a, a) = gµν aµ aν = aµ aµ
For vectors a and b, the geometric product can be defined as a sum of a symmetric and anti-symmetric part, as
ab + ba ab − ba
ab = + . (5)
2 2
Therefore, we can define the inner and exterior products as
ab + ba
a · b = g(a, b) = , (6)
2
ab − ba
a∧b = . (7)
2
Thus, the geometric product for vectors is
ab = a · b + a ∧ b. (8)
It is easy to see that
γ4 · γ5 = −1, γ4 · x = 0,
(9)
γ4 ∧ γ5 = e − e + , γ5 · x = 0,
where x is in the space basis.
Associated with the basis {γµ } is the reciprocal basis {γ µ = γµ −1 } for µ = 1, ..., 4, 5, satisfying the relation
δ µ ν = γ µ · γν ,
and γµ = gµν γ ν .
Important geometrical objects are
i = γ1 γ2 γ3 K, K = e+ e− , (10)
where i is the 5D pseudoscalar and we have that iγµ = γµ i, and the relation between γµ and K are given by
γi k = kγi = σi , (11)
γ4 k = −kγ4 = γ4 , (12)
γ5 k = −kγ5 = −γ5 . (13)
 3

III. MAPPING BETWEEN THE BASE SPACE AND THE REPRESENTATION SPACE

So the mapping from a vector in the base space (being from the origin to a point in the affine space represented)
can be represented by the given formula1 :
x x2
F : → x = xi γi + tγ4 + γ5 (14)
t 2t
Therefore, we have
x · x = x2 − 2ts = 0, (15)
2
with s = 2t .
x
Thus, we can represent the 5-momentum as
p p2
F : → p = pi γi + mγ4 + γ5 = pi γi + mγ4 + Eγ5 (16)
m 2m
which give us
p · p = p2 − 2mE = 0, (17)
which is the Galilean energy-momentum relation. To map back into a vector from original space, the conformal vector
is first normalized, then rejected from Minkowwski plane by K
x
X= ,
x · γ5
then
x = (X ∧ K)K.

IV. GALILEAN TRANSFORMATIONS

The Galilean boosts of a vector V = xi γi + tγ4 + sγ5 with velocity v1 is given by

 v1   v1 
exp γ1 γ5 V exp − γ1 γ5 . (18)
2 2
This give us
x1 ′ = x1 − v1 t, (19)
x2 ′ = x2 , (20)
x3 ′ = x3 , (21)
t′ = t, (22)
v1 2
s′ = s − x1 v1 + t. (23)
2
   
It is easy to see that exp γ1 γ5 v21 γ5 exp − γ1 γ5 v21 = γ5 . In general to rotate a vector U , we have
 θ  θ
exp β U exp − β ,
2 2
where β is a bivector, obeying the following properties
if β 2 = −1 is a spatial rotation,
and
if β = γγ5 it gives Galilean boosts,
where γ is a spacial base vector and in the latter case θ = v. Both of these transformations are known as Galilean
transformations, and the combined set of all of them is the uniformly special transformations, with addition of space
translation and time translation one gets the Galilean group. To transform an object in GSTA from any basis
(corresponding to a reference frame) to another, one or more of these transformations must be used.

1 x2
the usual conformal mapping is F : x → x = xi γi + γ4 + γ ,
2 5
so the coordinate x in the Galilean space is constructed with the velocity
x
t
and after the transformation is weighted by t.
4

V. GALILEAN ELECTROMAGNETISM

First we introduce the 5-dimensional Faraday bivector

F = −E e γ4 + E m γ5 + iB − aK
F = E 1 e γ1 γ4 + E 2 e γ2 γ4 + E 3 e γ3 γ4 + E 1 m γ1 γ5 + E 2 m γ2 γ5 + E 3 m γ3 γ5 − (B 1 γ2 γ3 + B 2 γ3 γ1 + B 3 γ1 γ2 ) − aK,
where B = B i σi is the magnetic field, Em = Em i σi is the electric field in the magnetic limit, and Ee = Ee i σi is the
electric field in the electric limit2 .
The separate E and B fields are recovered from F using
  1
E = − E m γ4 + E e γ5 = (F − KF K) (24)
2
1
iB − aK = (F + KF K). (25)
2
The Galilean spacetime current, J is given by
J = ρe γ4 + ρm γ5 + j i γi , (26)
where j i are the components of the classical 3-dimensional current density. Therefore, we can write the Maxwell
equations as
∇F = J. (27)
where ∇ = γ µ ∂µ .

A. tensor formulation

Eq. (27) in expanded form is given by

  
γ 4 ∂4 + γ5 ∂5 + γ i ∂i E e γ4 − E m γ5 + iB − aK = ρe γ4 + ρm γ5 + j i γi . (28)

In the case of Electromagnetism we have ∂5 ψ = 0 (massless particles). Thus, multiplying for K from the left, we have
    
K − γ5 ∂4 + γi ∂i E e γ4 − E m γ5 + iB − aK = K ρe γ4 + ρm γ5 + j i γi ,
    
γ5 ∂4 + σi ∂i E e γ4 − E m γ5 + iB − aK = ρe γ4 − ρm γ5 + j i σi , (29)

were we used γµ = gµν γ ν .

For the case of electric limit (E m = ρm = 0) we have
∇ · B = 0, ∇ · E e = ρe ,
(30)
∇ ∧ Ee = 0, i∇ ∧ B + ∂t Ee = −j,
with the auxiliary condition

∇a = ∂t E e .

For the case of magnetic limit (E e = ρe = 0), we get

∇ · B = 0, ∇ · Em = ρm − ∂t a,
(31)
∇ ∧ Em + i∂t B = 0, i∇ ∧ B = −j,
and the auxiliary condition

∇a = 0.

2 as we have two Galilean limits of Maxwell equation a magnetic and an electric one.
 5

B. Gauge freedom of Maxwell equations

From Eq. (27), we have

∇F = J,
(32)
but, by Eq. (8)
∇ · F = J, (33)
∇ ∧ F = 0. (34)
Also, we can express F as a gradient of a vector

F = ∇A = ∇ · A + ∇ ∧ A. (35)

However, because F is a bivector,

∇ ∧ A = F, (36)
∇ · A = 0. (37)
Substituing Eq. (37) into Eq. (34), we have
∇ ∧ F = ∇ ∧ (∇ ∧ A) = 0. (38)
The vector potential is not unique as we can make A′ = A + ∇χ, where χ is a scalar and ∇2 χ = 0.
Solving for E, B and a in terms of the vector potential we have
F = Ee γ4 − Em γ5 + iB − aK = ∇A = (∇K)(KA)
= (−γ5 ∂4 − σi ∇i )(γ4 A4 − γ5 A5 − σj Aj ) (39)
Expending, we get
Ee γ4 − Em γ5 + iB − aK = ∂4 A4 − ∂4 A4 K + γ5 ∂4 A
− γ4 ∇A4 + γ5 ∇A5
+ ∇ ∧ ∇A + ∇ · A.
Making the following identification Aµ = (A, φe , φm ), we have
Em = −∇φm − ∂t A, B=∇×A
(40)
Ee = −∇φe , a = −∂t φe ,
and the condition

∇ · A + ∂t φe = 0.

Which is the Lorenz gauge condition for the electric limit. In the magnectic limit we have φe = 0, so

∇ · A = 0,

which is the Coulomb gauge.

