Wigner rotations and little groups
ACTA PHYSICA HUNGARICA NEW SERIES-HEAVY ION PHYSICS, vol.19, pp.273-276, 2004 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Volume: 19
- Publication Date: 2004
- Doi Number: 10.1556/aph.19.2004.3-4.20
- Journal Name: ACTA PHYSICA HUNGARICA NEW SERIES-HEAVY ION PHYSICS
- Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
- Page Numbers: pp.273-276
- Middle East Technical University Affiliated: No
Abstract
Wigner's little groups are the subgroups of the Poincare group whose transformations leave the four-momentum of a given particle invariant. For a, relativistic particle in motion the little group is a boosted rotation. On the other hand, the kinematical effect of two non-colinear Lorentz boosts is another boost preceded or followed by a rotation, which is called the Wigner rotation. It is shown that there is always a Wigner rotation for a given little group rotation. The differences between those two rotations are clearly demonstrated and some interesting physical applications are presented.