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# Invariant Integration over the Unitary Group

## I Introduction

The integral

$`{\displaystyle (dU)U_{i_1j_1}^{}\mathrm{}U_{i_pj_p}^{}U_{k_1l_1}\mathrm{}U_{k_pl_p}}`$ (1)
for the product of $`n\times n`$ unitary matrix elements and their generating functions are useful in many areas of physics. That includes two-dimensional quantum gravity , QCD, matrix models, and statistical and condensed-matter problems of various sorts . These integrals are also useful in the parton saturation problem at small Feynman-$`x`$ . The monomial integral above can be computed using a graphical method . A more powerful expression can be derived using the Itzykson-Zuber formula  as a generating function, or directly from group theory  using the Frobenius formula . Simplification can be obtained for $`n\mathrm{}`$ , but for finite $`n`$, the expression is quite complicated (see eq. (A1)). It involves multiple sums over an expression containing characters of the symmetric group $`S_p`$, as well as the dimensions of irreducible representations of $`S_p`$ and of the unitary group $`U(n)`$. One of the sums is taken over all the relevant irreducible representations, and the others are taken over the symmetry groups of the index sets $`I=(i_1\mathrm{}i_p)`$ and $`J=(j_1\mathrm{}j_p)`$. These sums could be long and tedious for large $`p`$, and for indices which have a high degree of symmetry.

In this paper, we discuss an alternative method to calculate the monomial integral, using as input only the unitarity of the matrices $`U`$, and the invariance of the Haar measure $`dU`$. No knowledge of group theory is required, and these complicated multiple sums are avoided. We shall refer to this method as the ‘invariant method’.

Invariance of the group measure produces various relations between the different integrals, which will be discussed in Sec. III A. The values of these integrals are obtained recursively from the unitarity relation, and that is discussed in Secs. III B to III D.

The invariant method is also applicable to the much simpler case of a monomial integral over a hypersphere. This simpler case will be used as a testing ground for the idea. It will be discussed in Sec. II, as a preparation for the computation of the unitary integral in Sec. III.

In a forthcoming paper, the relative advantages of the invariant method and the group-theretical formula will be discussed. We will also examine relations that can be obtained by combining both approaches.

## II Integration over a Hypersphere

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{n1}`$ be the unit sphere in $`n`$ dimensions, defined by

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}x_i^2=1,`$ (2)
and $`(d\omega )`$ be its rotationally symmetric volume element, normalized to $`(d\omega )=1`$. We wish to calculate the integral $`(d\omega )Y`$ over $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{n1}`$, where $`Y`$ is a monomial of the coordinates $`x_j(j=1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$. This integral is zero unless the power of every $`x_j`$ is even, in which case it can be written in the form

$`J|J={\displaystyle (d\omega )X_JX_J},`$ (3)
where $`X_J_{a=1}^px_{j_a}`$ is a monomial of degree $`p`$, indexed by the set $`J=(j_1j_2\mathrm{}j_p)`$.

One can attempt to calculate the integral in several ways. Three of them having analogs with the $`U(n)`$ integrals will be singled out, because the simpler setting of a sphere should make their relative merits more transparent. The first two are standard, both using the spherical coordinates to calculate. The third one, which we wish to develop in this paper, is an invariant approach, requiring no coordinate system in its computation.

### A Spherical coordinates

The spherical coordinates of $`x_j`$ on the unit sphere are:

$`x_n`$ $`=`$ $`cos\theta _1`$ (4)
$`x_{n1}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{sin}\theta _1\mathrm{cos}\theta _2`$ (5)
$`x_{n2}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{sin}\theta _1\mathrm{sin}\theta _2\mathrm{cos}\theta _3`$ (6)
$`\mathrm{}`$ (7)
$`x_2`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n2}{}}}\mathrm{sin}\theta _i\right)\mathrm{cos}\varphi `$ (8)
$`x_1`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n2}{}}}\mathrm{sin}\theta _i\right)\mathrm{sin}\varphi .`$ (9)
The range of $`\theta _i`$ is between 0 and $`\pi `$, and the range of $`\varphi `$ is between 0 and $`2\pi `$. The volume element is

$`(d\omega ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n2}{}}}(\mathrm{sin}\theta _i)^{ni1}d\theta _i\right)d\varphi `$ (10)
$`(d\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(d\omega ^{})}{(d\omega ^{})}}.`$ (11)
Using the formula

$`{\displaystyle _0^{\frac{1}{2}\pi }}𝑑\theta (\mathrm{sin}\theta )^{r1}(\mathrm{cos}\theta )^{s1}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{2}r\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{2}s\right)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{2}(r+s)\right)}}`$ (12)
and (9), the integral $`J|J`$ can be calculated for every index set $`J`$.

