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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

We give an expanded review of recent developments of Fueter’s theory as discussed in Gürsey and Tze’s book ”On the Role of Division, Jordan and Related Algebras in Particle Physics.”$`^{\text{[1]}}`$ A brief discussion to possible extension to octonionic analyticity will be presented. An appendix is added to the review on use of coherent states and coset decompositions.

There are intriguing correspondences between the rotation (or pseudorotation) groups and conformal groups in $`D=1,2,4,6,10`$ Euclidean or Lorentzian space-times due to the properties of the underlying division algebras. The conformal group is infinite dimensional in $`D=2`$ and trivially so in $`D=1`$. This has led to the development of conformal field theories and string theories on the $`D=2`$ world sheet as well as solvable lattice models in $`D=2`$ statistical mechanics. These features again appear in $`D=2+1`$ topological field theories and quantum gravity. There are also some correspondences to the self dual and anti self dual sectors of $`D=4`$ gauge theories. Here we shall confine ourselves to the cases $`D=2,4`$ associated respectively with $`𝒞`$ and $``$. The situation is summarized in the following table:

| Dim. | Rot. | Conf. | Div. Alg. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`D=1`$ | $`Z_2`$ | $`SO(2,1)`$ $`SL(2,)`$ | $``$ |
| $`D=1+1`$ | $`O(1,1)`$ | $`SO(2,2)`$ $`SL(2,)\times SL(2,)`$ | $``$ |
| $`D=2`$ | $`O(2)`$ $`U(1)`$ | $`SO(3,1)`$ $`SL(2,𝒞)`$ | $`𝒞`$ |
| $`D=3+1`$ | $`SO(3,1)`$ $`SL(2,𝒞)`$ | $`SO(4,2)`$ $`SU(2,2)`$ | $`𝒞`$ |
| $`D=4`$ | $`O(4)`$ $`SU(2)\times SU(2)`$ | $`SO(5,1)`$ $`SL(2,𝒬)`$ | $``$ |

In the Lorentzian two dimensional space the conformal group factorizes, giving rise to left movers and right movers associated with real wave functions $`f_L(x+t)`$, $`f_R(xt)`$. On the other hand $`O(4)`$ factorizes in euclidean $`D=4`$ where real three dimensional self dual fields exist associated with $`(1,0)`$ and $`(0,1)`$ representations of $`SU(2)\times SU(2)`$. In $`D=2`$ instead of left and right movers we can define analytic and anti analytic functions $`f(z)`$ and $`g(\overline{z})`$, $`\overline{f(z)}`$ being anti analytic. This is analogous to the $`(1,0)`$ representation of $`O(4)`$ in $`D=4`$ being complex and $`(0,1)`$ being like the complex conjugate of $`(1,0)`$ just like analytic and anti analytic functions. Thus some aspects of analytic functions in $`D=2`$ will have their counterparts in the self dual or anti self dual sectors in $`D=4`$ with complex numbers being replaced by quaternions. These are the possibilities we shall now explore.

## 2 The Conformal group in $`D=4`$, quaternions and twistors

The conformal group in Euclidean $`D=4`$ is the non-compact Lie group $`SO(5,1)`$ with the covering group $`SL(2,𝒬)`$. These groups generalize the Lie groups $`SO(3,1)SL(2,𝒞)`$ in Euclidean $`D=4`$.

In $`D=2`$ we can start from the two-dimensional representations of $`SL(2,𝒞)`$ namely the complex spinor $`\psi _L`$ with components $`\psi ^\alpha `$ ($`\alpha =1,2`$). It transforms under the group as

$$\psi _L^{^{}}=L\psi _L,(\mathrm{Det}L=1)$$
(1)
where $`L`$ is a $`2\times 2`$ complex unimodular matrix, $`\psi _L`$ is a $`(\frac{1}{2},0)`$ representation. The right handed spinor $`\psi _R`$ associated with the $`(0,\frac{1}{2})`$ representation transforms as

$$\psi _R^{^{}}=L^1\psi _R$$
(2)
Because of the identity

$$L^1=(i\sigma _2)^1L^{}i\sigma _2=\sigma _2L^{}\sigma _2,$$
(3)
the $`CP`$ conjugate of $`\psi _L`$, defined as

$$\widehat{\psi }_L=i\sigma _2\psi _L^{}=\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _2^{}\\ \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(4)
transforms like a right handed spinor $`\psi _R`$ according to the law in Eq.(2)

$$\psi _L^{^{}}=L^1\psi _L$$
(5)
When $`SL(2,C)`$ is interpreted as the Lie conformal group in $`D=2`$, $`\psi _L`$ is a twistor transforming linearly under $`SO(3,1)`$ which is generated by translations, rotations, dilatation and inversion. $`\psi ^\alpha `$ can be regarded as the homogeneous coordinates of a point in the projective space $`CP^1`$. The inhomogeneous coordinate is

$$z=\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _2}$$
(6)
which transforms non linearly under $`SL(2,C)`$ represented by $`L`$

$$L=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right),(adbc=1)$$
(7)
Then $`z`$ transfoms undergoes a Möbius transformation

$$z^{}=\frac{(az+b)}{(cz+d)},$$
(8)
with special cases giving:
a) dilatation

$$zkz(k=\mathrm{real},\mathrm{positive})$$
(9)
b) rotation

$$ze^{i\alpha }z(\alpha =\mathrm{real})$$
(10)
c) translation

$$zz+b(b=\mathrm{complex})$$
(11)
d) inversion

$$z\frac{1}{z}$$
(12)
e) special conformal transformation (translation of the inverse)

$$\frac{1}{z}\frac{1}{z}s^{}(s=\mathrm{complex})$$
(13)
or

$$z\frac{z}{1s^{}z}$$
(14)
We now consider homogeneous functions of the spinor $`\psi _L`$ ($`2D`$ twistor) of the form $`F(\psi _1,\psi _2)`$ such that

$$F(\lambda \psi _1,\lambda \psi _2)=\lambda ^\delta F(\psi _1,\psi _2)$$
(15)
$`\lambda `$ being complex and $`\delta `$ denoting the degree of homogeneity.

Choosing $`\lambda =\psi _2^1`$ and using Eq.(6) we obtain

$$F(z,1)=f(z)=\psi _2^\delta F(\psi _1,\psi _2)$$
(16)
Under $`SL(2,C)`$ we have

$$\psi _1^{^{}}=a\psi _1+b\psi _2,\psi _2^{^{}}=c\psi _1+d\psi _2,$$
(17)
so that we can define

$$f^{^{}}(z^{^{}})=(cz+d)^\delta f(\frac{az+b}{cz+d})$$
(18)
These correspond to the $`(\delta ,0)`$ representation of $`SL(2,C)`$ in terms of homogeneous analytic functions $`f^{(\delta )}(z)`$. The $`(0,\overline{\delta })`$ representations are obtained through the transformation

$$\psi \widehat{\psi },orz\frac{1}{z},$$
(19)
and

$$L=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)L^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\overline{d}& \overline{c}\\ \overline{b}& \overline{a}\end{array}\right),$$
(20)
so that

$$G^{(\overline{\delta })}(\overline{\psi }_2\overline{\lambda },\overline{\psi }_1\overline{\lambda })=\overline{\lambda }^{\overline{\delta }}G^{(\overline{\delta })}(\overline{\psi }_2,\overline{\psi }_1),$$
(21)
or, taking $`\lambda =\overline{\psi }_2^1`$

$$G^{(\overline{\delta })}(\overline{\psi }_2,\overline{\psi }_1)=(\overline{\psi }_2)^{\overline{\delta }}G^{(\overline{\delta })}(1,\overline{z}),$$
(22)
which gives

$$g(\overline{z})=G^{(\overline{\delta })}(1,\overline{z})=(\overline{\psi }_2)^{\overline{\delta }}G^{(\overline{\delta })}(\overline{\psi }_2,\overline{\psi }_1)$$
(23)
Hence

$$g^{^{}}(\overline{z}^{^{}})=(\overline{c}\overline{z}+\overline{d})^{\overline{\delta }}g(\frac{\overline{a}\overline{z}+\overline{b}}{\overline{c}\overline{z}+\overline{d}})$$
(24)
For the $`(\delta ,\overline{\delta })`$ representation, we have

$$h^{{}_{}{}^{}(\delta ,\overline{\delta })}(z^{^{}},\overline{z}^{^{}})=(cz+d)^\delta (\overline{c}\overline{z}+\overline{d})^{\overline{\delta }}h^{(\delta ,\overline{\delta })}(\frac{az+b}{cz+d},\frac{\overline{a}\overline{z}+\overline{b}}{\overline{c}\overline{z}+\overline{d}})$$
(25)
Such primary fields transform like

$$(dz)^\lambda (d\overline{z})^{\overline{\lambda }}$$
(26)
Indeed under

$$z^{}=\frac{az+b}{cz+d}$$
(27)
we have

$$dz^{^{}}=(cz+d)^2dz$$
(28)
leading to

$$(dz^{})^\lambda (d\overline{z}^{})^{\overline{\lambda }}=(cz+d)^{2\lambda }(\overline{c}\overline{z}+\overline{d})^{2\overline{\lambda }}(dz)^\lambda (d\overline{z})^{\overline{\lambda }}$$
(29)
Hence

$$\lambda =\frac{\delta }{2},\overline{\lambda }=\frac{\overline{\delta }}{2}$$
(30)
Under a more general transformation

$$zw(z),dzw^{}(z)dz,$$
(31)
we obtain

$$h^{(\lambda ,\overline{\lambda })}(z,\overline{z})w^{}(z)^\lambda \overline{w^{}(z)}^{\overline{\lambda }}h^{(\lambda ,\overline{\lambda })}(w(z),\overline{w}(\overline{z}))$$
(32)
The transformation (31) is still a conformal mapping in $`D=2`$ and corresponds to an infinite group that generalizes the Möbius transformation (28).

We now turn to the generalization of $`SL(2,C)`$ to the conformal group $`SL(2,Q)`$ in $`D=4`$. Its $`2\times 2`$ quaternionic representation is

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right),\mathrm{Det}\mathrm{\Lambda }=ac^1dcbc^2=1$$
(33)
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ acts on a two dimensional quaternionic ket $`w`$ in quaternionic Hilbert spaces

$$w=\left(\begin{array}{c}V\\ \overline{U}\end{array}\right),w^{}=\mathrm{\Lambda }w$$
(34)
with the $`2\times 2`$ complex representations

$$V=\left(\begin{array}{cc}v_1& v_2^{}\\ v_2& v_1^{}\end{array}\right),\overline{U}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}u_1& u_2^{}\\ u_2& u_1^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(35)
Thus $`w`$ can be represented by the $`4\times 2`$ complex matrix with first column $`\psi `$ and second column $`\widehat{\psi }`$, where

$$\psi =\left(\begin{array}{c}v_1\\ v_2\\ u_1\\ u_2\end{array}\right),\widehat{\psi }=i\sigma _2\psi ^{}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}v_2^{}& \\ v_1^{}& \\ u_2^{}& \\ u_1^{}& \end{array}\right)$$
(36)
The inverse $`SL(2,Q)`$ matrix $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^1`$ can also act on a $`(1\times 2)`$ quaternionic row from the right, so that

$$s^{}=(\overline{T},R),s^{{}_{}{}^{}}=s^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }^1$$
(37)
$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}(abd^1c)^1& (cdb^1a)^1\\ (bac^1d)^1& (dca^1b)^1\end{array}\right)$$
(38)
where the bar denotes quaternionic conjugation.

The inhomogeneous coordinate in the projective quaternionic space $`HP^1`$ is the ratio of $`V`$ and $`U`$ so that

$$w=\left(\begin{array}{c}x\overline{U}\\ \overline{U}\end{array}\right),x=V\overline{U}^1\mathrm{or}V=x\overline{U}$$
(39)
The $`4`$-spinor $`\psi `$ is the twistor representation of the conformal group $`SO(5,1)`$. We find

$$x=\left(\begin{array}{cc}v_1& v_2^{}\\ v_2& v_1^{}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}u_1^{}& u_2^{}\\ u_2& u_1\end{array}\right)\frac{1}{u_1^2+u_2^2}$$
(40)
or

$$x=\left(\begin{array}{cc}u_1^{}v_1+v_2^{}u_2& v_1u_2^{}v_2^{}u_1\\ v_2u_1^{}v_1^{}u_2& v_2u_2^{}+v_1^{}u_1\end{array}\right)(u_1^2+u_2^2)^1$$
(41)
The twistor $`\psi `$ takes the form

$$\psi =\left(\begin{array}{c}ux_+\\ u\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}xu\\ u\end{array}\right),u=\left(\begin{array}{c}u_1\\ u_2\end{array}\right)=U\frac{1+\sigma _3}{2}$$
(42)
where

$$x_+=u^1xu=(x_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{x})uu^1$$
(43)
and

$$u=\sqrt{u_1^2+u_2^2}$$
(44)
We also have the $`O(4)`$ invariant quaternion

$`w=\overline{U}^1V`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{u_1^2+u_2^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}u_1^{}& u_2^{}\\ u_2& u_1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}v_1& v_2^{}\\ v_2& v_1^{}\end{array}\right)`$ (49)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{u_1^2+u_2^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}u^{}v& u^{}\widehat{v}\\ \widehat{u}^{}v& v^{}u\end{array}\right)`$ (52)
Under a conformal transformation $`\mathrm{\Lambda }SO(5,1)`$ we have

$$V^{}=aV+b\overline{U}=(ax+b)\overline{U}$$
(53)
$$\overline{U}^{^{}}=cV+d\overline{U}=(cx+d)\overline{U}$$
(54)
where $`a`$, $`b`$, $`c`$, $`d`$ are the quaternionic elements of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

Hence, the position quaternion $`x`$ transforms under the Möbius transformation

$$x^{}=(ax+b)(cx+d)^1$$
(55)
while

$$y^{}=(cx+d)^1(ax+b)$$
(56)
Special cases, together with their infinitesimal forms, are

a) Translations

$$xx+b(\delta _ϵx=ϵ)$$
(57)
b) Dilatations

$$x\lambda x,(\mathrm{Vec}\lambda =0,\lambda >0),(\delta _\kappa x=\kappa x)$$
(58)
c) Left rotations

$$xmx,(m=1),[\delta _\mu x=\mu x,(\mathrm{Sc}\mu =0)],$$
(59)
d) Right rotations

$$xx\overline{n},(n=1),[\delta _\nu x=x\nu ,(\mathrm{Sc}\nu =0)],$$
(60)
e) Inversion

$$xx^1,(\mathrm{no}\mathrm{infinitesimal}\mathrm{form})$$
(61)
f) Special conformal transformations

$$x^1x^1\overline{c},\mathrm{or}xx(1\overline{c}x)^1,(\delta _cx=x\overline{c}x)$$
(62)
Like in the case of $`SL(2,C)`$ we consider homogeneous functions of the $`SO(5,1)`$ twistor. These can be regarded as functions of $`x^\mu `$ and the spinor $`u`$, or the spinors $`x_+`$ and $`u`$, or again functions of quaternions $`V`$ (equal to $`x\overline{U}`$) and $`\overline{U}`$.

