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arXiv · 2408.01441

Group Theory in Physics: An Introduction with Mathematica

Balasubramanian Ananthanarayan·Souradeep Das·Amitabha Lahiri·Suhas Sheikh·Sarthak Talukdar
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Abstract

Group Theory has become an invaluable tool in the physics community. Despite numerous introductory books, the subject remains challenging for beginners. Mathematica has emerged as a popular tool for research and education, offering various packages and built-in tools for Group Theory. However, these resources are often too scattered for effective educational use. This work aims to provide a comprehensive source to help beginning students grasp Group Theory concepts and their applications from a physicist's perspective, while also building familiarity with symbolic language. We present several example notebooks that succinctly cover well-known theories and demonstrate specific concepts, which can be easily adapted for educational purposes. We provide basic examples on finite, compact and non-compact groups, and motivate the use of these concepts in solving physics problems such as addition of angular momenta, modelling a system of qubits and the description of spacetime transformations.

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Balasubramanian Ananthanarayan, Souradeep Das, Amitabha Lahiri, Suhas Sheikh, Sarthak Talukdar. 2024-07-20. Group Theory in Physics: An Introduction with Mathematica. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-024-01245-9

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