Iterants, Fermions and the Dirac Equation

Abstract

We discuss how basic Clifford algebra and indeed all of matrix algebra and matrix representations of finite groups comes from Iterants: very elementary processes such as an alternation of plus and minus one ...+-+-+- .... One can think of the square root of minus one as a temporal iterant, a product of an A and a B where the A is the ...+-+-+-... and the B is a time shift operator. We have AA = BB =1 and AB + BA = 0, whence (AB)(AB) = -1. Clifford algebra is at the base of the (mathematical) world and the Fermions are composed of these things. We discuss the diagrammatics and topology of Majorana Fermions and we discuss the structure of the Dirac equation and how nilpotent and Majorana operators arise naturally in this context. We end the paper with an expression in split quaternions (in iterant form) for the the Majorana Dirac equation in one dimension of time and three dimensions of space.