Under the $`O(4)SU(2)\times SU(2)`$ subgroup of $`SL(2,Q)`$ we have

$$x^{}=mx\overline{n},VmV,\overline{U}n\overline{U},$$
(63)
$$x_+^{^{}}=mx_+,u^{}=nu$$
(64)
We could also introduce another position vector $`y`$ through the components of the left twistor $`s^{}`$ of Eq. (37)

$$R^1\overline{T}=\overline{y},R^{}_{}{}^{}1\overline{T}^{^{}}=\overline{y}^{^{}}$$
(65)
$$(\overline{T},R)=(R\overline{y},R)$$
(66)
Under the $`O(4)`$ subgroup we have

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\overline{m}& 0\\ 0& \overline{n}\end{array}\right),$$
(67)
so that

$$\overline{T}^{}=\overline{T}\overline{m},R^{}=R\overline{n}$$
(68)
This gives the transformation law

$$\overline{y}^{}=n\overline{y}\overline{m},ory^{}=my\overline{n}$$
(69)
Hence $`y`$ also transforms like a $`4`$-vector.

We find

$$\omega _L=x\overline{y},\omega _L^{}=m\omega _L\overline{m},$$
(70)
$$\omega _r=\overline{y}x,\omega _R^{}=n\omega _R\overline{n}$$
(71)
It follows that from a right twistor and a left twistor we can form the two $`4`$-vectors $`\omega _L`$ and $`\omega _R`$ which transform respectively like a $`(0,0)+(1,0)`$ and $`(0,0)+(0,1)`$ representations of the $`O(4)`$ group. It follows that

$$\lambda _L=\mathrm{Vec}(x\overline{y})=\frac{1}{2}(x\overline{y}y\overline{x})=i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{\lambda }_L$$
(72)
is an anti self-dual antisymmetrical tensor. On the other hand

$$\mathrm{Sc}(\omega _L)=\frac{1}{2}(x\overline{y}+y\overline{x})=\mathrm{Sc}(\omega _R)$$
(73)
is an $`O(4)`$ invariant scalar.

## 3 Introduction of quasi-conformal fields in $`D=4`$. Covariant Fueter mappings

In analogy to primary conformal fields in $`D=2`$ that are homogeneous functions of the spinor representations of $`SL(2,C)SO(3,1)`$ we shall construct certain functions of the lowest dimensional representation of $`SL(2,Q)SO(5,1)`$ in $`D=4`$. We have seen that in $`D=2`$ homogeneous functions of $`(\psi _1,\psi _2)`$ can be regarded as analytic functions of $`z=\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _2}`$ once a power of $`\psi _2`$ is factored out. In turn, the analytic function $`f(z)`$ represents a conformal mapping of the $`z`$-plane. Let us then start from a function $`F`$ of the two quaternionic components $`V`$ and $`\overline{U}`$ of the fundamental representation of $`SL(2,Q)`$, or, equivalently a function $`G`$ of the first column $`v`$ and $`u`$ of $`V`$ and $`\overline{U}`$ which form the spinorial components of a twistor. Introducing the position quaternion $`x=V\overline{U}^1`$ we have

$$F=F(V,\overline{U})=F(x\overline{U},\overline{U})$$
(74)
or

$$G=G(v,u)=G(xu,u)=G(x_+,u),$$
(75)
where we have used the definition (44).

These functions are homogeneous with respect to dilatation if we can write

$$F(\lambda V,\lambda \overline{U})=\lambda ^kF(V,\overline{U})=\lambda ^kF(x\overline{U},\overline{U})$$
(76)
$$G(\lambda v,\lambda u)=\lambda ^kG(v,u)=\lambda ^kG(x_+u,u)$$
(77)
We can now choose

$$\lambda =U^1=(U\overline{U})^{\frac{1}{2}}=u^1=(u_1u_1^{}+u_2u_2^{})^{\frac{1}{2}}$$
(78)
so that

$$F(V,\overline{U})=\lambda ^kF(VU^1,\overline{U}U^1),$$
(79)
$$G(v,u)=\lambda ^\kappa G(x_+,\frac{u}{u})$$
(80)
If we put

$$w=\frac{u}{u},w=1,W=U^1U,$$
(81)
then W is a unit quaternion denoting a point on the sphere $`S^3`$ parametrized by the normalized spinor $`w`$, so that

$$F(V,\overline{U})=U^kF(x\overline{W},\overline{W}),(W\overline{W}=1),$$
(82)
$$G(v,u)=u^kG(x_+,w),(w^{}w=1,x_+=xw)$$
(83)
We can go further, to see for what kind of functions the quaternion $`W`$ represented by a unitary matrix can be further reduced.

Let

$$W=Ze^{i\sigma _3\frac{\alpha }{2}}$$
(84)
Then

$$Z(SU(2)/U(1)=S^2)$$
(85)
where $`U(1)`$ is associated with rotations around the third axis. Since the $`2\times 2`$ matrix representation for $`W`$ is

$$W=\left(\begin{array}{cc}w_1& w_2^{}\\ w_2& w_1^{}\end{array}\right),$$
(86)
its general parametrization is

$$W=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+\xi ^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& \zeta ^{}\\ \zeta & 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\alpha }{2}}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\frac{\alpha }{2}}\end{array}\right)$$
(87)
so that the complex number

$$\zeta =\frac{w_2}{w_1}=\frac{u_2}{u_1}$$
(88)
denotes a point on $`S^2`$.

By taking $`\lambda `$ in Eq.(80) complex

$$\lambda =u_1^1$$
(89)
we can write

$$G(v,u)=u_1^kG(x_+,\zeta )$$
(90)
where

$$x_+=(x_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{x})\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ \zeta \end{array}\right)\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+\zeta ^2}},$$
(91)
and $`\zeta `$ is a point on $`S^2`$. Since in that case the function of $`v_1,v_2,u_1,u_2`$ are reduced to functions of $`v_1/u_1,v_2/u_1`$ and $`u_2/u_1`$, we find the projective space $`CP^3`$ introduced by Penrose and Ward$`^{\text{[2]}}`$. Such functions can be also interpreted as function of $`x_+`$ and a point on $`S^2`$ parametrized by $`\zeta `$. This is the method of harmonic analyticity of F. Gürsey, V. Ogievetsky and their collaborators C. Devchand, M. Evans, W. Jiang, C-H. Tze and others.$`^{\text{[3]},\text{[4]},\text{[5]},\text{[6]}}`$

We shall now present a third category of functions associated with a quaternionic homogeneity corresponding to the quaternionic projective space $`HP^1`$.

Consider functions $`F(V,\overline{U})`$ that transform like some representation of $`O(4)`$ subgroup of $`SO(5,1)`$ with $`\mu `$, $`\nu `$ being quaternionic, $`F`$ is assumed to get multipliers $`\mu (\lambda )`$, $`\nu (\lambda )`$ such that

$$F(V\lambda ,\overline{U}\lambda )=\mu (\lambda )F(V,\overline{U})\nu (\lambda )$$
(92)
or

$$F(V,\overline{U})=\mu ^1(\lambda )F(V\lambda ,\overline{U}\lambda )\nu ^1(\lambda )$$
(93)
Taking

$$\lambda =\overline{U}^1$$
(94)
we obtain

$$F(V,\overline{U})=\mu ^1(\overline{U}^1)F(x,1)\nu ^1(\overline{U}^1)$$
(95)
where we have used Eq.(39).

More generally $`V`$ and $`\overline{U}`$ can also undergo an $`O(4)`$ transformation

$$VmV,\overline{U}n\overline{U},(m=n=1)$$
(96)
Hence, we can have more general multipliers $`M`$ and $`N`$. Indeed,

$$F(mV\lambda ,n\overline{U}\lambda )=F(mV\lambda ,mp\overline{U}\lambda )$$
(97)
where have have put

$$n=mp$$
(98)
Taking

$$\lambda =\overline{U}^1p^1\overline{m},(\overline{m}=m^1)$$
(99)
we find

$`F(V,\overline{U})`$ $`=`$ $`M^1F(mV\lambda ,mp\overline{U}\lambda )N^1`$ (100)
$`=`$ $`M^1F(mxp^1\overline{m})N^1`$
where $`M`$ and $`N`$ are in general function of $`m`$, $`p`$ and $`\overline{U}`$. If $`F`$ is a scalar, then $`M`$ and $`N`$ can not depend on $`m`$ and $`n`$, or alternatively $`m`$ and $`p`$. They will depend on the scalar $`U`$. Hence in that case if the homogeneity degree is $`k`$ we have

$$F(V,\overline{U})=U^kF(mxp^1\overline{m})$$
(101)
If $`F`$ is a quaternion transforming like $`(0,0)+(1,0)`$ under $`O(4)`$, then we must have

$$F^{(k)}(V,\overline{U})=U^km^1F^{(k)}(mxp^1\overline{m})m$$
(102)
Such a function is a power series in

$$Z=xp^1$$
(103)
so that

$$F_L(z)=\underset{n}{}c_nZ^n(Vecc_n=0)$$
(104)
These are just left-right holomorphic Fueter functions of $`z`$. If $`F_R`$ transform like $`[(0,0)+(0,1)]`$ representation of $`O(4)`$ then we have a function of

$$S=p^1x$$
(105)
where $`p`$ transforms like a $`4`$-vector under $`O(4)`$ as

$$pmp\overline{n}$$
(106)
so that

$$SnS\overline{n}$$
(107)
Then

$$F_R^{(k)}(V,\overline{U})=U^kn^1F^{(k)}(np^1x\overline{n})n$$
(108)
If $`F`$ transforms like a $`4`$-vector, then it is of the form

$$F=p^1\underset{n}{}c_n(xp^1)^n=p^1F_L(Z)=F_R(S)p^1$$
(109)
It transforms as

$$FnF\overline{m}$$
(110)
which is the transformation law for $`x^1`$. Thus we have the mapping defined by

$$x^{}_{}{}^{}1=n(p^1\underset{n}{}c_n(xp^1)^n+\mathrm{}^1)^1\overline{m}$$
(111)
where we have also used an arbitrary $`O(4)`$ transformation. Note that unlike the $`D=2`$ case this mapping is not conformal. We shall call it quasi conformal.

Consider the special case

$$c_n=c$$
(112)
with $`n`$ going from zero to infinity. Then the mapping takes the form

$$x^{^{}}=m(\frac{c}{xp}+\mathrm{}^1)^1\overline{n}$$
(113)
which is equivalent to a quaternionic Möbius transformation that represents a conformal transformation. Hence the infinite parameter mapping of Eq.(111) admits the conformal group as a subgroup.

This is the generalization to $`D=4`$ of the infinite parameter holomorphic mapping in $`D=2`$,

$$z^{}=f(z)=\underset{n}{}b_nz^n$$
(114)
where $`b_n,z^n`$ are complex. The mapping admits as a finite parameter subgroup

$$z^{}=\frac{az+b}{cz+d},(adbc=1)$$
(115)
which is the Möbius transformation that is a nonlinear realization of $`SO(3,1)SL(2,C)`$ on the coset

$$SL(2,C)/\mathrm{\Delta }\times E_2$$
(116)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ being the dilatation and $`E_2`$ the Euclidean group in $`D=2`$.

In the case of $`D=2`$ the holomorphic group and its Möbius subgroup are both conformal, since

$$ds^2=dz^{}d\overline{z}^{^{}}=f^{}(z)^2dzd\overline{z}$$
(117)
This is not true in $`D=4`$. The infinite group Eq.(113) does not lead to a conformally flat metric, but its Möbius subgroup does. Indeed we have

$$dx^{}=m(\frac{c}{xp}+\mathrm{}^1)^1dx(\frac{c}{xp}+\mathrm{}^1)^1\overline{n}$$
(118)
so that

$$dx^{}d\overline{x}^{^{}}=(\frac{c}{xp}+\mathrm{}^1)^2dxd\overline{x}$$
(119)
The quaternionic holomorphic mapping of Eq.(113) can be called quasi conformal. If we make the $`O(4)`$ transformation

$$X=mx^{}\overline{n},x^{}=mx\overline{n},P=mp\overline{n},L=m\mathrm{}\overline{n}$$
(120)
it takes the form

$$X^{}_{}{}^{}1=\underset{n}{}c_n(P^1x)^nP^1+L^1$$
(121)
or, putting

$$Z^{}=P^1X^{},Z=P^1X=Z_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{Z}$$
(122)
$$Z^{}_{}{}^{}1=\underset{n}{}c_nZ^n+L^1P$$
(123)
In this last form the mapping is recognized as being a left-right holomorphic Fueter transformation.

If we write

$$ds^2=dZ^{}d\overline{Z}^{^{}}=g_{\mu \nu }dZ^\mu dZ^\nu $$
(124)
then it is easily shown that in $`4`$-dimensional polar coordinates we have$`^{\text{[7]}}`$

$$g_{0n}=0,(n=1,2,3)$$
(125)
In fact, putting

$$z=Z_0+i\stackrel{}{Z}$$
(126)
it takes the form$`^{\text{[8]}}`$

$$ds^2=\mathrm{\Phi }^2(z,\overline{z})dzd\overline{z}+\rho ^2(z,\overline{z})d\mathrm{\Omega }^2(\theta ,\varphi ),$$
(127)
where $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ is the line element on $`S^2`$. Then, this Kruskal form that generalizes the conformal metric merits the name: quasi conformal.

Another similarity with $`D=2`$ is provided by differential equations satisfied by the mappings.

In $`D=2`$ we have

$$(_x+i_y)f(z)=\frac{}{\overline{z}}f(z)=0$$
(128)
which imply the harmonicity of $`f(z)`$, i.e.:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }f(z)=\frac{}{z}\frac{}{\overline{z}}f(z)=0$$
(129)
In $`D=4`$ the mapping

$$x^{}=F(x)$$
(130)
defined by Eq.(111) satisfies

$$\mathrm{}\mathrm{}F(x)=0$$
(131)
showing that $`F(x)`$ is biharmonic. We have seen that in a special $`O(4)`$ frame this mapping takes the Fueter form

$$Z^{}=\underset{n}{}c_nZ^n=\mathrm{\Phi }(Z)$$
(132)
which satisfies

$$\mathrm{}D\mathrm{\Phi }(z)=D\overline{D}D\mathrm{\Phi }(z)=0$$
(133)
where

$$D=\frac{}{z^0}i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\frac{}{\stackrel{}{z}}\overline{D}=\frac{}{z^0}+i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\frac{}{\stackrel{}{z}}$$
(134)
In other words the function

$$G(z^0,\stackrel{}{z})=\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Phi }(Z)$$
(135)
satisfies

$$DG=0$$
(136)
which is equivalent to the massless $`2`$-component Dirac equation

$$(_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{})\left(\begin{array}{c}g_1\\ g_2\end{array}\right)=0$$
(137)
where we have used the following $`2\times 2`$ representation for G:

$$G=\left(\begin{array}{cc}g_1& g_2^{}\\ g_2& g_1^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(138)
The Eq.(137) generalizes the Cauchy-Riemann Eq.(128).

