Abstract
After studying the little groups which preserve time-like and light-like four- momenta, we are led to consider the little group which leaves a space-like four-momentum invariant. Unlike the two previous cases, there is no clearly defined physical motivation to study this group as a little group, because we have to deal here with free particles travelling faster than light which are often called tachyons (Feinberg, 1967). Although tachyons are intrinsically interesting from a group theoretical point of view (Schwartz, 1982), there are many other applications of SO(2, 1) of immediate physical and mathematical interest.
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© 1986 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Kim, Y.S., Noz, M.E. (1986). SO(2, 1)and SU(1, 1). In: Theory and Applications of the Poincaré Group. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4558-6_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4558-6_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8526-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4558-6
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