The two commuting triples each generate a copy of the complexified SU(2) Lie algebra. Hence the chiral decomposition of the complex Lorentz algebra is
In physicists' compact notation this is
; the real Lorentz algebra relates the two factors by complex conjugation.
Define the ladder operators . The SU(2) Lie algebra relations imply
Thus has weight when nonzero. Starting from a maximum-weight vector , repeated lowering gives weights
The norm formula derived from the Casimir element,
shows that lowering stops precisely at . Therefore is a nonnegative integer and the irreducible representation has dimension .