Here we must note that instead of $`Z`$ standing for $`P^1X`$ which transforms like $`(0,0)+(0,1)`$ representation of $`O(4)`$ we could have taken $`U`$ representing $`XP^1`$. Also writing $`U^{}`$ for $`X^{}P^1`$ that transforms like $`(0,0)+(1,0)`$ we have an alternative form of the pseudo conformal mapping that reads

$$U^{}=\underset{n}{}c_nU^n$$
(139)
Under the $`O(4)`$ transformation Eq.(120) we have

$$ZnZ\overline{n},Z^{}nZ^{}\overline{n},$$
(140)
$$UmU\overline{m},U^{}mU^{}\overline{m}$$
(141)
This shows that the self-dual sector is mapped into itself, the same being valid for the anti self-dual sector.

## 4  Geometric Interpretation - Functions on elements of the coset $`SO(5,1)/SO(4)\times O(1,1)`$

The covariant Fueter functions can be shown to be elements of a function of a coset element

$$\varphi =SL(2,Q)/Sp(1)\times Sp(1)\times O(1,1)$$
(142)
represented by a $`2\times 2`$ quaternionic matrix. The dilation $`O(1,1)`$ and the $`O(4)Sp(1)\times Sp(1)`$ groups act linearly on $`\varphi `$. We parametrize the $`SL(2,Q)`$ matrix $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in the following way:

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)`$ (145)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& x\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ p^1& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}m& 0\\ 0& \kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}n\end{array}\right)`$ (152)
or

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=FH$$
(153)
where

$$H=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}m& 0\\ 0& \kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}n\end{array}\right),(\kappa \mathrm{real},m=n=1)$$
(154)
represents the subgroup $`O(4)\times O(1,1)`$ and

$$F=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1+xp^1& x\\ p^1& 1\end{array}\right),(\mathrm{Det}F=1)$$
(155)
is the coset element. In order to eliminate the subgroup $`H`$ we introduce the element

$$\eta =\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),\eta ^2=I,[H,\eta ]=0,$$
(156)
which commutes with $`H`$ and form the matrix

$$\varphi =\mathrm{\Lambda }\eta \mathrm{\Lambda }^1\eta ^1=F\eta F^1\eta ,(\mathrm{Det}\varphi =1)$$
(157)
We have

$$F^1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& x\\ p^1& 1+p^1x\end{array}\right)$$
(158)
Hence $`\varphi `$ has the form

$`\varphi `$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}1+v& x\\ p^1& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& x\\ p^1& 1+u\end{array}\right)`$ (163)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}1+2v& 2(1+v)x\\ 2p^1& 1+2u\end{array}\right)`$ (166)
where

$$u=p^1x,v=xp^1$$
(167)
$$xu=vx=xp^1x$$
(168)
We can also write

$$\varphi =1+2W$$
(169)
where

$$W(p,x)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}v& (1+v)x\\ p^1& u\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}v& v(1+v)p\\ p^1& u\end{array}\right)$$
(170)
Under the subgroup $`RH`$ acting on $`M`$ from the left, we have

$$MRM,\varphi R\varphi R^1,WRWR^1$$
(171)
or

$$unu\overline{n},vmv\overline{m},$$
(172)
$$x\kappa mx\overline{n},p\kappa mp\overline{n}$$
(173)
Consider now a power series in $`\varphi `$, or a function of $`W`$

$$G(W)=\underset{n}{}c_nW^n$$
(174)
under $`R`$ we have

$$G(W)RG(W)R^1$$
(175)
The function $`G(W)`$ is biharmonic when $`G(W)`$ is regarded as a function of $`x`$

$$\mathrm{}_x\mathrm{}_xG(W(x))=0$$
(176)
since we have

$$G^{(n)}=W^n(x)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}G_{11}(v)& h^{(n)}(v)p\\ k^{(n)}(u)p^1& g_{22}(u)\end{array}\right)$$
(177)
Introduce the $`2\times 2`$ Dirac operators

$$D_x=_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{},D_u=pD_x,D_v=D_xp$$
(178)
We have

$$D_u\mathrm{}G_{22}(u)=0,orD_x\mathrm{}_xG_{22}(p^1x)=0,$$
(179)
$$\mathrm{}G_{11}(v)\stackrel{}{D}_v=0,or\mathrm{}_xG_{11}(xp^1)\stackrel{}{D}_x=0,$$
(180)
$$D_v\mathrm{}G_{11}(v)=0,\mathrm{}G_{22}(u)\stackrel{}{D}_v=0$$
(181)
Hence, if we define

$$𝒟=\left(\begin{array}{cc}D_u& 0\\ 0& D_v\end{array}\right)$$
(182)
we have

$$𝒟\mathrm{}G(W)=𝒟\overline{𝒟}𝒟G(W)=0,$$
(183)
which is the condition of Fueter analyticity for the function

$$g(x,p)=\mathrm{}G(W)$$
(184)
The elements of $`G`$ have definite tensorial properties under $`O(4)`$:

$$G_{11}(0,0)+(1,0),G_{22}(0,0)+(0,1)$$
(185)
$$G_{12}(\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}),G_{21}(\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2})$$
(186)
We now turn to the transformation properties under the remaining transformations of $`SO(5,1)/SO(4)\times O(1,1)`$ under which both $`x`$ and $`p`$ transform non linearly.

We have, from Eq.(152)

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& d\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}(1+xp^1)\kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}m& x\kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}n\\ p^1\kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}m& \kappa ^{\frac{1}{2}}n\end{array}\right)$$
(187)
Under left action of $`SL(2,Q)`$ we have

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^{^{}}=K\mathrm{\Lambda },$$
(188)
where

$$K=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha & \beta \\ \gamma & \delta \end{array}\right),(DetK=1)$$
(189)
Solving for $`x`$ and $`p`$ we find

$$x=bd^1,p+x=ac^1$$
(190)
Hence

$$x^{}=b^{}d^{}_{}{}^{}1,p^{}=a^{}c^{}_{}{}^{}1b^{}d^{}_{}{}^{}1$$
(191)
giving

$$x^{}=(\alpha x+\beta )(\gamma x+\delta )^1,$$
(192)
$`p^{}`$ $`=`$ $`[\alpha (p+x)+\beta ][\gamma (p+x)+\delta ]^1`$ (193)
$``$ $`(\alpha x+\beta )(\gamma x+\delta )^1`$
It follows that $`p`$ transforms like the difference of two position vectors, or like $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$. This implies that under the translation subgroup

$$x^{}=x+\beta $$
(194)
$$p^{}=p$$
(195)
Hence $`p`$ transforms like a momentum under the Poincaré subgroup of the conformal group.

We note that

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}b\\ d\end{array}\right)$$
(196)
and

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}a\\ c\end{array}\right)$$
(197)
behave like quaternionic twistors with respect to left multiplication of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ by $`KSL(2,Q)`$

As before we can introduce functions of $`x`$ and $`p`$ that acquire quaternionic multipliers under an $`SL(2,Q)`$ transformations. They are generalized quasi-conformal fields as discussed in the previous section.

## 5 The Quadratic Schwarz Differentials in $`D=4`$. Differentiation of Fueter Series

In the case of the complex Möbius transformation

$$w=\frac{az+b}{cz+d}$$
(198)
the Schwarz derivative

$$\{w,z\}=\frac{d^3w}{dz^3}(\frac{dw}{dz})^1\frac{3}{2}[\frac{d^2w}{dz^2}(\frac{dw}{dz})^1]^2$$
(199)
vanishes, so that

$$\{\frac{az+b}{cz+d},z\}=0$$
(200)
We can also define the quadratic Schwarz differential

$$w(w,z)=\{w,z\}dz^2=d^3w(dw)^1\frac{3}{2}[d^2w(dw)^1]^2$$
(201)
which also vanishes for the Möbius transformation.

The Schwarz differential can also be obtained as the limit of the cross-ratio of $`4`$ points when they all tend to a common point.

Consider the successive mappings

$$Zu(z)w(u(z))$$
(202)
Then

$$\omega (w,z)=\omega (w,u)+\omega (u,z)$$
(203)
which is equivalent to, but simpler then the well known rule

$$\{w,z\}=\{w,u\}(\frac{du}{dz})^2+\{u,z\}$$
(204)
In the special case

$$u=\frac{az+b}{cz+d}$$
(205)
we have

$$\omega (w,z)=\omega (w,\frac{az+b}{cz+d})$$
(206)
or

$$\{w,z\}=\{w,\frac{az+b}{cz+d}\}\frac{1}{(cz+d)^4}$$
(207)
Thus, under $`SL(2,C),\{w,z\}`$ transforms like $`(dz)^2`$ and $`\{w,z\}^{\frac{k}{2}}`$ like $`dz^k`$ so that it has conformal weight $`k`$. However, under $`zu(z)`$ the conformal field transforms inhomogeneously, acquiring an additional piece that corresponds to the central extension of the infinite group of homogeneous analytic transformations.

We now turn to the $`D=4`$ case and the quasi-holomorphic mappings $`xx^{}`$ of quaternions. Is is much easier to generalize differentials than derivatives in the non commutative case. Hence we define two kinds of quadratic Schwarz differentials, both being cross ratios of four nearby points in euclidean space-time.

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_L(w,x)=d^3wdw^1\frac{3}{2}(d^2wdw^1)^2,$$
(208)
$$\mathrm{\Omega }_R(w,x)=dw^1d^3w\frac{3}{2}(dw^1d^2w)^2$$
(209)
If $`x`$ and $`w`$ are $`4`$-vectors, then

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=Sc\mathrm{\Omega }_L=Sc\mathrm{\Omega }_R$$
(210)
is $`O(4)`$ invariant, while $`Vec\mathrm{\Omega }_L`$ and $`Vec\mathrm{\Omega }_R`$ transform respectively like a self dual and an anti self dual tensor. Now we have

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_L[(ax+b)(cx+d)^1,x]=0,$$
(211)
$$\mathrm{\Omega }_R[(ax+b)(cx+d)^1,x]=0,$$
(212)
for a quaternionic Möbius transformation, generalizing Eq.(200).

In the case of the more general pseudo-conformal mapping, we seek a generalization of Eq.(203). To this end we introduce the infinite matrix $`S`$ with elements equal to unity in the upper line parallel to the diagonal, with all other elements being zero.

$$S=\left(\begin{array}{cccccc}0& 1& 0& 0& 0& \\ 0& 0& 1& 0& 0& \\ 0& 0& 0& 1& 0& \\ 0& 0& 0& 0& 1& \\ 0& 0& 0& 0& 0& \\ & & & & & \mathrm{}\end{array}\right)$$
(213)
We now consider the quaternionic matrix

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1SZ}}`$ $`=`$ $`1+SZ+SZ^2+\mathrm{}`$ (220)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cccccc}1& Z& Z^2& Z^3& Z^4& \mathrm{}\\ & 1& Z& Z^2& Z^3& \mathrm{}\\ & & 1& Z& Z^2& \mathrm{}\\ & & & 1& Z& \mathrm{}\\ & & & & 1& \mathrm{}\\ & & & & \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\end{array}\right)`$
Define the kets

$$\alpha >=\left(\begin{array}{c}\alpha _0\\ \alpha _1\\ \alpha _2\\ \alpha _3\\ \mathrm{}\end{array}\right),0>=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\\ 0\\ 0\\ \mathrm{}\end{array}\right)$$
(221)
The basis for this kets is provided by the harmonic oscillator operators $`a`$, $`a^{}`$ which obey

$$[a,a^{}]=1$$
(222)
Then we have

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\\ 0\\ 0\\ \mathrm{}\end{array}\right)=a^{}0>=1>,\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 0\\ 1\\ 0\\ \mathrm{}\end{array}\right)=\frac{a^^2}{\sqrt{2!}}0>=2>$$
(223)
etc. With these notations it is easy to check that

$$S=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}n><n+1=\underset{n}{}\frac{a^^n}{\sqrt{n!}}0><0\frac{a^{n+1}}{\sqrt{(n+1)!}}$$
(224)
$$U=<0(1SZ)^1\alpha >=\underset{n}{}\alpha _nZ^n=F(Z)$$
(225)
displaying the Fueter mapping as a matrix element of the operator $`(1SZ)^1`$. Its other matrix elements are also Fueter functions. We can now calculate $`dU`$:

$$dU=<0(1SZ)^1SdZ(1SZ)^1\alpha >$$
(226)
If we have

$$W=W(U),U=U(Z),$$
(227)
we can write

$$dW=<0\frac{1}{1SU}SdU\frac{1}{1SU}\beta >,$$
(228)
$`d^2W=<0\{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1SU}}SdU{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1SU}}SdU{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1SU}}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1SU}}Sd^2U{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1SU}}\}\beta >,\mathrm{etc}.`$ (229)
while

$$d^2U=2<0\frac{1}{1SZ}SdZ\frac{1}{1SZ}SdZ\frac{1}{1SZ}\alpha >$$
(230)
These formulae allow us to evaluate quaternionic quadratic Schwarz differentials for Fueter mappings.

Note that the operator

$$H(Z)=(1SZ)^1$$
(231)
satisfies

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_L(H(Z),Z)=0,\mathrm{\Omega }_R(H(Z),Z)=0$$
(232)
while this is not true for the matrix elements of $`H(Z)`$. Thus

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_L(<0H(Z)\alpha >,Z)0$$
(233)
The possibility now arises to define a left or right pseudo-conformal field as a quaternionic Fueter function that transforms like a power of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_L`$ or $`\mathrm{\Omega }_R`$. Due to the inhomogeneous term in the transformation that vanishes for Möbius transformation such fields will represent a centrally extended Fueter algebra, the extension being quaternionic in general. The determination of the exact nature of the extension is still an open problem. The general problem first investigated by Gelfand and Fuchs$`^{\text{[9]}}`$ has been recently discussed by Cardy$`^{\text{[10]}}`$, Fradkin and his collaborators$`^{\text{[11]}}`$, Nair and Schiff$`^{\text{[13]}}`$ and others from various angles (see forexample references $`^{\text{[14]}}`$, $`^{\text{[15]}}`$, $`^{\text{[16]}}`$, $`^{\text{[17]}}`$, $`^{\text{[18]}}`$,$`^{\text{[19]}}`$). Many of the formulas of ADHM construction of solutions to self-dual Yang-Mills are most conveniently written in terms of quaternions$`^{\text{[Martinec]},\text{[21]}}`$.

## 6 Basis of Fueter analytic functions. Relation to harmonic analyticity.

We have seen that the left-right holomorphic quaternionic Fueter series of the form

$$F(x)=\underset{n}{}a_nx^n,(\mathrm{Vec}a_n=0)$$
(234)
cannot be used in physics if $`x`$ is a $`4`$-vector transforming under $`O(4)`$ as in Eq.(63) since powers of $`x`$ transform like tensor elements, so that $`F`$ will not have a definite tensorial property. However functions of $`Z`$ or $`U`$, where

$$Z=xp^1,U=p^1x$$
(235)
with $`a_n,b_n`$ being $`O(4)`$ scalars lead to

$$F_L(Z)=\underset{n}{}a_nZ^n,F_R(U)=\underset{n}{}b_nU^n$$
(236)
such that $`\mathrm{Sc}F_L,\mathrm{Sc}F_R`$ are $`O(4)`$ scalars, $`\mathrm{Vec}F_L`$ is self-dual and $`\mathrm{Vec}F_R`$ is anti self-dual.

Then the functions $`G_L,G_R`$ defined by

$$G_L=\mathrm{}F_L,G_R=\mathrm{}F_R$$
(237)
are called left-right analytic by Fueter. Under $`O(4)`$ we have, using the definition Eq.(134)

$$G_LmG_L\overline{m},G_RnG_R\overline{n},$$
(238)
$$DmD\overline{n},\overline{D}n\overline{D}\overline{m}$$
(239)
Thus we have

$$\overline{D}G_Ln\overline{D}G_L\overline{m},G_L\stackrel{}{D}mG_L\stackrel{}{D}\overline{n}$$
(240)
$$DG_RmDG_R\overline{n},G_R\stackrel{}{\overline{D}}nG_R\stackrel{}{\overline{D}}\overline{m}$$
(241)
By direct differentiation one finds

$$DG_R=0,G_L\stackrel{}{D}=0$$
(242)
Each term of the series $`F_R`$ satisfies the analytic equation. Thus

$$Dg_n^R(x)=0,g_n^R=\frac{p^2}{4}\mathrm{}(p^1x)^n$$
(243)
Putting

$$p^1x=u,\frac{u}{u}=\xi $$
(244)
we find

$`g_n^R`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{p^2}{4}}\mathrm{}u^n=(\overline{u})^{n2}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\xi }}(1+\xi +\mathrm{}+\xi ^{n1})`$ (245)
$`=`$ $`\overline{u}^{n2}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\xi }}({\displaystyle \frac{1\xi ^n}{1\xi }})`$
for $`n>1`$. We have

$$g_0=g_1=0$$
(246)
For negative $`n`$ we have

$$g_n^R=(\overline{u})^{n2}\frac{d}{d\xi }(1+\xi ^1+\xi ^2+\mathrm{}+\xi ^n)$$
(247)
We also have the orthogonality property

$`(g_n^L,g_m^R)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \overline{g}_n^L𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }g_m^R}`$ (248)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle d^4x(\overline{g}_n^LDg_m^R+\overline{g}_n^L\stackrel{}{D}g_m^R)}=0`$
for $`nm`$. Here

$$d\mathrm{\Sigma }=d\mathrm{\Sigma }_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }d\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}$$
(249)
where $`d\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mu `$ is the surface element. The $`3`$-dimensional surface integral can be taken over $`S^3`$.

In this way a solution $`f`$ of the massless Dirac equation

$$Df=0$$
(250)
can be expanded in the basis functions $`g_n^R`$. Now a solution of the Dirac equation is also a solution of the equation

$$\overline{x}Df=0$$
(251)
We can write

$$\overline{x}D=x^\mu _\mu \stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{L}=\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{L},$$
(252)
where

$$\stackrel{}{L}=i(\stackrel{}{x}\times \stackrel{}{}+\stackrel{}{x}_0x_0\stackrel{}{})$$
(253)
is the self dual part of the angular momentum tensor associated with the $`SU(2)_L`$ subgroup of $`O(4)`$. The operator $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the dilatation. Hence $`f`$ satisfies

$$\mathrm{\Delta }f(x)=\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{L}f(x)$$
(254)
If $`f^{(j)}(x)`$ is homogeneous of degree $`j`$, we have

$$\mathrm{\Delta }f^{(j)}(x)f(x)=jf^{(j)}(x)$$
(255)
Iterating and using the commutation relation

$$\stackrel{}{L}\times \stackrel{}{L}=i\stackrel{}{L}$$
(256)
we find

$$(\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{L})^2=\stackrel{}{L}\stackrel{}{L}\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{L}$$
(257)
so that

$$\stackrel{}{L}\stackrel{}{L}f^{(j)}(x)=j(j+1)f^{(j)}(x)$$
(258)
Hence $`f^{(j)}(x)`$ is proportional to a Wigner $`D_{mm^{}}^j`$ function on $`S^3`$ (or $`SU(2)`$). The formulas (242)-(247) give the relation between the $`S^3`$ functions and the basis functions of Fueter analytic mappings.

To find the relation with the harmonic analyticity of Ogievetsky and his collaborators$`^{\text{[3]}}`$ let us rewrite Eq.(251) in $`2\times 2`$ matrix form. We have

$$x=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\overline{u}_2& u_1\\ \overline{u}_1& u_2\end{array}\right),\overline{x}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}u_2& u_1\\ \overline{u}_1& \overline{u}_2\end{array}\right)$$
(259)
where

$$u_1=(x^2+ix^1),u_2=x^0+ix^3$$
(260)
With these new coordinates $`D`$ takes the form

$$_0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{}=D=\left(\begin{array}{cc}/u_2& /\overline{u}_1\\ /u_1& /\overline{u}_2\end{array}\right),$$
(261)
$`i\overline{x}D=\mathrm{\Delta }+\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{L}=`$

$$=i\left(\begin{array}{cc}u_1/u_1+u_2/u_2& u_2/\overline{u}_1u_1/\overline{u}_2\\ \overline{u}_1/u_2\overline{u}_2/u_1& \overline{u}_1/\overline{u}_1+\overline{u}_2/\overline{u}_2\end{array}\right)$$
(262)
We can rewrite this as

$$i\overline{x}D=i\left(\begin{array}{cc}D^+& D^{++}\\ D^{}& D^+\end{array}\right)$$
(263)
Let

$$f=\left(\begin{array}{cc}f_1& \overline{f}_2\\ f_2& \overline{f}_1\end{array}\right)$$
(264)
We find

$$D^{++}=L_2+iL_1$$
(265)
or if

$$L_{\mu \nu }=i(x_\mu _\nu x_\nu _\mu )$$
(266)
$`D^{++}`$ $`=`$ $`u_1/\overline{u}_2u_2/\overline{u}_1`$ (267)
$`=`$ $`L_{20}+L_{31}+i(L_{23}+L_{10})`$
an operator associated with the self-dual angular momentum generating left rotations. The $`U(1)`$ subgroup is generated by

$$L_3=\frac{i}{2}(D^+D^+)$$
(268)
whereas the dilatations giving the degree of homogeneity is given by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{i}{2}(D^++D^+)$$
(269)
On $`S^2`$ for a given representation $`L_3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ have given eigenvalues so that the self-dual analyticity equation (251) reduces to an equation in $`D^{++}`$. This operator and the variable $`x_+`$ defined in Eq.(44) are the cornerstones of harmonic analyticity which involve functions of $`x_+`$ and $`u`$, where $`u`$ represents a spinor or a unit quaternion. If $`u`$ is defined up to a phase it represents a point on $`S^2`$ and functions of $`x_+`$ and $`u`$ are equivalent to functions of a twistor or functions of two quaternions. It follows that twistor analyticity, harmonic analyticity and quaternionic Fueter analyticity are all related.

The operator $`\overline{x}D`$ represents the dilatation and the left rotation subgroups of the conformal group. Similarly

$$Dx=x_0Di\stackrel{}{x}D\stackrel{}{\sigma }$$
(270)
represents the combination of dilatations and right rotations. $`D`$ represents the translations. In a special conformal transformation we have from Eq.(62)

$$\delta _cx=c_\mu x\overline{e}^\mu x,\delta _cx^\nu =c_\mu Sc(\overline{e}^\nu x\overline{e}^\mu x)$$
(271)
where

$$e^0=\overline{e}^0=1,e^n=\overline{e}^n=i\sigma ^n$$
(272)
Hence for a function $`\varphi (x)`$ we have

$$\delta _c\varphi (x)=\varphi (x+\delta _cx)\varphi (x)=c_\mu Sc(x\overline{e}^\mu x\overline{D})\varphi (x),$$
(273)
This equation gives for the generators of special conformal transformation the operators

$$S^\mu =Sc(x\overline{e}^\mu x\overline{D})$$
(274)
which in quaternion form read

$$S=e_\mu S^\mu =x\overline{D}x=x\overline{e}^\mu x_\mu .$$
(275)
Thus, the $`2\times 2`$ quaternionic matrix operator for $`SL(2,Q)`$ takes the form

$$=\left(\begin{array}{cc}D\overline{x}& D\\ \overline{x}D\overline{x}& \overline{x}D\end{array}\right)$$
(276)
## 7 Various forms of quaternionic differential operators

Consider the quaternion

$$U=e^\mu \xi _\mu =\xi _0i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{\xi },(\overline{U}=\xi _0+i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{\xi })$$
(277)
Written as a $`2\times 2`$ matrix it has the form

$$U=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\xi _0i\xi _3& i\xi _1\xi _2\\ i\xi _1+\xi _2& \xi _0+i\xi _3\end{array}\right)=\rho u$$
(278)
where

$$\rho =(U\overline{U})^{\frac{1}{2}}=\sqrt{\xi _0^2+\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2}=\sqrt{\mathrm{Det}U}$$
(279)
and

$$u\overline{u}=uu^{}=1$$
(280)
so that u is unitary and has the form

$$u=\frac{1}{\rho }\left(\begin{array}{cc}\overline{u}_2& u_1\\ \overline{u}_1& u_2\end{array}\right)$$
(281)
with

$$u_1=(\xi _2+i\xi _1),u_2=\xi _0+i\xi _3$$
(282)
The unitary matrix $`u`$ is an element of $`SU(2)`$. Its subgroup $`U(1)`$ can be chosen as the diagonal subgroup

$$h(\psi )=exp(i\sigma _3\psi )$$
(283)
Thus

$$u=Z(z)h(\psi )$$
(284)
where the complex $`z`$ parametrizes the coset $`ZSU(2)/U(1)`$ which has the form

$$Z(z)=(1+z\overline{z})^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& z\\ \overline{z}& 1\end{array}\right)$$
(285)
and represents the sphere $`S^2=S^3/S^1`$.

Thus, instead of the real $`4`$-coordinate $`\xi _\mu `$ we can use the two complex coordinates $`u_1`$, $`u_2`$ or the coordinates $`\rho `$, $`z`$ and $`\psi `$ with $`\rho `$ real and positive, $`\psi `$ real and in the interval $`(0,\pi )`$ and $`z`$ complex.

The relations are given by Eqs.(282) and (279) and

$$z=\frac{\xi _2+i\xi _1}{\xi _0+i\xi _3}=\frac{u_1}{u_2}$$
(286)
$$e^{2i\psi }=\frac{\xi _0+i\xi _3}{\xi _0i\xi _3}=\frac{u_2}{\overline{u}_2}$$
(287)
or

$$\psi =\frac{1}{2i}(ln\frac{\xi _0+i\xi _3}{\xi _0i\xi _3})$$
(288)
Also

$$u_1=(\xi _2+i\xi _1)=\rho \frac{ze^{i\psi }}{\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}}$$
(289)
$$u_2=\xi _0+i\xi _3=\rho \frac{e^{i\psi }}{\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}}$$
(290)
$$\rho ^2=u_1\overline{u}_1+u_2\overline{u}_2=\xi _\mu \xi ^\mu $$
(291)
We now construct the quaternionic differential operators $`D`$ and $`\overline{D}`$ given by

$$D=e_\mu \frac{}{\xi _\mu }=\frac{}{\xi _0}i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\frac{}{\stackrel{}{\xi }}$$
(292)
$$\overline{D}=\frac{}{\xi _0}+i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\frac{}{\stackrel{}{\xi }}$$
(293)
$`D`$ has the matrix form

$$D=\left(\begin{array}{cc}_0i_3& i_1_2\\ i_1+_2& _0+i_3\end{array}\right)$$
(294)
where

$$_\mu =\frac{}{\xi ^\mu }$$
(295)
In terms of $`u_1`$, $`u_2`$ we have

$$D=2\left(\begin{array}{cc}/u_2& /\overline{u}_1\\ /u_1& /\overline{u}_2\end{array}\right)$$
(296)
$$\overline{D}=2\left(\begin{array}{cc}/\overline{u}_2& /\overline{u}_1\\ /u_1& /u_2\end{array}\right)$$
(297)
We also have

$$\frac{}{\overline{u}_1}=e^{i\psi }(\frac{1}{2}\frac{z}{\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}}\frac{}{\rho }+\frac{1}{\rho }\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}\frac{}{\overline{z}}),$$
(298)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{\overline{u}_2}}`$ $`=`$ $`e^{i\psi }({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{z}{\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{\overline{z}}{\rho }}\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\overline{z}}}`$ (299)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2i}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho }}\sqrt{1+z\overline{z}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{\psi }})`$
Consider the dilatation operator

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\xi ^\mu \frac{}{\xi ^\mu }=\frac{1}{2}(u_1\frac{}{u_1}+u_2\frac{}{u_2}+\overline{u}_1\frac{}{\overline{u}_1}+\overline{u}_2\frac{}{\overline{u}_2})$$
(300)
and the covariant angular momentum operator

$$L_{\mu \nu }=i(\xi _\mu _\nu \xi _\nu _\mu )$$
(301)
Its self dual part is

$$\mathrm{}_{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}(L_{\mu \nu }+\stackrel{~}{L}_{\mu \nu })$$
(302)
where

$$\stackrel{~}{L}_{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}ϵ_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta }L^{\alpha \beta }$$
(303)
Let

$$\mathrm{}_1=\mathrm{}_{23}=\mathrm{}_{01},\mathrm{}_2=\mathrm{}_{31}=\mathrm{}_{02},\mathrm{}_3=\mathrm{}_{12}=\mathrm{}_{03}$$
(304)
We find

$$\mathrm{Sc}\overline{U}D=\frac{1}{2}Tr\overline{U}D=\mathrm{\Delta }$$
(305)
$$\mathrm{Vec}\overline{U}D=\overline{U}D\frac{1}{2}ITr(\overline{U}D)=i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{\mathrm{}}$$
(306)
where $`\overline{U}`$ is given by Eq.(277). Let

