Spinors in Hilbert Space

by Paul A.M. Dirac

1. Hilbert Space.- 2. Spinors.- Finite Number of Dimensions.- 3. Rotations in n Dimensions.- 4. Null Vectors and Null Planes.- 5. The Independence Theorem.- 6. Specification of a Null Plane without Its Coordinates.- 7. Matrix Notation.- 8. Expression of a Rotation in Terms of an Infinitesimal Rotation.- 9. Complex Rotations.- 10. The Noncommutative Algebra.- 11. Rotation Operators.- 12. Fixation of the Coefficients of Rotation Operators.- 13. The Ambiguity of Sign.- 14. Kets and Bras.- 15. Simple Kets.- Even Number of Dimensions.- 16. The Ket Matrix.- 17. The Two-Ket-Matrix Theorem.- 18. The Connection between Two Ket Matrices.- 19. The Representation of Kets.- 20. The Representative of a Simple Ket. General.- 21. The Representative of a Simple Ket. Special Cases.- 22. Fixation of the Coefficients of Simple Kets.- 23. The Scalar Product Formula.- Infinite Number of Dimensions.- 24. The Need for Bounded Matrices.- 25. The Infinite Ket Matrix.- 26. Passage from One Ket Matrix to Another.- 27. The Various Kinds of Ket Matrices.- 28. Failure of the Associative Law.- 29. The Fundamental Commutators.- 30. Boson Variables.- 31. Boson Emission and Absorption Operators.- 32. Infinite Determinants.- 33. Validity of the Scalar Product Formula.- 34. The Energy of a Boson.- 35. Physical Application.

100 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1974

About the author

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a member of the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami, and spent the last decade of his life at Florida State University.

Among other discoveries, he formulated the Dirac equation which describes the behaviour of fermions and predicted the existence of antimatter. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory". He also made significant contributions to the reconciliation of general relativity with quantum mechanics.