[Physics] Similarity Transformation

group-representationsrepresentation-theory

How can I find the similarity transformation $S$ between gamma matrices in the Dirac representation $\gamma_D$ and Majorana representation $\gamma_M$ in 4 dimensions theory?

The relation is $\gamma_M = S \gamma_D S^{-1}$

Actually, my question is about the general method of finding the similarity transformation between 2 give gamma matrices in different representation, and the given problem above is just for the sake of demonstration.

Best Answer

If you know the change of the (vector) basis, the answer is straightforward.

If you don't know the change of the (vector) basis, but only want some particular representation for the gamma matrices (for instance you want only real matrices, or only imaginary matrices), you may try for $S$ :

$$S=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}} \begin{pmatrix} A&B\\-\epsilon B&\epsilon A \end{pmatrix}, S^{-1}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\begin{pmatrix} A&-\epsilon B\\ B&\epsilon A \end{pmatrix}$$

where $\epsilon = \pm1$, $A, B$ are $2*2$ matrices, such as $A^2= B^2=1$, and $[A, B]=0$.

For instance, you may take one of the matrix equals to $\pm \mathbb{Id}$, and the other being a Pauli matrix $\pm \sigma_i$.

For obtaining Majorana representation from Dirac representation, we may use : $\epsilon = -1, A = \mathbb{Id}, B = \sigma_y$