Fix , , and a rotationless Lorentz boost taking to on the positive-energy mass shell. The little group on the Lorentz spinor double cover is SU(2). Its spin- irreducible representation induces a unitary representation on . Here is the Wigner rotation, lifted to SU(2) when necessary, and the translation convention is . The little-group cocycle proves the group law, and Wigner's classification gives irreducibility. Every nonnegative integer or half-integer spin is allowed on the double cover; descent to the ordinary proper orthochronous Poincaré group requires integer spin, because its rotation must act as the identity.
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