Concept information
Preferred term
spinor
Definition(s)
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In geometry and physics, spinors are elements of a complex number-based vector space that can be associated with Euclidean space. A spinor transforms linearly when the Euclidean space is subjected to a slight (infinitesimal) rotation, but unlike geometric vectors and tensors, a spinor transforms to its negative when the space rotates through 360°. It takes a rotation of 720° for a spinor to go back to its original state. This property characterizes spinors: spinors can be viewed as the "square roots" of vectors (although this is inaccurate and may be misleading; they are better viewed as "square roots" of sections of vector bundles – in the case of the exterior algebra bundle of the cotangent bundle, they thus become "square roots" of differential forms).
(Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinor)
Broader concept(s)
Narrower concept(s)
In other languages
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French
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/PSR-XJ0VCV8T-1
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