OCTONIONIC VERSION OF DIRAC EQUATIONS

Abstract

It is shown that a simple continuity condition in the algebra of split octonions suffices to formulate a system of differential equations that are equivalent to the standard Dirac equations. In our approach the particle mass and electromagnetic potentials are part of an octonionic gradient function together with the space–time derivatives. As distinct from previous attempts to translate the Dirac equations into different number systems here the wave functions are real split octonions and not bi-spinors. To formulate positively defined probability amplitudes four different split octonions (transforming into each other by discrete transformations) are necessary, rather then two complex wave functions which correspond to particles and antiparticles in usual Dirac theory.