Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-groups-and-representations-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2018/3/e/solution

The spinor basis in c is compatible with the supplied gamma matrices. The rotation generator is anti-Hermitian and commutes with . The two boost generators are Hermitian matrices and anticommute with . It follows separately for all three generators, and hence for every real , that
For the infinitesimal Lorentz transformation, and . Hence the Dirac adjoint transforms contragrediently:
The two contributions to the scalar variation cancel:
This proves the spinor invariant in three spacetime dimensions has infinitesimal Lorentz invariance. Real transformation parameters matter because the Hermitian adjoint conjugates coefficients; this is not an invariance under arbitrary complexified parameters. For ordinary commuting spinor components, the bilinear is purely imaginary in this mostly-plus convention, and multiplying it by gives a real invariant. Its reality is separate from its invariance.

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