Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Conformal symmetries of spacetimes

Francisco J Herranz1 and Mariano Santander2

Show affiliations


In this paper, we give a unified and global new approach to the study of the conformal structure of the three classical Riemannian spaces as well as of the six relativistic and non-relativistic spacetimes (Minkowskian, de Sitter, anti-de Sitter, and both Newton–Hooke and Galilean). We obtain general expressions within a Cayley–Klein framework, holding simultaneously for all these nine spaces, whose cycles (including geodesics and circles) are explicitly characterized in a new way. The corresponding cycle-preserving symmetries, which give rise to (Möbius-like) conformal Lie algebras, together with their differential realizations are then deduced without having to resort to solving the conformal Killing equations. We show that each set of three spaces with the same signature type and any curvature have isomorphic conformal algebras; these are related through an apparently new conformal duality. Laplace and wave-type differential equations with conformal algebra symmetry are finally constructed.


PACS

11.25.Hf Conformal field theory, algebraic structures

02.20.Sv Lie algebras of Lie groups

MSC

22E60 Lie algebras of Lie groups (For the algebraic theory of Lie algebras, see 17Bxx)

81T40 Two-dimensional field theories, conformal field theories, etc.

Subjects

Mathematical physics

Particle physics and field theory

Dates

Issue 31 (9 August 2002)

Received 30 November 2001, in final form 2 May 2002

Published 26 July 2002



  1. Conformal symmetries of spacetimes

    Francisco J Herranz and Mariano Santander 2002 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 35 6601

  2. Using the INSPIRAL program to search for gravitational waves from low-mass binary inspiral

    Duncan A Brown (for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration) 2005 Class. Quantum Grav. 22 S1097

  3. A two-level atom coupled to a two-dimensional supersymmetric and shape-invariant system: models

    A N F Aleixo and A B Balantekin 2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 3915

  4. Inverse spectral problem for quantum graphs

    Pavel Kurasov and Marlena Nowaczyk 2005 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38 4901

  5. A data analysis technique for the LIGO–ALLEGRO stochastic background search

    John T Whelan et al 2005 Class. Quantum Grav. 22 S1087

  6. Higher-dimensional extensions of Pauli spin matrices

    J F Stephany 1979 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 12 1667

  7. Spatial resolution of 2D ionization chamber arrays for IMRT dose verification: single-detector size and sampling step width

    Björn Poppe et al 2007 Phys. Med. Biol. 52 2921

  8. Prompt High-Energy Emission from Proton-Dominated Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Katsuaki Asano et al. 2009 ApJ 699 953

  9. Low-density series expansions for directed percolation: III. Some two-dimensional lattices

    Iwan Jensen 2004 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 37 6899

  10. Single-particle analog to the fractional quantum Hall effect

    Alfred Scharff Goldhaber and M L Horner 2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 14343

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.