Emergence of Lorentz invariance in condensed matter

app02drm · science forum beginner Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 2

Hi Everyone.

I've been reading Volovik's book 'The Universe in a Helium Droplet' and wondered if someone who knows more than I can explain something to me.

He says throughout the book that Lorentz invariance emerges in the low-energy corner. I was wondering exactly how this comes about, for example, I can't see anywhere a proof that the O(1,3) group emerges.

Basically, I was wondeing if someone could explain how it comes about, how it is proved to be Lorentz invariance and where I can find a definative proof that it is Lorentz invariance.

Thanks

app02drm

DrBobby

Could you post the equations you refer to? O(3) is the Lorentz group, however, should be SO(1,3). It is invariant under special relativity, and in local groups it is invariant. Most of the time we refer to these equations when dealing with Maxwells equations, Dirac's electrons, and kinimatical relativity, however they can arise as stated in local groups that are not under spacetime considerations. If you could supply the equations, perhaps we could find how this comes about.

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