There is a typo in today's lecture notes just before equation (247), which
should refer to equation (230).
You can find another presentation of the material covered in today's lecture
in our paper
Quaternionic Spin.
2/22/02
You can find some simple problems involving (ordinary) matrices
here, which may help you to better understand the
manipulations we have been doing in class. Feel free to see us with questions
about these problems, or just to ask us whether you've done the problems
correctly.
2/21/02
There is a typo in today's lecture notes in equation (116), in which x
and z should be interchanged.
2/6/02
Definitions of the basic objects in abstract algebra, including division
algebras, can be found online at the
Division Algebra FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Some further
information can be found at
here. (Both of these pages are part of the
Mathematical Atlas.)
1/29/02
There will be a physics colloquium Thursday afternoon in which we will report
on our use of the octonions to describe particle physics. This talk can be
viewed as both an advertisement for and a summary of the Octonions Seminar!
Here are the details:
Octonions and Fermions
Physics Colloquium
Mount Holyoke College
4 PM, Thursday, January 31, 2002, Shattuck 207