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\frac{1}{2}\overline{U}D=\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{\Delta }i\stackrel{}{\sigma }\stackrel{}{\mathrm{}})=\frac{1}{2}\left(\begin{array}{cc}D^+& D^{++}\\ D^{}& D^+\end{array}\right)$$
(307)
We find

$$D^+=\mathrm{\Delta }i\mathrm{}_3=u_1\frac{}{u_1}+u_2\frac{}{u_2}$$
(308)
$$D^+=\mathrm{\Delta }+i\mathrm{}_3=\overline{u}_1\frac{}{\overline{u}_1}+\overline{u}_2\frac{}{\overline{u}_2}$$
(309)
$$D^{}=\overline{u}_1\frac{}{u_2}\overline{u}_2\frac{}{u_1}$$
(310)
Using Eqs.(289) to (291), (298) and (299) we find

$$D^{++}=e^{2i\psi }[(1+z\overline{z})\frac{}{\overline{z}}+\frac{i}{2}z\frac{}{\psi }]$$
(311)
$$D^+=\rho \frac{}{\rho }+\frac{i}{2}\frac{}{\psi }$$
(312)
$$D^+=\rho \frac{}{\rho }\frac{i}{2}\frac{}{\psi }=(D^+)^{}$$
(313)
$$D^{}=(D^{++})^{}$$
(314)
or

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\xi ^\mu _\mu =\rho \frac{}{\rho }$$
(315)
$$\mathrm{}_3=\frac{i}{2}\frac{}{\psi }$$
(316)
$$\mathrm{}_1i\mathrm{}_2=ie^{2i\psi }[(1+z\overline{z})\frac{}{\overline{z}}+\frac{i}{2}z\frac{}{\psi }]$$
(317)
Note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ depends only on $`\rho `$ and $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{}}`$ does not depend on $`\rho `$, while $`\mathrm{}_3`$ depends only on $`\psi `$ as it should be.

## 8 Factorization of the Energy-Momentum tensor as the analog of the Sommerfield-Sugawara factorization in $`D=2`$. Generalizations.

In a large class of $`D=2`$ chiral field theories we are led to the Sommerfield-Sugawara$`^{\text{[22]}}`$,$`^{\text{[23]}}`$ form of the traceless energy-momentum tensor

$$T_{\alpha \beta }=J_\alpha ^i(x)J_{\beta i}(x)\frac{1}{2}\delta _{\alpha \beta }J^{i\gamma }J_{i\gamma },$$
(318)
where $`j_\alpha ^i`$ and their duals $`\stackrel{~}{J}_\alpha ^i`$ are conserved currents of the theory

$$_\alpha J^{\alpha i}=0,_\alpha \stackrel{~}{J}^{\alpha i}=ϵ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha J_\beta ^i=0$$
(319)
Then

$$_\alpha T_\beta ^\alpha =(_\alpha J^{i\alpha })J_{i\beta }+J^{\alpha i}_\alpha J_\beta ^iJ^{\alpha i}_\beta J_{\alpha i}=0$$
(320)
It is known that the moments of $`J^{\alpha i}`$ generate a Kac-Moody algebra, whereas those of $`T_\beta ^\alpha `$ satisfy a Virasoro algebra$`^{\text{[24]}}`$.

In conformally invariant $`D=4`$ theories the energy momentum tensor $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ is traceless and symmetric. It can be represented by a traceless symmetric $`4\times 4`$ matrix $`T`$ associated with the representation $`(1,1)`$ of $`O(4)`$.

Hence it should be possible to factorize it into $`(1,0)`$ self-dual fields $`F_{\alpha \beta }^i`$ and $`(0,1)`$ anti self-dual fields $`G_{\alpha \beta }^i`$ so that

$$T_{\alpha \beta }=F_{\alpha \rho }^i(x)G_{\beta i}^\rho (x)$$
(321)
Now quaternions have two real $`4\times 4`$ matrix representations associated respectively with left and right quaternionic multiplications. Since these two operations commute so do the matrix representations. For purely vectorial quaternions one corresponds to a self-dual antisymmetric matrix, while the other is anti self dual and antisymmetric. They have the forms

$$F=\stackrel{}{e}_L\stackrel{}{f}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& f_3& f_2& f_1\\ f_3& 0& f_1& f_2\\ f_2& f_1& 0& f_3\\ f_1& f_2& f_3& 0\end{array}\right)=\stackrel{}{e}\stackrel{}{f}$$
(322)
and

$$G^{}=\stackrel{}{e}_R\stackrel{}{g}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& g_3& g_2& g_1\\ g_3& 0& g_1& g_2\\ g_2& g_1& 0& g_3\\ g_1& g_2& g_3& 0\end{array}\right)=\stackrel{}{e}^{^{}}\stackrel{}{g}$$
(323)
and we have

$$[F,G^{}]=0,F^2=\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{f}I,G^2=\stackrel{}{g}\stackrel{}{g}I$$
(324)
In the case of one internal degree of freedom we have

$$T=F(x)G^{}(x)=G^{}(x)F(x)$$
(325)
or

$$T=T^T=$$

$$=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}2f_1g_1\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{g}& f_1g_2+f_2g_1& f_3g_1+f_1g_3& (\stackrel{}{f}\times \stackrel{}{g})_1\\ f_1g_2+f_2g_1& 2f_2g_2\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{g}& f_2g_3+f_3g_2& (\stackrel{}{f}\times \stackrel{}{g})_2\\ f_3g_1+f_1g_3& f_2g_3+f_3g_2& 2f_3g_3\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{g}& (\stackrel{}{f}\times \stackrel{}{g})_3\\ (\stackrel{}{f}\times \stackrel{}{g})_1& (\stackrel{}{f}\times \stackrel{}{g})_2& (\stackrel{}{f}\times \stackrel{}{g})_3& \stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{g}\end{array}\right)$$
(326)
T is symmetric and traceless. On putting

$$\stackrel{}{f}=\frac{1}{2}(\stackrel{}{E}+\stackrel{}{B}),\stackrel{}{g}=\frac{1}{2}(\stackrel{}{E}\stackrel{}{B})$$
(327)
one obtains the familiar form of Maxwell’s tensor in euclidean space-time. When $`\stackrel{}{f}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{g}`$ are labeled by an internal symmetry index $`i`$ they can be interpreted as the self dual and anti self dual part of an anti-symmetric Yang-Mills field tensor in euclidean space-time. Then

$$\stackrel{}{f}^i=0,(F^i=0)$$
(328)
becomes the self-duality equation.

Note that $`\stackrel{}{f}^i`$ are not currents but self-dual fields. Currents $`J_\mu ^i`$ are represented by $`4\times 4`$ quaternions with trace $`4J_0^i`$ which transform like vectors under $`O(4)`$. In the Maxwell case we have

$$J=F\stackrel{}{\overline{D}}=DG^{}=\frac{1}{2}(DG^{}+F\stackrel{}{\overline{D}})$$
(329)
The homogeneous set of Maxwell’s equations reads

$$DG^{}F\stackrel{}{\overline{D}}=0$$
(330)
The current is given by

$$J=J_0+\stackrel{}{\sigma }_R\stackrel{}{J}$$
(331)
and it transforms like the $`(\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2})`$ representation of $`O(4)`$.

The conservation of $`J`$ is given by

$$\mathrm{Sc}\overline{D}G^{}=\mathrm{Sc}\mathrm{}G^{}=0$$
(332)
since $`G^{}`$ is traceless. In the anti self-dual case $`G^{}=0`$ so that $`J=0`$ as expected. The same result follows from self duality.

Thus, the decomposition of $`T`$ in terms of currents is

$$T=(D^1J)(J\stackrel{}{\overline{D}}^1)$$
(333)
where $`D^1`$ is the Dirac Green’s function in the massless case.

When $`J=0`$ we can obtain $`F`$ and $`G^{}`$ as quaternionic analytic functions, since for example

$$DG^{}=0$$
(334)
Then

$$G^{}=\mathrm{}\underset{n}{}c_n(p^1x)^n$$
(335)
which is also a solution of

$$\overline{x}DG^{}=0$$
(336)
associated with harmonic analyticity as we have seen earlier.

The energy momentum tensor $`T`$ is not the only tensor that can be constructed from $`F`$ and $`G^{}`$. In fact we can obtain a scalar $`(0,0)`$, a $`s=2`$ for $`SU_L(2)`$ \[$`(2,0)`$ of $`O(4)`$\] represented by self-dual Weyl tensor $`W_L`$ and $`s=2`$ for $`SU_R(2)`$ \[$`(0,2)`$ of $`O(4)`$\] represented by an anti self dual Weyl tensor $`W_R`$. The $`(2,0)`$ field is represented by a traceless $`3\times 3`$ symmetric matrix. It can be combined with the $`(0,0)`$ scalar $`\mathrm{}`$ into a $`4\times 4`$ matrix $`L`$ while a scalar $`r`$ is combined with the $`(0,2)`$ into another $`4\times 4`$ matrix $`R`$. Introducing the diagonal matrix $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\frac{1}{3}& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& \frac{1}{3}& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& \frac{1}{3}& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& \frac{2}{3}\end{array}\right)$$
(337)
We find

$`L=L^T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}W_L& 0\\ 0& \mathrm{}\end{array}\right)=F\mathrm{\Delta }F=`$ (340)
$`=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}f_1^2\frac{1}{3}\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{f}& f_1f_2& f_3f_1& 0\\ f_1f_2& f_2^2\frac{1}{3}\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{f}& f_2f_3& 0\\ f_3f_1& f_2f_3& f_3^2\frac{1}{3}\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{f}& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& \frac{1}{3}\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{f}\end{array}\right)`$ (345)
and similarly for $`R`$

$$R=\left(\begin{array}{cc}W_R& 0\\ 0& r\end{array}\right)=G^{}\mathrm{\Delta }G^{}$$
(346)
We have

$$3\mathrm{}=\stackrel{}{f}\stackrel{}{f}=\frac{1}{4}(\stackrel{}{E}+\stackrel{}{B})^2=\frac{1}{4}(\stackrel{}{E}^2+\stackrel{}{B}^2)+\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{E}\stackrel{}{B}$$
(347)
$$3r=\stackrel{}{g}\stackrel{}{g}=\frac{1}{4}(\stackrel{}{E}\stackrel{}{B})^2=\frac{1}{4}(\stackrel{}{E}^2+\stackrel{}{B}^2)\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{E}\stackrel{}{B}$$
(348)
giving the two invariants of Maxwell’s theory in the euclidean case.

Here we note that the curvature tensor in a Riemannian euclidean tensor can be decomposed into $`5`$ pieces transforming under $`O(4)`$ as follows$`^{\text{[25]}}`$

$$R=(0,0),\mathrm{scalar}\mathrm{curvature}$$
(349)
$$R_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{4}g_{\mu \nu }R=(1,1),\mathrm{traceless}\mathrm{Ricci}\mathrm{tensor}$$
(350)
$$C_{\alpha \beta \mu \nu }^L=(2,0),\mathrm{self}\mathrm{dual}\mathrm{Weyl}\mathrm{tensor}$$
(351)
$$C_{\alpha \beta \mu \nu }^R=(2,0),\mathrm{anti}\mathrm{self}\mathrm{dual}\mathrm{Weyl}\mathrm{tensor}$$
(352)
In the case these $`20`$ functions can be expressed quadratically in terms of the six components $`\stackrel{}{f}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{g}`$ of an antisymmetrical tensor $`\varphi _{\mu \nu }`$, its pieces can be factorized into $`FG^{}`$, $`F\mathrm{\Delta }F`$ and $`G^{}\mathrm{\Delta }G^{}`$. If $`G^{}=0`$ (self dual $`\varphi `$) then the Ricci tensor as well as $`W_R`$ vanish and we have a half-flat space. All the curvature can be expressed in terms of $`F`$ which has the quaternion analytic form

$$F(x)=\mathrm{}\underset{n}{}c_n(xp^1)^n$$
(353)
When $`F`$ is meromorphic we have a gravitational instanton solution. These results generalize to the Yang-Mills case with $`F\mathrm{\Delta }FF^i\mathrm{\Delta }F_i`$, etc.

This shows that the factorization of the self-dual Weyl tensor is a better analog to the Sommerfield-Sugawara factorization of $`T`$ in $`D=2`$, since both factors $`F`$ can be analytic, whereas $`T`$ in $`D=4`$ requires one analytic factor $`(1,0)`$ and one anti analytic factor $`(0,1)`$.

For an operator product expansion of $`L`$ for example we would have

$$L(x)L(x^{})=\left(\begin{array}{cc}W_L(x)W_L(x^{})& 0\\ 0& \mathrm{}(x)\mathrm{}(x^{})\end{array}\right)$$
(354)
$`W_L(x)W_L(x^{})`$ is a $`3\times 3`$ matrix that decomposes into a multiple of unity ($`s=0`$), an antisymmetrical matrix ($`s=1`$) and a symmetric traceless matrix. Thus we can write

$`W_L(x)W_L(x^{})`$ $`=`$ $`K(xx^{})I+u(xx^{})F(x)`$ (355)
$`+v(xx^{})W_L(x)`$
with singular $`c`$-number coefficients that can be determined from dimensional arguments. The product $`T(x)T(x^{})`$ is more complicated and bears less resemblance to the $`D=2`$ case. We conclude that the analog of $`T(z)`$ in $`D=2`$ is $`W_L(x)`$ which has the simplest operator product expansion.

To test its true usefulness and power, this quaternionic formalism must still await further progress in the representation theory of $`D=4`$ diffeomorphism and current algebras and the discovery of $`D=4`$ counterpart of the Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten model.

Understanding of geometry of supersymmetry through harmonic analyticity and harmonic superspace led into wide variety of applications in physics and geometry$`^{\text{[26]}}`$. It has potentially interesting application to some on-shell supermultiplets which arise naturally in string theory in the context of Maldacena conjecture$`^{\text{[27]}}`$ (which relates supergravity theories on anti-de Sitter backgrounds to conformal field theories on the boundary, i.e. super-Minkowski space).

The search for exceptional structures associated with eleven dimensions has lead us into description of space-time by means of exceptional groups$`^{\text{[28]}}`$. A quest toward a unified theory has taken us through a progression from particle world lines of quantum field theory ($``$ analyticity) to string worldsheet in order to incorporate gravity ($`𝒞`$ analyticity) into $`M`$-brane worldvolumes in order to realize duality ($``$ analyticity). Next step would be the search for octonionic analyticity ($`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ analyticity). $`M`$-theory might turn out to be supersymmetric in eleven dimensions.

