Represent the imaginary unit with the lowercase i to distinguish it clearly from the number 1.
The Dgamma command is implemented as a tensor, which means you can compute with Dgamma[mu] entering tensorial expressions and have all the properties of tensors taken into account (see Physics,Tensors). For instance, the covariant and components are given by
Note that (since Maple 2019) when Physics is loaded the standard representation for the Dirac matrices is automatically set. For the default signature, (- - - +), the traditional standard matrix representation is that of the contravariant components
To change that representation to the chiral or Majorana representations see Setup. As is conventional in the Physics package, you can get the definition of a tensor indexing it with the keyword definition
The value of a spacetime index of a tensor is always mapped into the value of the position of the time-like component (the different sign in the signature)
So with the current signature you can use Dgamma[0] to represent Dgamma[4]
You can access the current matrix representation of each component of in several ways, the simplest being
The matrix in the standard representation
This definition includes several equations, two of which have AntiCommutators on the left-hand sides. A quick way of verifying tensorial equations including their matricial form is to use . One can apply this command selectively, for example for the first three of these defining equations, then to only the fourth one
You can compute with the tensor components and later represent them in matrix form, or perform the corresponding matrix operations
The Dirac matrices have representation-free properties; for example, for the trace of the product of two of them,
Consider the following five products of Dirac matrices and their simplification using Simplify
Verify the simplification of .
Rewrite this equation as an array with 4 tensorial equations as components (for each of the values o the contravariant spacetime index )
Perform all the matrix operations in each of the components of this array.
With the conventions used, among , only (consequently, when too) changes in form between the chiral and standard representations.
The standard representation is also defined in lower dimensions. For example, if you change the dimension to 3 and check the signature
Reset the dimension to 4 and check the metric
The form of the four contravariant Dirac matrices in each of the three representations, all the matrices are anti-Hermitian but for Dgamma[5] which is Hermitian
The definition of Dgamma[5] is the independent of the representation
The matrix form of the first of these equations
In the Majorana representation, all the components of the Dirac matrices are imaginary
The Euclidean form of the four contravariant Dirac matrices in each of the three representations: all of them are Hermitian
In the Majorana representation, the spatial Euclidean Dirac matrices are all real
The first equation of the definition of in an Euclidean space has a factor if compared with the definition in a Minkowski space; the other defining equations are the same: