Lorentz Transformations – Generators and Their Applications

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In Chapter 3 of Peskin and Schroeder's Introduction to Quantum Field Theory they write

For the rotation group, one can work out the commutation relations by writing the generators as differential operators; from the expression
$$J=x\times p = x \times (-i\nabla),$$
the angular momentum commutation relations follow straightforwardly. The use of the cross product is special to the case of three dimensions. However, we can also write the operators as an antisymmetric tensor,
$$J^{ij} = -i(x^{i}\nabla^j – x^{j}\nabla^i),$$
so that $J^3 = J^{12}$ and so on. The generalization to four-dimensional Lorentz transformations is now quite natural:
$$J^{\mu \nu} = -i(x^{\mu}\partial^\nu – x^{\nu}\partial^\mu).$$

It is not clear to my why the generalization should take this form. If we wanted to represent rotations/angular momentum in 4 dimensional space, i.e. $SO(4)$, then this generalization would seem appropriate. But boosts are similar to but not identical with a 4d rotation. Why does the generalization seem to look like space and time are treated exactly equally?

Best Answer

The generalization to four-dimensional Lorentz transformations is now quite natural: $$J^{\mu \nu} = -i(x^{\mu}\partial^\nu - x^{\nu}\partial^\mu).$$

You need to be very careful about upper and lower indices here.
Spacetime position is defined as the 4-vector $$x^\mu=(ct,x,y,z). \tag{1}$$ These are contravariant components, i.e. with an upper index.

Likewise the gradient is defined as the 4-vector $$\partial_\mu=\frac{\partial}{\partial x^\mu}= \left(\frac{\partial}{c\ \partial t}, \frac{\partial}{\partial x}, \frac{\partial}{\partial y}, \frac{\partial}{\partial z}\right) \tag{2}$$ Notice, these are its covariant components (with lower index).

But the contravariant components (with upper index) of the gradient are slightly different: $$\partial^\mu== \left(\frac{\partial}{c\ \partial t}, -\frac{\partial}{\partial x}, -\frac{\partial}{\partial y}, -\frac{\partial}{\partial z}\right) \tag{3}$$

This follows from raising and lowering indices $A^\mu=\eta^{\mu\nu}A_\nu$ with the Minkowski metric. I'm using the $(+,-,-,-)$ metric sign convention here.

If we wanted to represent rotations/angular momentum in 4 dimensional space, i.e. $SO(4)$, then this generalization would seem appropriate.

You are right. The Lorentz group is not $SO(4)$, but it is $SO(1,3)$.

But boosts are similar to but not identical with a 4d rotation. Why does the generalization seem to look like space and time are treated exactly equally?

Take for example the $^{01}$ component of Peskin's formula $$J^{\mu\nu} = -i(x^{\mu}\partial^\nu - x^{\nu}\partial^\mu).$$ Using (1) and (3) we get the boost in $x$ direction $$J^{01} = -i(x^0\partial^1 - x^1\partial^0) =-i\left(-ct\frac{\partial}{\partial x} - x\frac{\partial}{c\ \partial t}\right).$$

Notice that both terms got the same sign, as it should be for a Lorentz boost.
This is slightly different from a Lorentz rotation, for example the rotation around the $z$ axis $$J^{12} = -i(x^1\partial^2 - x^2\partial^1) =-i\left(-x\frac{\partial}{\partial y} + y\frac{\partial}{\partial x}\right)$$ where both terms have opposite signs.

So when only looking at the formula for $J^{\mu\nu}$ it may seem, time and space dimensions are treated exactly equally. But actually there is a subtle difference between time and space dimensions because of the minus signs in formula (3) for $\partial^\mu$, which in turn come from the the minus signs in the Minkowski metric $\eta^{\mu\nu}$.