Extended Grassmann and Clifford algebras

Abstract

This paper is intended to investigate Grassmann and Clifford algebras over Peano spaces, introducing their respective associated extended algebras, and to explore these concepts also from the counterspace viewpoint. The exterior (regressive) algebra is shown to share the exterior (progressive) algebra in the direct sum of chiral and achiral subspaces. The duality between scalars and volume elements, respectively under the progressive and the regressive products is shown to have chirality, in the case when the dimension n of the Peano space is even. In other words, the counterspace volume element is shown to be a scalar or a pseudoscalar, depending on the dimension of the vector space to be respectively odd or even. The de Rham cochain associated with the differential operator is constituted by a sequence of exterior algebra homogeneous subspaces subsequently chiral and achiral. Thus we prove that the exterior algebra over the space and the exterior algebra constructed on the counterspace are only pseudoduals each other, when we introduce chirality. The extended Clifford algebra is introduced in the light of the periodicity theorem of Clifford algebras context, wherein the Clifford and extended Clifford algebras Cl(p,q) can be embedded in Cl(p+1,q+1), which is shown to be exactly the extended Clifford algebra. Clifford algebras are constructed over the counterspace, and the duality between progressive and regressive products is presented using the dual Hodge star operator. The differential and codifferential operators are also defined for the extended exterior algebras from the regressive product viewpoint, and it is shown they uniquely tumble right out progressive and regressive exterior products of 1-forms.Comment: 17 pages, to appear in Adv. Appl. Clifford Algebras 16 (3) (2006