Optimal alignment of Lorentz orientation and generalization to matrix Lie groups

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Sha, Congzhou M
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Sha, Congzhou M
author_facet Sha, Congzhou M
contents There exist elegant methods of aligning point clouds in $\mathbb R^3$. Unfortunately, these methods fail to generalize to the case of Minkowski space, as we will show. Instead, we propose two solutions to the following problem: given inertial reference frames $A$ and $B$, and given (possibly noisy) measurements of a set of 4-vectors $\{v_i\}$ made in those reference frames with components $\{v_{A,i}\}$ and $\{v_{B,i}\}$, find the optimal Lorentz transformation $Λ$ such that $Λv_{A,i}=v_{B,i}$. The first method is direct least squares optimization through a parametrization of $SO(3,1)_+$ in terms of the familiar boost and rotation vectors. The second method takes a detour through the Lorentz algebra; in addition to being conceptually simple and possessing a computational advantage over the first method, it can easily be generalized to the alignment of vector representations in other matrix Lie groups.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14994
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal alignment of Lorentz orientation and generalization to matrix Lie groups
Sha, Congzhou M
Numerical Analysis
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Mathematical Physics
Optimization and Control
Computational Physics
There exist elegant methods of aligning point clouds in $\mathbb R^3$. Unfortunately, these methods fail to generalize to the case of Minkowski space, as we will show. Instead, we propose two solutions to the following problem: given inertial reference frames $A$ and $B$, and given (possibly noisy) measurements of a set of 4-vectors $\{v_i\}$ made in those reference frames with components $\{v_{A,i}\}$ and $\{v_{B,i}\}$, find the optimal Lorentz transformation $Λ$ such that $Λv_{A,i}=v_{B,i}$. The first method is direct least squares optimization through a parametrization of $SO(3,1)_+$ in terms of the familiar boost and rotation vectors. The second method takes a detour through the Lorentz algebra; in addition to being conceptually simple and possessing a computational advantage over the first method, it can easily be generalized to the alignment of vector representations in other matrix Lie groups.
title Optimal alignment of Lorentz orientation and generalization to matrix Lie groups
topic Numerical Analysis
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Mathematical Physics
Optimization and Control
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14994