Charge conjugation and Maiorana spinors in dimension 8
Volume 37 / 1996
Banach Center Publications 37 (1996), 289-293
DOI: 10.4064/-37-1-289-293
Abstract
It is a common belief among theoretical physicists that the charge conjugation of the Dirac equation has an analogy in higher dimensional space-times so that in an 8-dimensional space-time there would also be Maiorana spinors as eigenspinors of a charge conjugation, which would swap the sign of the electric charge of the Dirac equation. This article shows that this mistaken belief is based on inadequate distinction between two kinds of charge conjugation: the electric conjugation swapping the sign of the Dirac equation and the Maiorana conjugation fixing the real subalgebra (of the complexification of the Clifford algebra of the space-time). Only the latter conjugation has Maiorana spinors as its eigenspinors.