Octonionic planes may possibly provide the geometrical foundation for the existence of internal symmetries like color and flavor. These octonionic geometries allow us to construct new finite Hilbert spaces with unique properties. The non-Desargues’ian geometric property makes them non-embeddeble in higher spaces, hence essentially finite. It also leads to peculiarities in the superposition principle in the color sector of the Hilbert space. This theory of the charge space, if correct, suggests a new geometric picture for the substructure of the material world, that of an octonionic geometry attached at each point of Einstein’s Riemannian manifold for space time with local symmetry that leaves the properties of charge space invariant$`^{\text{[29]},\text{[30]}}`$. Extension of the formalism we presented to octonionic structures may help to understand geometry, duality and non perturbative physics in a deeper way.

Four dimensional conformal field theory can also be formulated on Kulkarni$`^{\text{[31]}}`$ $`4`$-folds leading to a formalism that parallels that of $`2`$D conformal field theory on Riemann surfaces.$`^{\text{[32]}}`$ In this framework the notion of Fueter analyticity, the quaternionic analogue of complex analyticity plays an essential role. For other approaches where symmetry of some field equations were investigated, see for example paper by Kruglov.$`^{\text{[33]}}`$

## Appendix: Use of Coherent States in $`SU(2)`$

Let

$$a=\left(\begin{array}{c}a_1\\ a_2\end{array}\right),a^{}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a_1^{}& a_2^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(356)
and

$$\xi =\left(\begin{array}{c}\xi _1\\ \xi _2\end{array}\right),\xi ^{}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\xi _1^{}& \xi _2^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(357)
with

$$[a_i,a_j^{}]=\delta _{ij}$$
(358)
and defining the vacuum state $`c=0>`$, we have

$$a0>=0,<0a^{}=0$$
(359)
We can construct a superposition state (coherent state) out of the vacuum state

$$\xi >=e^{a^{}\xi }0>,<\xi =<0e^{\xi ^{}a}$$
(360)
that has the following properties:

(1.)

$$<0\xi >=<\xi 0>=<00>=1$$
(361)
(2.)

$`\xi >`$ $`=`$ $`e^{a_1^{}\xi _1}e^{a_2^{}\xi _2}0>`$ (363)
$`={\displaystyle \underset{j=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{m=j}{\overset{j}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}`$
or

$$\xi >=\underset{j=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{m=j}{\overset{j}{}}\frac{\xi _1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}\frac{\xi _2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}j,m>$$
(364)
with

$$<\xi =\underset{j=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{m=j}{\overset{j}{}}<j,m\frac{\xi _1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}\frac{\xi _2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}$$
(365)
(3.)

$$e^{a^{}\xi }a_1e^{a^{}\xi }=e^{a_1^{}\xi _1}a_1e^{a_1^{}\xi _1}=e^{\xi _1\frac{}{a_1}}a_1=a_1+\xi _1$$
(366)
$$e^{a^{}\xi }a_2e^{a^{}\xi }=a_2+\xi _2$$
(367)
so that

$$e^{a^{}\xi }a_ie^{a^{}\xi }=a_i+\xi _i$$
(368)
(4.)

$$a_i\xi >=\xi _i\xi >$$
(369)
so that $`\xi >`$ is an eigenstate of $`a_i`$. We see that

$`a_i\xi >`$ $`=`$ $`a_ie^{a^{}\xi }0>=e^{a^{}\xi }e^{a^{}\xi }a_ie^{a^{}\xi }0>=e^{a^{}\xi }(a_i+\xi _i)0>`$
$`=e^{a^{}\xi }\xi _i0>=\xi _i\xi >`$
and similarly

$$<\xi a_i^{}=<\xi \xi _i^{}$$
(371)
(5.)

$`<\xi j,m>`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j^{}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{m^{}}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _1^{j^{}+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j^{}+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _2^{j^{}m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j^{}m^{})!}}}<j^{},m^{}j,m>`$ (372)
$`={\displaystyle \underset{j^{}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{m^{}}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _1^{j^{}+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j^{}+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _2^{j^{}m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j^{}m^{})!}}}\delta _{j^{}j}\delta _{m^{}m}`$
or

$$<\xi j,m>=\frac{\xi _1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}\frac{\xi _2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}$$
(373)
is homogeneous in $`\xi _1^{}`$, $`\xi _2^{}`$ of degree $`2j`$ so that

$$<\lambda \xi j,m>=\lambda ^{2j}<\xi j,m>$$
(374)
and

$$<j,m\lambda \xi >=\lambda ^{2j}<j,m\xi >$$
(375)
(6.)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}({\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _1^{}}})^{j+m}({\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _2^{}}})^{jm}<\xi j,m>=`$
$$=\frac{1}{(j+m)!}\frac{1}{(jm)!}(\frac{}{\xi _1^{}})(\frac{}{\xi _2^{}})\xi _1^{j+m}\xi _2^{jm}=1$$
(376)
(7.)

$$a_i^{}\xi >=a_i^{}e^{a_1^{}\xi _1+a_2^{}\xi _2}0>=\frac{}{\xi _i}e^{a^{}\xi }0>=\frac{}{\xi _i}\xi >$$
(377)
Also

$$<\xi a_i=\frac{}{\xi _{}}<\xi $$
(378)
so that on $`\xi >`$ we have $`a_i\xi _i`$, $`a_i^{}\frac{}{\xi _i}`$.

(8.)

$`<\xi {\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}j,m>=1`$
$`=<j,mj,m>=<0{\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}j,m>`$ (379)
## The D functions of $`SU(2)`$

Since

$$J_i=a^{}\frac{\sigma _i}{2}a$$
(380)
$$J_i0>=0,[J_i,J_j]=iϵ_{ijk}J_k$$
(381)
and the relations

$$J_1+iJ_2=a_1^{}a_2,J_1iJ_2=a_2^{}a_1,J_3=\frac{1}{2}(a_1^{}a_1a_2^{}a_2)$$
(382)
$$[J_3,J_1\pm iJ_2]=J_1\pm iJ_2,[J_1+iJ_2,J_1iJ_2]=2J_3,$$
(383)
we have

$$e^{iJ_3\alpha }a^{}e^{iJ_3\alpha }=a^{}e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\alpha }{2}}$$
(384)
and

$$e^{iJ_2\beta }a^{}e^{iJ_2\beta }=a^{}e^{i\sigma _2\frac{\beta }{2}}.$$
(385)
Now let

$`U(𝝎)j,m>`$ $`=`$ $`e^{iJ_3\alpha }e^{iJ_2\beta }e^{iJ_3\gamma }j,m>`$ (386)
$`=U{\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}U^1U0>`$
with

$$U0>=0>,Ua_1^{}U^1=a_1^{{}_{}{}^{}},Ua_2^{}U^1=a_2^{{}_{}{}^{}},$$
(387)
where

$$a^{}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a_1^{}& a_2^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(388)
so that

$`a^{{}_{}{}^{}}Ua^{}U^1`$ $`=`$ $`e^{iJ_3\alpha }e^{iJ_2\beta }e^{iJ_3\gamma }a^{}e^{iJ_3\gamma }e^{iJ_2\beta }e^{iJ_3\alpha }`$ (389)
$`=a^{}e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\alpha }{2}}e^{i\sigma _2\frac{\beta }{2}}e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\gamma }{2}}`$
$`=a^{}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)`$
$`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a^{}\psi & a^{}\widehat{\psi }\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a_1^{{}_{}{}^{}}& a_2^{{}_{}{}^{}}\end{array}\right)`$
where

$$\psi _1=e^{i(\alpha +\gamma )/2}cos(\frac{\beta }{2}),\psi _2=e^{i(\gamma \alpha )/2}sin(\frac{\beta }{2})$$
(390)
so that $`U(𝝎)=U(\psi )`$, and $`\psi ^{}\psi =1`$.

Also

$`U(𝝎)j,m^{}>`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{{}_{}{}^{}j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{{}_{}{}^{}jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}0>`$ (391)
$`={\displaystyle \frac{(a^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(a^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}0>`$
Now we can write

$`D_{mm^{}}^j(𝝎)=D_{mm^{}}^j(\psi )=<j,mU(𝝎)j,m^{}>`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{(a^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(a^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}0>`$
$`=<0{\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(a^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(a^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}0>`$ (392)
Now to get the expression for $`D_{mm^{}}^j(\psi )`$, consider

$$<\xi U(\psi )j,m^{}>=<\xi \frac{(a^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}\frac{(a^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}0>$$
(393)
Using

$$<\xi a^{}=<\xi \xi ^{}$$
(394)
and $`<\xi 0>=1`$ we get

$$<\xi U(\psi )j,m^{}>=\frac{(\xi ^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}\frac{(\xi ^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}$$
(395)
which is homogeneous of degree $`2j`$ in $`\xi _1^{}`$, $`\xi _2^{}`$. Hence the expression

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}\frac{1}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}(\frac{}{\xi _1^{}})^{j+m}(\frac{}{\xi _2^{}})^{jm}\frac{(\xi ^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}\frac{(\xi ^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}$$
(396)
does not depend on $`\xi `$. Thus

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}({\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _1^{}}})^{j+m}({\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _2^{}}})^{jm}<\xi U(\psi )j,m^{}>=`$
$`=<\xi {\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}U(\psi )j,m^{}>`$ (397)
does not depend on $`\xi `$. Hence we have

$`<\xi {\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}U(\psi )j,m^{}>=`$
$`=<0{\displaystyle \frac{a_1^{j+m}}{\sqrt{(j+m)!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_2^{jm}}{\sqrt{(jm)!}}}U(\psi )j,m^{}>=D_{mm^{}}^j(\psi )`$ (398)
Thus

$$D_{mm^{}}^j(\psi )=\frac{1}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}\frac{1}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}(\frac{}{\xi _1^{}})^{j+m}(\frac{}{\xi _2^{}})^{jm}<\xi U(\psi )j,m^{}>$$
(399)
Using

$$x<\xi U(\psi )j,m^{}>=\frac{(\xi ^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}\frac{(\xi ^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}$$
(400)
we finally get

$`D_{mm^{}}^j(\psi )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}({\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _1^{}}})^{j+m}({\displaystyle \frac{}{\xi _2^{}}})^{jm}\times `$ (401)
$`\{{\displaystyle \frac{(\xi ^{}\psi )^{j+m^{}}}{\sqrt{(j+m^{})!}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\xi ^{}\widehat{\psi })^{jm^{}}}{\sqrt{(jm^{})!}}}\}`$
We note that $`m`$ numbers rows, $`m^{}`$ numbers columns. We have

$$D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{}{\xi _1^{}}(\xi _1^{}\psi _1+\xi _2^{}\psi _2)=\psi _1=e^{i(\alpha +\gamma )/2}cos(\frac{\beta }{2})$$
(402)
$$D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{}{\xi _1^{}}(\xi _1^{}\psi _2^{}+\xi _2^{}\psi _1^{})=\psi _2^{}$$
(403)
$$D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{}{\xi _2^{}}(\xi _1^{}\psi _1+\xi _2^{}\psi _2)=\psi _2=e^{i(\gamma \alpha )/2}sin(\frac{\beta }{2})$$
(404)
$$D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{}{\xi _2^{}}(\xi _1^{}\psi _2^{}+\xi _2^{}\psi _1^{})=\psi _1^{}$$
(405)
so that

$`D^{\frac{1}{2}}(\psi )`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}& D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}\\ D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}& D_{\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{2}}^{\frac{1}{2}}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)=`$ (406)
$`=`$ $`e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\alpha }{2}}e^{i\sigma _2\frac{\beta }{2}}e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\gamma }{2}}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{\frac{i}{2}(\alpha +\gamma )}cos\frac{\beta }{2}& e^{\frac{i}{2}(\gamma \alpha )}sin\frac{\beta }{2}\\ e^{\frac{i}{2}(\gamma \alpha )}sin\frac{\beta }{2}& e^{\frac{i}{2}(\alpha +\gamma )}cos\frac{\beta }{2}\end{array}\right)`$
Similarly

$$D^1(\psi )=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\psi _1^2& \sqrt{2}\psi _1\psi _2^{}& \psi _2^{}\\ \sqrt{2}\psi _1\psi _2& \psi _1^2\psi _2^2& \sqrt{2}\psi _1^{}\psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2^2& \sqrt{2}\psi _2\psi _1^{}& \psi _1^2\end{array}\right)=e^{i\mathrm{\Sigma }_3\alpha }e^{i\mathrm{\Sigma }_2\beta }e^{i\mathrm{\Sigma }_3\gamma }$$
(407)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_i`$ are the $`s=1`$ (isotopic spin) matrices. They are

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 1& 0\\ 1& 0& 1\\ 0& 1& 0\end{array}\right),\mathrm{\Sigma }_2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2i}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& \sqrt{2}& 0\\ \sqrt{2}& 0& \sqrt{2}\\ 0& \sqrt{2}& 0\end{array}\right)`$ (408)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_3=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right)`$
and we have

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_+=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1+i\mathrm{\Sigma }_2=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& \sqrt{2}& 0\\ 0& 0& \sqrt{2}\\ 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right)`$
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1i\mathrm{\Sigma }_2=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 0& 0\\ \sqrt{2}& 0& 0\\ 0& \sqrt{2}& 0\end{array}\right)`$ (409)
These satisfy $`[\mathrm{\Sigma }_1,\mathrm{\Sigma }_2]=i\mathrm{\Sigma }_3`$ and cyclic permutations. Now using angles $`\varphi =\alpha `$, $`\theta =\beta `$ and $`\psi =\gamma `$ we can write

$`D^{\frac{1}{2}}(\psi )`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)=e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\varphi }{2}}e^{i\sigma _2\frac{\theta }{2}}e^{i\sigma _3\frac{\psi }{2}}`$ (410)
$`=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{\frac{i}{2}(\varphi +\psi )}cos\frac{\theta }{2}& e^{\frac{i}{2}(\varphi \psi )}sin\frac{\beta }{2}\\ e^{\frac{i}{2}(\varphi \psi )}sin\frac{\theta }{2}& e^{\frac{i}{2}(\varphi +\psi )}cos\frac{\theta }{2}\end{array}\right)`$
so that

$$\psi _1=cos\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\frac{\varphi +\psi }{2}}$$
(411)
and

$$\psi _2=sin\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\frac{\varphi \psi }{2}}$$
(412)
Using these we can now write $`D^1`$ as

$`D^1(\psi )=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{1+cos\theta }{2}e^{i(\varphi +\psi )}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}sin\theta e^{i\varphi }& \frac{1cos\theta }{2}e^{i(\varphi \psi )}\\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}sin\theta e^{i\varphi }& cos\theta & \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}sin\theta e^{i\varphi }\\ \frac{1cos\theta }{2}e^{i(\varphi +\psi )}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}sin\theta e^{i\varphi }& \frac{1+cos\theta }{2}e^{i(\varphi +\psi )}\end{array}\right)`$ (413)
We have shown that we have formed $`D`$ functions with $`\psi _1^{j+m}\psi _2^{jm}`$ in first columns.

