The Extended Relativity Theory in Clifford Spaces

An introduction to some of the most important features of the Extended Relativity theory in Clifford-spaces (C-spaces) is presented whose ”point” coordinates are non-commuting Clifford-valued quantities which incorporate lines, areas, volumes, hyper-volumes.... degrees of freedom associated with the collective particle, string, membrane, p-brane,... dynamics of p-loops (closed p-branes) in target Ddimensional spacetime backgrounds. C-space Relativity naturally incorporates the ideas of an invariant length (Planck scale), maximal acceleration, non-commuting coordinates, supersymmetry, holography, higher derivative gravity with torsion and variable dimensions/signatures. It permits to study the dynamics of all (closed) p-branes, for all values of p, on a unified footing. It resolves the ordering ambiguities in QFT, the problem of time in Cosmology and admits superluminal propagation ( tachyons ) without violations of causality. A discussion of the maximalacceleration Relativity principle in phase-spaces follows and the study of the invariance group of symmetry transformations in phase-space allows to show why Planck areas are invariant under acceleration-boosts transformations . This invariance feature suggests that a maximal-string tension principle may be operating in Nature. We continue by pointing out how the relativity of signatures of the underlying n-dimensional spacetime results from taking different n-dimensional slices through C-space. The conformal group in spacetime emerges as a natural subgroup of the Clifford group and Relativity in C-spaces involves natural scale changes in the sizes of physical objects without the introduction of forces nor Weyl’s gauge field of dilations. We finalize by constructing the generalization of Maxwell theory of Electrodynamics of point charges to a theory in C-spaces that involves extended charges coupled to antisymmetric tensor fields of arbitrary rank. In the concluding remarks we outline briefly the current promising research programs and their plausible connections with C-space Relativity. ∗aCenter for Theoretical Studies of Physical Systems, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia