Hyperbolic Numbers and the Dirac Spinor

Abstract

A representation of the Lorentz group is given in terms of 4 X 4 matrices defined over the hyperbolic number system. The transformation properties of the corresponding four component spinor are studied, and shown to be equivalent to the transformation properties of the complex Dirac spinor. As an application, we show that there exists an algebra of automorphisms of the complex Dirac spinor that leaves the transformation properties of its eight real components invariant under any given Lorentz transformation. Interestingly, the representation of the Lorentz algebra presented here is naturally embedded in the Lie algebra of a group isomorphic to SO(3,3;R) instead of the conformal group SO(2,4;R).