## Euler Angles and $`SU(2)/U(1)`$ Coset Decomposition

A group element for $`SU(2)`$ can be taken as

$$g_𝝎=A(\psi )=D^{\frac{1}{2}}(\psi )$$
(414)
where

$$\psi =\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right)$$
(415)
with $`\psi ^{}\psi =1`$, or

$$\psi _1^{}\psi _1+\psi _2^{}\psi _2=1$$
(416)
We can rewrite Eq.(410) as

$`D^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)=e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\varphi }e^{i\frac{\sigma _2}{2}\theta }e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\psi }`$ (417)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}& 0\\ o& e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}cos\frac{\theta }{2}& sin\frac{\theta }{2}\\ sin\frac{\theta }{2}& cos\frac{\theta }{2}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\psi }{2}}& 0\\ o& e^{i\frac{\psi }{2}}\end{array}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}cos\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\frac{\varphi +\psi }{2}}& sin\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\frac{\varphi \psi }{2}}\\ sin\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\frac{\varphi \psi }{2}}& cos\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\frac{\varphi \psi }{2}}\end{array}\right)`$
Let

$$z=\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}=tan\frac{\theta }{2}e^{i\varphi }$$
(418)
and

$$\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}=e^{i\frac{(\varphi +\psi )}{2}}=e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}$$
(419)
where $`z`$ and $`\eta `$ are the parameters of the coset decomposition

$$SU(2)=(SU(2)/U(1))\times U(1).$$
(420)
We can write $`A=D^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ as $`A=BC`$, where $`CU(1)`$ and $`U(1)`$ is the $`U(1)`$ subgroup of $`SU(2)`$ (locally isomorphic to $`SO(2)`$ subgroup of $`SO(3)`$). Now

$`D^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)`$ (421)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}& 0\\ 0& \frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1^{}}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1^{}}& 0\\ 0& \frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}\end{array}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1& (\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})^{}\psi _1\\ \frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}\psi _1& \psi _1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}\end{array}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`\psi _1\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& (\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})^{}\\ \frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}\end{array}\right)`$
Since

$$\psi _1^2+\psi _2^2=\psi _1^2(1+\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}^2)=1$$
(422)
we have

$$\psi _1=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z^2}}$$
(423)
Thus

$$D^{\frac{1}{2}}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& z^{}\\ z& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\frac{\eta }{2}}\end{array}\right)$$
(424)
Now

$$B=\psi _1\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& (\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})^{}\\ (\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})& 1\end{array}\right)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& z^{}\\ z& 1\end{array}\right)$$
(425)
labels cosets $`SU(2)/U(1)`$. Therefore

$$A=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& z^{}\\ z& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1^{}}& 0\\ 0& \frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}\end{array}\right)$$
(426)
with $`\psi _1=z\psi _2`$ and $`z`$ is the coset label for $`SU(2)/U(1)`$.

Under a rotation

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega _1& \omega _2\\ \omega _2^{}& \omega _1^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(427)
with

$$\omega _1^2+\omega _2^2=1$$
(428)
we have

$$A^{}=\mathrm{\Omega }A=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\psi _1^{}& \psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2^{}& \psi _1^{}\end{array}\right)$$
(429)
or

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1^{}\\ \psi _2^{}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega _1& \omega _2^{}\\ \omega _2& \omega _1^{}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\omega _1\psi _1\omega _2^{}\psi _2\\ \omega _2\psi _1+\omega _1\psi _2\end{array}\right)$$
(430)
We can write

$$A^{}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z^{}^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& z^{}\\ z^{}& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\psi _1^{}}{\psi _1^{}}& 0\\ 0& \frac{\psi _1^{}}{\psi _1^{}}\end{array}\right)$$
(431)
with $`\psi _2^{}=z^{}\psi _1^{}`$.

Thus, for the coset label $`z`$ we have the transformation law

$$T_\mathrm{\Omega }z=z^{}=\frac{\psi _2^{}}{\psi _1^{}}=\frac{\omega _2\psi _1+\omega _1^{}\psi _2}{\omega _1\psi _1\omega _2^{}\psi _2}=\frac{\omega _2+\omega _1^{}z}{\omega _1\omega _2^{}z}$$
(432)
which is a Möbius transformation determined by $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

We also have

$$\psi _1^{}=(\omega _1\omega _2^{}z)\psi _1$$
(433)
Thus far we have shown $`A=A(z,\psi _1)`$ and under $`SU(2)`$

$$AT_\mathrm{\Omega }A=A(T_\mathrm{\Omega }z,T_\mathrm{\Omega }\psi _1)$$
(434)
$$\mathrm{\Omega }A=A(\frac{\omega _2+\omega _1^{}z}{\omega _1\omega _2^{}z},(\omega _1\omega _2^{}z)\psi _1)$$
(435)
where $`z`$ is the label for $`SU(2)/U(1)`$ and $`\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}=e^{i\eta /2}`$ where $`\eta `$ is the parameter for the $`U(1)`$ subgroup.

Using Eqs.(417) and (419) we arrive at

$$A=BC=e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\varphi }e^{i\frac{\sigma _2}{2}\theta }e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\varphi }e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\eta }$$
(436)
where

$$B=e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\varphi }e^{i\frac{\sigma _2}{2}\theta }e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}\varphi }$$
(437)
has the form

$`B`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}cos\frac{\theta }{2}& sin\frac{\theta }{2}\\ sin\frac{\theta }{2}& cos\frac{\theta }{2}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}& 0\\ 0& e^{i\frac{\varphi }{2}}\end{array}\right)`$ (438)
$`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}cos\frac{\theta }{2}& e^{i\varphi }sin\frac{\theta }{2}\\ e^{i\varphi }sin\frac{\theta }{2}& cos\frac{\theta }{2}\end{array}\right)=cos{\displaystyle \frac{\theta }{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& e^{i\varphi }tan\frac{\theta }{2}\\ e^{i\varphi }tan\frac{\theta }{2}& 1\end{array}\right)`$
If we put

$$z=e^{i\varphi }tan\frac{\theta }{2}$$
(439)
then

$$cos\frac{\theta }{2}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z^2}}$$
(440)
On the other hand, if

$$\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}=e^{\frac{i}{2}(\psi +\varphi )}$$
(441)
we have

$$C=e^{i\frac{\sigma _3}{2}(\psi +\varphi )}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1^{}}& 0\\ 0& \frac{\psi _1}{\psi _1}\end{array}\right)$$
(442)
Thus the formulas Eqs.(439) and (441) give the relation between Euler angles and the coset decomposition with respect to $`U(1)`$. Note that $`z`$ involves only the two Euler angles $`\varphi `$ and $`\theta `$.

For $`j=1`$ we find

$`D^{(1)}(\psi )`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\psi _1^2& \sqrt{2}\psi _1\psi _2^{}& \psi _2^{}\\ \sqrt{2}\psi _1\psi _2& \psi _1^2\psi _2^2& \sqrt{2}\psi _1^{}\psi _2^{}\\ \psi _2^2& \sqrt{2}\psi _2\psi _1^{}& \psi _1^2\end{array}\right)\times `$ (443)
$`\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{\psi _1^2}{\psi _1^2}& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& \frac{\psi _1^2}{\psi _1^2}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{\psi _1^2}{\psi _1^2}& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& \frac{\psi _1^2}{\psi _1^2}\end{array}\right)`$
$`=`$ $`\psi _1^2\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& \sqrt{2}(\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})^{}& (\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})^2\\ \sqrt{2}\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}& 1\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}^2& \sqrt{2}\frac{\psi _2^{}}{\psi _1^{}}\\ (\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1})^2& \sqrt{2}\frac{\psi _2}{\psi _1}& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}e^{i\eta }& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& e^{i\eta }\end{array}\right)`$
or

$`D^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+z^2}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& \sqrt{2}z^{}& z^2\\ \sqrt{2}z& 1zz^{}& \sqrt{2}z^{}\\ z^2& \sqrt{2}z& 1\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}e^{i\eta }& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& e^{i\eta }\end{array}\right)`$ (444)
In general the elements of

$$(1+z^2)^{2j}D^{(j)}e^{J_3\eta }=Z$$
(445)
are polynomials in $`z`$ and $`z^{}`$. The first column is analytic and the last column is antianalytic.

## Acknowledgments

I thank Chia-Hsiung Tze and C. Devhand from whom I learned most all of this material. Discussions and working together with late professors Feza Gürsey at Yale and Victor Ogievetsky at Rockefeller was of great joy and experience. I also thank Vladimir Akulov, Ramzi Khuri and Anatoly Pashnev for useful discussions.


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# Polarization qubit phase gate in driven atomic media

## Abstract

We present here an all–optical scheme for the experimental realization of a quantum phase gate. It is based on the polarization degree of freedom of two travelling single photon wave-packets and exploits giant Kerr nonlinearities that can be attained in coherently driven ultracold atomic media.

Photons are ideal carriers of quantum information as they travel at the speed of light and are negligibly affected by decoherence. In fact, quantum key distribution qkd  and quantum teleportation telep1 ; telep2  have been demonstrated using either single photon pulses, which encode the quantum information in the photon polarization qkd ; telep1 , or squeezed light encoding the information in the field quadrature telep2 . The use of photons has also been suggested for quantum computation schemes even though the absence of significant photon-photon interactions becomes an obstacle toward the realization of efficient quantum gates. Two different ways have been proposed to circumvent this problem, namely, linear optics quantum computation klm  and nonlinear optical processes that involve few photons. While one is a probabilistic scheme implicitly based on the nonlinearity hidden in single-photon detectors, the other is based on the enhancement of photon-photon interaction achieved either in cavity QED configurations turch ; arno ; eke  or in dense atomic media exhibiting electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) nature .

Single qubit gates and one universal two-qubit gates are required for implementing universal quantum computation. The prototype optical implementation of a two-qubit gate is the quantum phase gate (QPG) in which one qubit gets a phase conditional to the other qubit state according to the transformation $`|i_1|j_2\mathrm{exp}\left\{i\varphi _{ij}\right\}|i_1|j_2`$ where $`\{i,j\}=0,1`$ denote the logical qubit bases. This gate becomes universal when $`\varphi =\varphi _{11}+\varphi _{00}\varphi _{10}\varphi _{01}0`$ turch ; lloyd .

Partial demonstrations of an optical QPG have been already performed. A conditional phase shift $`\varphi 16^{}`$ between two frequency-distinct cavity modes that experience an effective cross modulation mediated by a beam of Cs atoms has first been measured nearly a decade ago turch . The complete truth table of a QPG has not been determined as yet and an attempt in this direction has been made only very recently resch  whereby a conditional phase shift $`\varphi 8^{}`$ has been obtained between weak coherent pulses exploiting second-order nonlinearities in a crystal. This experiment however does not seem to demonstrate a bona fide QPG as $`\varphi `$ depends on the input states and the gate works only for a restricted class of inputs. A phase-tunable mixed QPG between a two-level Rydberg atom and the two lowest Fock states of a high-Q microwave cavity has also been demonstrated arno .

A complete demonstration of a fully optical QPG is still lacking and we here envisage a new scheme for the realization of such a logic gate. Our proposal relies on the polarization degree of freedom of two travelling single-photon wave-packets and exploits the giant Kerr nonlinearities that can be observed in dense atomic media under EIT ima . A two-qubit gate for travelling photon qubits is useful not only for optical implementations of quantum computation, but also for quantum communication schemes. For example, perfect Bell-state discrimination for quantum dense coding and teleportation becomes possible if a QPG with a conditional phase shift $`\varphi =\pi `$ could be used prlno .

In our proposal the two qubits are a probe and a trigger polarized single–photon wave–packet

$$|\psi _i=\alpha _i^+|\sigma ^+_i+\alpha _i^{}|\sigma ^{}_i,i=\{P,T\}$$
(1)
which can be written in general as a superposition of two circularly polarized states

$$|\sigma ^\pm _i=𝑑\omega \xi _i(\omega )\widehat{a}_\pm ^{}(\omega )|0$$
(2)
where $`\xi _i(\omega )=\left(\tau _i^2/2\pi \right)^{1/4}\mathrm{exp}\left\{\tau _i^2\left(\omega \omega _i\right)^2/4\right\}`$ is the frequency distribution of the incident wavepackets centered on $`\omega _i`$ and with a time duration $`\tau _i`$. In the interaction region of length $`l`$ the electric field operator undergoes the following transformation

$$\widehat{a}_\pm (\omega )\widehat{a}_\pm (\omega )\mathrm{exp}\left\{i\frac{\omega }{c}_0^l𝑑zn_\pm (\omega ,z)\right\},$$
(3)
where $`n_\pm `$ is real part of the refractive index which depends also on $`z`$ when cross–phase modulation is present. Inserting (3) into (2) and assuming that the refractive index varies slowly over the bandwidth of the wavepackets, one gets