For example, if all the indices in $`J`$ are equal to $`n`$, i.e., $`J=(nnn\mathrm{}n)=(n^p)`$, then the integral is equal to

$`J|JS(p)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{_0^{\pi /2}(\mathrm{cos}\theta _1)^{2p}(\mathrm{sin}\theta _1)^{n2}𝑑\theta _1}{_0^{\pi /2}(\mathrm{sin}\theta _1)^{n2}𝑑\theta _1}}`$ (13)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(p+\frac{1}{2}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{2}n\right)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(p+\frac{1}{2}n\right)}}.`$ (14)
However, if we replace $`J=(n^p)`$ by $`J=(1^p)`$, namely, replacing $`x_n^{2p}`$ in the integrand by $`x_1^{2p}`$, then the integral becomes much more harder to calculate, because $`(n1)`$ times more integrations must be performed. Yet, on account of the spherical symmetry, the result must come out to be the same as (14). This complication arises because a choice of axes breaks the spherical symmetry. It can be avoided in the invariant approach discussed below.

This method relies on an explicit parametrization of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{n1}`$ via the spherical coordinates, as well as formula (12) allowing the integrations to be carried out. Both become much more difficult in the $`U(n)`$ case, so much so that this method is really not very useful there. For that reason there shall be no futher discussion of this method.

### B Group theory

Alternatively, $`X_J`$ can be expanded in terms of spherical harmonics, and the integral can be transformed into a sum using the orthonormality of the spherical harmonics. For $`n=3`$, the expansion is

$`X_J={\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{},m}{}}a_\mathrm{}mY_\mathrm{}m(\theta ,\varphi ),`$ (15)
and the integral becomes

$`J|J={\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{},m}{}}|a_\mathrm{}m|^2.`$ (16)
For $`n>3`$, many more sums are involved in eq. (16).

There are two non-trivial tasks in this approach: to find the coefficients $`a_\mathrm{}m`$, and to carry out the sum in (16). These tasks become quite difficult in practice for large $`n`$ or $`p`$.

There is an analogous group-theoretical technique to calculate the $`U(n)`$ integral, which is reviewed in Appendix A. Using the Frobenius relation, or the Itzykson-Zuber formula, a formula can be derived to turn the integral into a multiple sum. As mentioned in the Introduction, the sums could be very involved, so in practice this method may not be the best way to obtain a result. The invariant approach discussed below and in the next section might be simpler.

### C The invariant approach

The integral in (3) can be calculated directly, using only condition (2) and the invariance of $`(d\omega )`$ under rotation. In particular, there is no need to employ the spherical coordinate system, and no need to know any integration formula, nor group theory.

The invariant approach will be used in the next section to calculate integrals (of monomials of unitary matrix elements) over the unitary group $`U(n)`$. In that case, (2) is replaced by the unitarity condition, and $`d\omega `$ is replaced by the invariant Haar measure $`dU`$ of the unitary group.

It is convenient to arrange the $`p`$ indices in $`J`$ according to the distinct values (between 1 and $`n`$) they take. If $`m_1`$ of these $`p`$ indices take on a value, $`m_2`$ of them take on a second value, and so on, then the integral $`J|J`$ will be denoted by $`S(m_1m_2\mathrm{}m_t)`$, where $`t`$ is the number of non-vanishing $`m_i`$’s, and $`_{i=1}^tm_i=p`$. Spherical symmetry guarantees that the integral is independent of the the specific values the indices assume. This means, among other things, that $`S`$ is symmetrical in all its arguments.

To calculate $`S`$, the invariance of $`d\omega `$ is used to relate the various $`S`$’s to $`S(p)`$. Then the value of $`S(p)`$ is calculated using the sphere condition (2).

