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Spinor representation of Maxwell’s equations

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2017 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 788 012025

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 788 (2017) 012025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/788/1/012025

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Spinor representation of Maxwell’s equations

D S Kulyabov1,2 , A V Korolkova1 , L A Sevastianov1,3
1
Department of Applied Probability and Informatics,
RUDN University (Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia),
6 Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russia
2
Laboratory of Information Technologies,
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research,
6 Joliot-Curie, Dubna, Moscow region, 141980, Russia
3
Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics,
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research,
6 Joliot-Curie, Dubna, Moscow region, 141980, Russia
E-mail: yamadharma@gmail.com, akorolkova@sci.pfu.edu.ru, leonid.sevast@gmail.com

Abstract. Spinors are more special objects than tensor. Therefore possess more properties
than the more generic objects such as tensors. Thus, the group of Lorentz two-spinors is
the covering group of the Lorentz group. Since the Lorentz group is a symmetry group of
Maxwell’s equations, it is assumed to reasonable to use when writing the Maxwell equations
Lorentz two-spinors and not tensors. We describe in detail the representation of the Maxwell’s
equations in the form of Lorentz two-spinors. This representation of Maxwell’s equations can
be of considerable theoretical interest.

1. Introduction
Maxwell’s equations have a large number of representations [1–4]. The principle of the
introduction of the following: every representation must simplify the concrete theoretical and
practical study. In this paper, we consistently describe the Lorentz two-spinor [5] representation
of Maxwell’s equations. It is supposed that this form will be interested in theoretical
studies [6–8].
The structure of the article is as follows. In the section 2 basic notations and conventions
are introduced. Section 3 gives a brief description of the Maxwell equations. Section 4 gives the
spinors of the electromagnetic field. Further, section 5 gives the Lorenz two-spinor representation
of Maxwell’s equations.

2. Notations and conventions

(i) The abstract indices notation [9] is used in this work. Under this notation a tensor as a
whole object is denoted just as an index (e.g., xi ), components are denoted by underlined
index (e.g., xi ).
(ii) We will adhere to the following agreements . Greek indices (α, β) will refer to the four-
dimensional space , in component form it looks like: α = 0, 3. Latin indices from the middle
of the alphabet (i, j, k) will refer to the three-dimensional space , in the component form
it looks like: i = 1, 3.

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 MPMM2016 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 788 (2017) 012025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/788/1/012025

(iii) The comma in the index denotes partial derivative with respect to corresponding coordinate
(f,i := ∂i f ); semicolon denotes covariant derivative (f;i := ∇i f ).
(iv) To write the equations of electrodynamics in the article is used CGS symmetrical system.

3. Maxwell’s Equations
Maxwell’s equations in 3-dimensional form are as follows:

∇0 B i = −eijk ∇j Ek ;
∇i Di = 4πρ;
4π i (1)
∇0 Di = eijk ∇j Hk − j;
c
∇i B i = 0.

where ei j k is the alternating tensor expressed by Levi-Civita simbol εi j k :

p 1
ei j k = 3g ε
ij k , ei j k = p εi j k .
3g

Let’s rewrite (1) with the help of electromagnetic field tensors Fαβ and Gαβ [10]:

∇α Fβγ + ∇β Fγα + ∇γ Fαβ = F[αβ;γ] = 0,

4π β
∇α Gαβ = j , (2)
c
where
0 −E 1 −E 2 −E 3
   
0 E1 E2 E3
−E1 0 −B 3 B 2   1
 , F α β = E 2 0 −B3 B2 
Fα β = 
−E2 B 3 1
,
0 −B  E B3 0 −B1 
−E3 −B 2 B 1 0 E 3 −B2 B1 0
1 2 3
   
0 −D −D −D 0 D1 D2 D3
D 1 0 −H3 H2   , Gα β = −D1 0 −H 3 H 2 
Gα β = 

3
,
D 2 H3 0 −H1  −D2 H 0 −H 1 
D3 −H2 H1 0 −D3 −H 2 H 1 0

Ei , H i are components of electric and magnetic fields intensity vectors; Di , B i are components
of vectors of electric and magnetic induction.

4. Spinors of electromagnetic field

Spinors are used in physics quite extensively. The following spinors are mainly used: Dirac
four-spinors; Pauli three-spinors; quaternions. If Dirac four-spinors are used, the main difficulty
is γ-matrices. The essence of these objects is that they serve to connect the spinor and tensor
spaces and therefore have two types of indices: spinor and tensor ones. It would be logical
to perform calculations in one of these spaces only. In this paper we use semispinors of Dirac
spinors, Lorentz two-spinors.
The tensor of electromagnetic field Fαβ and its components Fα β , α may be considered in
spinor form (and similarly for Gαβ ):