$`|\sigma ^\pm _ie^{i\frac{\omega _i}{c}_0^l𝑑zn_\pm (\omega _i,z)}|\sigma ^\pm _ie^{i\varphi _\pm ^i}|\sigma ^\pm _i`$ (4)
yielding a two-qubit gate in the form,

$$|\sigma ^\pm _P|\sigma ^\pm _Te^{i\left(\varphi _\pm ^P+\varphi _\pm ^T\right)}|\sigma ^\pm _P|\sigma ^\pm _T.$$
(5)
This becomes a universal QPG turch ; lloyd  provided the conditional phase shift

$$\varphi =(\varphi _+^P+\varphi _{}^T)(\varphi _{}^P+\varphi _{}^T)+\{+\}0.$$
(6)
The two–qubit gate (5) could be implemented in a magnetically confined cold sample of 87Rb atoms where two weak and well stabilized probe and trigger light beams exhibit a strong cross–Kerr effect in the M configuration that is schematically described in Fig. 1. A $`\sigma ^+`$ polarized probe couples the excited state $`|2`$ to the ground $`|1`$ where all the atomic population is initially trapped. The other Zeeman split ground state $`|3`$ is coupled to level $`|4`$ by a $`\sigma ^{}`$ polarized trigger beam and to the excited state $`|2`$ by an intense $`\sigma ^{}`$ polarized pump. A fourth $`\sigma ^{}`$ polarized tuner beam couples level $`|4`$ and a third ground-state sublevel, $`|5`$. Owing to the tuner, the trigger group velocity can be significantly slowed down similarly to what happens to the probe. This represents an essential improvement over the N scheme of Ref. ima  which does not involve the tuner and where the trigger pulse, which is not slowed down, leads to a group velocity mismatch that significantly limits the achievable nonlinear shifts harhau ; luima . We anticipate that in the present M scheme the group velocity mismatch can instead be reduced to zero and the cross–Kerr nonlinearity made large enough to yield cross–phase shift values of the order of $`\pi `$. Phase–gating is realized when only one of the four possible probe and trigger polarization configurations in (5) exhibits a strong nonlinear cross–phase shift. For both $`\sigma ^{}`$ polarized probe and trigger it can be seen, in fact, that for not too large detunings there is no sufficiently close excited state to couple level $`|1`$ to and no population in $`|3`$ to drive the relevant trigger transition. Likewise for a $`\sigma ^{}`$ polarized probe and a $`\sigma ^+`$ polarized trigger. In either case probe and trigger only acquire the trivial vacuum phase shift $`\varphi _0^i=k_il=\omega _il/c`$. When both probe and trigger are instead $`\sigma ^+`$ polarized, the former, subject to the EIT produced by the $`|1`$$`|2`$$`|3`$ levels $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ configuration eit ; slow , acquires a non trivial phase shift $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P`$ which can be evaluated by neglecting trigger and tuner altogether, while the latter, off any close resonant level, acquires again the vacuum shift $`\varphi _0^T`$. Finally, for a $`\sigma ^+`$ and $`\sigma ^{}`$ polarized probe and trigger, the two pulses will experience a substancial cross-Kerr effect acquiring nonlinear cross–phase shifts $`\varphi _+^P`$ and $`\varphi _{}^T`$. We arrive then at the following QPG table

$`|\sigma ^{}_P|\sigma ^{}_Te^{i\left(\varphi _0^P+\varphi _0^T\right)}|\sigma ^{}_P|\sigma ^{}_T`$ (7)
$`|\sigma ^{}_P|\sigma ^+_Te^{i\left(\varphi _0^P+\varphi _0^T\right)}|\sigma ^{}_P|\sigma ^+_T`$ (8)
$`|\sigma ^+_P|\sigma ^+_Te^{i\left(\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P+\varphi _0^T\right)}|\sigma ^+_P|\sigma ^+_T`$ (9)
$`|\sigma ^+_P|\sigma ^{}_Te^{i\left(\varphi _+^P+\varphi _{}^T\right)}|\sigma ^+_P|\sigma ^{}_T`$ (10)
with a conditional phase shift given by,

$$\varphi =\varphi _+^P+\varphi _{}^T\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P\varphi _0^T.$$
(11)
Let us now explicitely evaluate the phase shift appearing in the required gate transformation (7–10). We start by describing the system dynamics for the M configuration of Fig. 1 in terms of five coupled equations for the slowly varying atomic amplitudes $`c_i`$ ima ; haryama , i.e.,

$`i\dot{c}_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_1^{}}{2}}c_2`$ (12)
$`i\dot{c}_2`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_1i{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _2}{2}}\right)c_2{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_1}{2}}c_1{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_2}{2}}c_3`$ (13)
$`i\dot{c}_3`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}c_3{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_2^{}}{2}}c_2{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_3^{}}{2}}c_4`$ (14)
$`i\dot{c}_4`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}i{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _4}{2}}\right)c_4{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_3}{2}}c_3{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_4}{2}}c_5`$ (15)
$`i\dot{c}_5`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}c_5{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_4^{}}{2}}c_4,`$ (16)
where the relative detunings $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}=\mathrm{\Delta }_1\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}+\mathrm{\Delta }_3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}\mathrm{\Delta }_4`$ are defined in terms of the detunings $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1=\omega _{21}\omega _P`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2=\omega _{23}\omega _2`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3=\omega _{43}\omega _T`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_4=\omega _{45}\omega _4`$. We here examine ultracold atomic samples at temperatures $`T<1`$ $`\mu `$K so that Doppler broadenings and shifts can be neglected. We assume that decay only occur from the two excited states $`|2`$ and $`|4`$ out of the system, with similar rates $`\gamma _2\gamma _4=\gamma `$ decay . The pump and the tuner are taken as cw light beams with constant Rabi frequencies $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_4`$ while $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_3`$, referring to weak probe and trigger coherent pulses, are space and time dependent Rabi frequencies. We determine the stationary state of Eqs. (12)-(16) by assuming that most of the population remains in the initially populated level $`|1`$; this occurs when the intensity of the pump is sufficiently larger than the probe intensity and than the detunings as well, i.e., $`|\mathrm{\Omega }_2|^2|\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}(\mathrm{\Delta }_1i\gamma /2)|`$. Under the further assumption that the pump be stronger than the trigger as well, the stationary probe and trigger susceptibilities can be rewritten as,

$`\chi _P(z,t)\chi _{12}^{(1)}+\chi _{12}^{(3)}|E_T(z,t)|^2`$ (17)
$`\chi _T(z,t)\chi _{34}^{(3)}|E_P(z,t)|^2.`$ (18)
Here $`E_P`$ and $`E_T`$ are the probe and trigger electric fields while

$`\chi _{12}^{(1)}={\displaystyle \frac{N}{V}}{\displaystyle \frac{|\mu _{12}|^2}{\mathrm{}ϵ_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{4\mathrm{\Delta }_{12}}{|\mathrm{\Omega }_2|^2}}`$ (19)
$`\chi _{12}^{(3)}=\chi _{34}^{(3)}={\displaystyle \frac{N}{V}}{\displaystyle \frac{4|\mu _{12}|^2|\mu _{34}|^2}{\mathrm{}^3ϵ_0|\mathrm{\Omega }_2|^2}}\left[\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}i{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{|\mathrm{\Omega }_4|^2}{4\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}}}\right]^1`$ (20)
are respectively the linear and nonlinear susceptibilities given in terms of the dipole matrix elements $`\mu _{12}`$ and $`\mu _{34}`$ and atomic density $`N/V`$. These expressions yield previous results as limiting cases. The third-order susceptibility for the N configuration assumed in ima  is obtained when $`\mathrm{\Omega }_4=0`$, while the trigger susceptibility for the M configuration examined in zub  obtains when $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}=0`$.

The above results (17)-(20) enable one to asses the group velocity mismatch between probe and trigger. As pointed out in luima , the two group velocities have to be comparable and small in order to achieve large cross-phase modulations. Unlike the six level scheme studied in kuri , in which cross–phase modulation takes place in a symmetric fashion so that the two group velocities are equal by construction, our present scheme is not symmetrical and hence probe and trigger group velocities are not in general equal. The group velocities follow from (19) and (20)

$`v_g^P{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}cϵ_0}{8\pi |\mu _{12}|^2\omega _P(N/V)}}\times {\displaystyle \frac{|\mathrm{\Omega }_2|^2}{1+\beta |\mathrm{\Omega }_3|^2}}`$ (21)
$`v_g^T{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}cϵ_0}{8\pi |\mu _{34}|^2\omega _T(N/V)}}\times {\displaystyle \frac{|\mathrm{\Omega }_2|^2}{\beta |\mathrm{\Omega }_1|^2}},`$ (22)
where

$$\beta =\frac{\left(1+\frac{|\mathrm{\Omega }_4|^2}{4\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}^2}\right)\left[\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}\frac{|\mathrm{\Omega }_4|^2}{4\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}}\right)^2\frac{\gamma ^2}{4}\right]}{\left[\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_{13}\frac{|\mathrm{\Omega }_4|^2}{4\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}}\right)^2+\frac{\gamma ^2}{4}\right]^2}.$$
(23)
It follows that the two velocities can be made both small and equal by varying the probe and trigger relative intensities and the parameter $`\beta `$. Because of the tuner, our present configuration enables one to further control the group mismatch through $`\beta `$ which can be varied independently by adjusting the tuner intensity and its relative detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}`$.

By comparing the qubits shifts in (4) with the solution

$$\epsilon _i(z,t)=\epsilon _i(0,t\frac{z}{v_g^i})\mathrm{exp}\left\{2\pi ik_i_0^z𝑑z^{}\chi _i(z^{},t)\right\}$$
(24)
of the propagation equation eit  for the slowly varying electric field amplitudes $`\epsilon _i(z,t)`$, where $`\chi _i(n_i1)/2\pi `$ are given in (19) and (20) and $`v_g^i`$ in (21) and (22), the phase in (24) yields directly the required shifts for the phase–gating transformation (7–10). The linear phase–shift $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P`$ acquired by a $`\sigma ^+`$-polarized probe pulse moving in the $`z`$–direction across a sample of optical thickness $`l`$ then becomes

$$\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P=k_Pl\left\{1+2\pi \chi _{12}^{(1)}\right\}$$
(25)
while the nonlinear shift is obtained when the last contribution on the right hand side of (17) is included. For a trigger Gaussian pulse loud  of peak Rabi frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_3^{pk}`$ and moving within the sample with group velocity $`v_g^T`$, we arrive at an overall probe shift in the form

$`\varphi _+^P=\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P+2\pi k_P\chi _{12}^{(3)}{\displaystyle _0^l}𝑑z^{}\left|E_T(z^{},t)\right|^2`$ (26)
$`=`$ $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P+k_Pl{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^{3/2}\mathrm{}^2|\mathrm{\Omega }_3^{pk}|^2}{4|\mu _{34}|^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{erf}[\zeta _P]}{\zeta _P}}\mathrm{Re}\chi _{12}^{(3)}`$
with $`\zeta _P=\left(1v_g^P/v_g^T\right)\sqrt{2}l/v_g^P\tau _T`$ and where $`\tau _T`$ is the trigger pulse time duration. By following the same procedure one has for the trigger phase–shift

$`\varphi _{}^T=\varphi _0^T+k_Tl{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^{3/2}\mathrm{}^2|\mathrm{\Omega }_1^{pk}|^2}{4|\mu _{12}|^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{erf}[\zeta _T]}{\zeta _T}}\mathrm{Re}\chi _{34}^{(3)},`$ (27)
where $`\zeta _T`$ is obtained from $`\zeta _P`$ upon interchanging $`PT`$.

Large nonlinear shifts take place when probe and trigger velocities are very much alike, i.e. when $`\zeta 0`$ in which case the erf\[$`\zeta `$\]/$`\zeta `$ reaches the maximum value $`2/\sqrt{\pi }`$, and for appreciably large values of the two nonlinear susceptibilities real parts. At the same time, their imaginary parts have to be kept small so as to avoid absorption, which may hamper the efficiency of the gating mechanism. Assuming a perfect EIT regime for the probe, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1=\mathrm{\Delta }_2=0`$, it is easily seen from Eq. (20) that one can attain imaginary parts that are two orders of magnitude smaller than their real parts for suitable values of the tuner intensity and provided that trigger and tuner are both strongly detuned and by nearly equal amounts, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3\mathrm{\Delta }_4`$. Such a choice further leads to values of $`\beta `$ that yield equal group velocities. By taking, e.g., $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3\mathrm{\Delta }_4=20\gamma `$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{14}=10^2\gamma `$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_4\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_10.08\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_30.04\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_22\gamma `$, one has at typical densities of $`N/V=3\times 10^{13}`$ cm-3 group velocities $`v_g^Pv_g^T10`$ m/s along with over 65 % average transmission tachyon  and a conditional phase shift $`\varphi \pi `$ over an interaction length $`l1.8`$ mm. This set of Rabi frequencies corresponds to single photon probe and trigger pulses for tightly focused beams (several microns) with time duration $`1`$ $`\mu `$s. The non negligible absorption accompanying the nonlinear phase shift does not hinder the proposed QPG mechanism. A demonstration of the proposed QPG may be done by using post-selection of single–photon coherent pulses instead of single photon wave-packets. In this case, the phase gating mechanism described by Eqs. (7)-(10) is carried out by considering the four possible configurations for the input polarizations, measuring the phase shifts with a Mach-Zender interferometer set-up resch , and post-selecting only the events with a coincident detection of one photon out of each probe and trigger pulse. Non negligible absorption implies then only a smaller value of probe and trigger transmitted amplitudes with a concomitant lower probability (by $`40\%`$) to detect a two-photon coincidence between probe and trigger.

Laser pump intensity and frequency fluctuations may increase absorption and phase-shift fluctuations. The gate fidelity may then be hampered though in the proposed post-selection scheme, the fidelity is essentially affected only by the fluctuations of the shifts $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^P`$, $`\varphi _{}^T`$ and $`\varphi _+^P`$. On general ground one estimates that a $`1\%`$ intensity fluctuation yields an error probability of about $`3\%`$ though relative detuning fluctuations of the order of $`10^5\gamma `$ can make the error probability to become as large as $`10\%`$ fluct . It is worthwhile to note that a classical phase gate could be implemented by using more intense probe and trigger pulses. In fact, a conditional phase shift $`\varphi \pi `$ could be achieved with the same atomic density but over a shorter interaction length, $`l10\mu `$m, along with 80 % average transmission, by choosing $`\mathrm{\Omega }_11.4\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_30.16\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_4\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_27\gamma `$ and by slightly decreasing the detunings $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_4`$.

We here propose in conclusion a feasible scheme for an all-optical quantum phase gate that uses travelling single-photon pulses in which quantum information is encoded in the polarization degree of freedom. Unlike a similar scheme already investigated in zub ; green  and where the issue of the two probe and trigger pulses group velocities mismatch was not addressed, we here observe that a $`\pi `$ phase shift is obtained only when the probe and trigger group velocities are both small and almost equal. We show, within the framework of the present model, that this can be realized simply by tuning the frequencies and intensities of the four input light beams. This way of achieving a zero group velocity mismatch has clear advantages over other schemes that have been recently discussed luima ; kuri . The proposed scheme could be directly applied in fact to a magnetically confined cold sample of 87Rb atoms and does not require a cold trapped mixture of two atomic species as in luima , where the two species realizing a N and a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ scheme respectively, require an accurate control of the atomic densities in order to get equal group velocities. The scheme studied instead in kuri  is symmetric for probe and trigger and therefore yields equal group velocities automatically. Yet, the initial atomic population is here to be put in a Zeeman-split $`m=0`$ ground state sublevel which cannot be easily done in a magnetically confined atomic sample requiring more sophisticated optical trapping techniques.

We acknowledge enlightening discussions with S. Harris, M. Inguscio and T. Arecchi regarding the pulse propagation in ultracold rubidium samples. This work has been supported by the EU (Contract HPRICT1999-00111), the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MURST-Integrated Actions) and the MIUR (PRIN 2001 Quantum communications using slow light).