VI. GALILEAN SPINORS AND LEVY-LEBLOND EQUATION

A Pauli spinor can be written as

1 
φ+ = (φ0 + φ3 ) + (φ1 + Iφ2 )σ1 (1 + σ3 ) (41)
2
where
1 1
(1 + σ3 ) and σ1 (1 + σ3 )
2 2
6

are the bases of the minimal left ideal I+ [4]. The independent minimal left Ideal I− can be written as
1 1
φ− = (φ0 − φ3 )(1 + σ3 ) + (φ1 − Iφ2 )(1 + σ3 )σ1 (42)
2 2
where
1 1
(1 − σ3 ) and (1 + σ3 )σ1
2 2
are the bases of the minimal left ideal I− [4].
The Levy-Leblond equation for a free electron can be written as:
∇ψ = 0 (43)
where ψ is a Levy-Leblond (Dirac-like) spinor. We can write ψ in the bases of I+ as

 1
ψ = φ+ + γ5 χ+ (1 + K), (44)
2
where

φ+ , and χ+

are Pauli Spinors.

VII. MATRIX REPRESENTATION

A suitable matrix representations for the Galilean gamma matrices are

     
0 1 0 0 0 −i 0 0 1 0 0 0
1 0 0 0  i 0 0 0  0 −1 0 0
γ1 =  , γ2 =  , γ3 =  ,
0 0 0 −1  0 0 0 i 0 0 −1 0
0 0 −1 0 0 0 −i 0 0 0 0 1
   
0 0 −2 0 0 0 0 0
 0 0 0 −2   0 0 0 0
γ4 =  , γ5 =  . (45)
0 0 0 0  1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
In this representation we have
 
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 
K= .
0 0 −1 0 
0 0 0 −1

In this way we have:

 
σi 2×2 0
σi 4×4 = γi K = ,
0 σi 2×2
where σi 4×4 and σi 2×2 are 4 × 4 and 2 × 2 Pauli matrices respectively.
Using this representation and substituting Eq. (44) in Eq. (43) and separating the even and odd part we get the
usual Levy-Leblond equations for a free electron
σ i ∂i χ + ∂t φ = 0, (46)
σ i ∂i φ − 2imχ = 0, (47)
where we used ∂5 φ = −imφ.
 7

VIII. FOUR COMPONENT DUAL NUMBERS AND NEWTON-CARTAN THEORY

In 1995 Majernik [16] expressed Galilean transformations using four component dual numbers, that can be defined
as
x = x1 e1 + x2 e2 + x3 e3 + x4 , (48)
where e1 e2 = e2 e3 = e3 e1 = 0 and (ei )2 = 0 with i = 1, 2, 3. Therefore, a natural metric for this system is

 
1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
tµν = , (49)
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

and with the degenerate metric

 
0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
gµν = . (50)
0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0

a Newton-Cartan theory can be developed.

The GSTA can be reduced to Majernik’s formulation by making the following transformation
 
e = (x ∧ γ5 )(−K) = (xi γi + x4 γ4 + x5 γ5 ) ∧ γ5 (−K)
x (51)
   
= xi γi γ5 − x4 K (−k) = xi σi γ5 + x4 . (52)

So we have ei = σi γ5 . In the matrix representation created in last section it is written as

 
0 0
ei 4×4 = γi K = .
σi 2×2 0

The ei bases follow the same multiplication rules defined by Majernik.

IX. CONCLUSION

In this paper, we have presented a geometric conformal algebra approach to Galilean spacetime and its applications
to Galilean electromagnetism and spinors. We have shown how the Galilean-spacetime algebra can be used to construct
a representation space for the Galilei group and its Lie algebra, and how the Galilean transformations can be expressed
as rotations and translations in this space. We have also derived the tensor formulation of Galilean electromagnetism
and the gauge freedom of Maxwell equations in this framework. Furthermore, we have introduced the concept of
Galilean spinors and the Levy-Leblond equation for a free electron, and discussed their matrix representation and
relation to four component dual numbers and Newton-Cartan theory. We hope that this work can shed some light on
the geometric structure and physical meaning of Galilean spacetime and its associated fields and particles.

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by CAPES and CNPq of Brazil.

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