Fαβ = FAȦB Ḃ ;
Fα β = FA Ȧ B Ḃ gα A Ȧ gβ B Ḃ ,

2
 MPMM2016 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 788 (2017) 012025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/788/1/012025

where gα A Ȧ are Infeld–van der Waerden symbols defined in real spinor basis εA B in the following
way [9]:
gα A Ȧ := gα α εA A εȦ Ȧ , gA Ȧ α := g α α εA A εȦ Ȧ , (3)
     
0 1 0 1 1 0
εA B = εȦ Ḃ = , εA B = εȦ Ḃ = , εA A εA B = εA B = . (4)
−1 0 −1 0 0 1
Let’s gαβ = diag(1, −1, −1, −1) is the Minkowski space metric. We use (4) as spinor
space metric. Then the Infeld–van der Waerden symbols will have the following coordinate
representation:
   
A Ȧ 0 1 1 0 A Ȧ 1 1 0 1
g0 = gA Ȧ = √ , g1 = gA Ȧ = √ ,
2 0 1 2 1 0
   
A Ȧ 2 1 0 i A Ȧ 3 1 1 0
g2 = −gA Ȧ = √ , g3 = gA Ȧ = √ .
2 −i 0 2 0 −1
The tensor Fαβ is real and antisymmetric, it can be represented in the form

Fαβ = ϕAB εȦḂ + εAB ϕ̄ȦḂ ,

∗
F αβ = −iϕAB εȦḂ + iεAB ϕ̄ȦḂ . (5)

where ϕAB is a spinor of electromagnetic field:

1 0 1 1
ϕAB := FABC 0 C = FAȦB Ḃ εȦḂ = Fαβ εȦḂ .
2 2 2
The components of electromagnetic field spinor:
1
ϕA B = Fα β εȦ Ḃ g α A Ȧ g β B Ḃ .
2

Using the equations (3), (4) and notation Fi = Ei − iB i , we will get:

1 1
ϕ00 = (F31 + F01 − iF32 − iF02 ) = (F1 − iF2 ) ,
2 2
1 1
ϕ01 = ϕ10 = (−F03 − iF12 ) = − F3 ,
2 2
1 1
ϕ11 = (F31 − F01 + iF32 − iF02 ) = − (F1 + iF2 ) .
2 2
Similarly

Gαβ = η AB εȦḂ + εAB η̄ ȦḂ , (6)

∗
Gαβ = −iηAB εȦḂ + iεAB η̄ȦḂ .

where η AB is a Minkowski spinor:

1 0 1 1
η AB := GABC C 0 = GAȦB Ḃ εȦḂ = Gαβ εȦḂ .
2 2 2
The components of the spinor η AB :

1 A Ȧ B Ḃ
η A B = Gα β εȦ Ḃ gα gβ .
2

3
 MPMM2016 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 788 (2017) 012025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/788/1/012025

Using the equations (3), (4) and notation Gi = Di − iHi , we will get:

1 31
1
η 00 = G + G01 + iG32 + iG02 = G1 − iG2 ,


2 2
01 10 1 03 12 1
= − G3 ,


η = η = −G + iG
2 2
1 31 1
η 11 = G − G01 − iG32 + iG02 = − G1 + iG2 .



2 2

5. Spinor Form of Maxwell’s Equations

Let’s write Maxwell’s equations using the spinors.
Replacing in (2) abstract indices α by AȦ and β by B Ḃ, we can write:

4π B Ḃ
∇AȦ GAȦB Ḃ = j .
c
Using (6) we will get
4π B Ḃ
∇AḂ ηA
B
+ ∇B Ȧ η̄Ȧ
Ḃ
= j .
c
Similarly, from (5) it follows
∇ȦB ϕA
B −∇
AḂ Ȧ
ϕ̄Ḃ = 0.

In so doing the system of Maxwells equations can be written as

∇ȦB ϕAB −∇
AḂ Ȧ
ϕ̄Ḃ = 0,
4π B Ḃ (7)
∇AḂ ηA
B
+ ∇B Ȧ η̄Ȧ
Ḃ
= j .
c

In the vacuum case (no medium), we can put η AB = ϕAB . Then we can write the equations (7)
as follows:
∇ȦB ϕA
B =∇
AḂ Ȧ
ϕ̄Ḃ ,
4π B Ḃ
∇AḂ ϕB
A +∇
B Ȧ Ḃ
ϕ̄Ȧ = j .
c
Thus, the spinor form of Maxwell’s equations system in vacuum can be written in the form
of one equation:
2π B Ḃ
∇AḂ ϕB
A = j .
c

6. Conclusions
Thus, in the article, we have proposed a representation of Maxwell’s equations in the form of
Lorentz 2-spinors. We consider that the given representation might be interested in in theoretical
studies.

Acknowledgments
The work is partially supported by RFBR grants No’s 14-01-00628, 15-07-08795, and 16-07-
00556. Also the publication was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the
Russian Federation (the Agreement No 02.a03.21.0008).

4
 MPMM2016 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 788 (2017) 012025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/788/1/012025

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