The invariance of $`d\omega `$ can be exploited in the following way. A rotation in the $`x_ix_k`$ plane by an angle $`\xi `$,

$`x_i`$ $``$ $`+cx_i+sx_k`$ (17)
$`x_k`$ $``$ $`sx_i+cx_k,`$ (18)
where $`c=\mathrm{cos}\xi `$ and $`s=\mathrm{sin}\xi `$, will leave $`d\omega `$ invariant. Equivalently, if we subject the integrand $`X_JX_J`$ in $`J|J`$ to such a rotation, the integral $`S(m_1\mathrm{}m_k)`$ will remain unchanged.

Let us start out with the integral $`S(p)`$ whose $`X_J`$ is equal to $`x_1^p`$. Under (18), with $`(i,k)=(1,2)`$, the integrand becomes

$`(x_1^2)^p`$ $``$ $`(cx_1+sx_2)^{2p}={\displaystyle \underset{e=0}{\overset{p}{}}}\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2p}{2e}}\right)(cx_1)^{2(pe)}(sx_2)^{2e}+\mathrm{}.`$ (19)
The ellipsis indicates terms odd in $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$, which can be dropped because they do not contribute to the integral. The invariance of the integral under this transformation then yields the relation

$`S(p)={\displaystyle \underset{e=0}{\overset{p}{}}}\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2p}{2e}}\right)c^{2(pe)}s^{2e}S(pe,e).`$ (20)
Since this is true for all $`\xi `$, the right-hand-side must be independent of $`\xi `$. That requires

$`S(pe,e)={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{p}{e}\right)}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2p}{2e}\right)}}S(p).`$ (21)
Similarly, we can apply (18) and the whole procedure to $`(i,k)=(2,3)`$ to get

$`S(pe,ef,f)={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{e}{f}\right)}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2e}{2f}\right)}}S(pe,e)={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{p}{e}\right)}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2p}{2e}\right)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{e}{f}\right)}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{2e}{2f}\right)}}S(p).`$ (22)
Continuing thus, we finally obtain

$`S(m_1,m_2,m_3,\mathrm{},m_t)={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{t}{}}m_i\right)!}{\left(_{i=1}^tm_i!\right)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{t}{}}(2m_i)!\right)}{\left(_{i=1}^t2m_i\right)!}}S(p).`$ (23)
To complete the calculation we must calculate $`S(p)`$. This can be done by using condition (2). Since $`S(p1,1)`$ is independent of what coordinate $`x_j`$ the multiplicity 1 sits on, as long as it is not on the coordinate whose multiplicity is $`p1`$, the sphere condition (2) can be translated to read

$`(n1)S(p1,1)+S(p)=S(p1).`$ (24)
Using (23), we know that $`S(p1,1)=S(p)/(2p1)`$. Substituting this back into (24), we get the recursion relation

$`S(p)={\displaystyle \frac{2p1}{n+2p2}}S(p1).`$ (25)
With the initial value $`S(0)=1`$, (25) can be solved to yield

$`S(p)={\displaystyle \frac{(2p1)(2p3)\mathrm{}1}{(n+2p2)(n+2p4)\mathrm{}n}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(p+\frac{1}{2}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{1}{2}n\right)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(p+\frac{1}{2}n\right)}},`$ (26)
which agrees with the answer given by (14).

The general result is obtained by substituting (26) into (23).

## III Integration over the Unitary Group

Let $`U_{ij}`$ denote the $`(ij)`$ matrix element of an $`n\times n`$ unitary matrix, and $`U_{ij}^{}`$ its complex conjugate. The product $`_{a=1}^pU_{i_aj_a}`$ is abbreviated as $`U_{IJ}`$, with the index sets being $`I=(i_1i_2\mathrm{}i_p)`$ and $`J=(j_1j_2\mathrm{}j_p)`$. We shall refer to $`p`$ as the degree of $`U_{IJ}`$. Since the matrix elements commute with one another, the order of the indices is irrelevant. Thus if $`PS_p`$ denotes a permutation of the $`p`$ indices, and the permuted index set is denoted by $`I_P=(i_{P(1)}i_{P(2)}\mathrm{}i_{P(p)})`$, then

$`U_{IJ}=U_{I_PJ_P}.`$ (27)
We want to calculate the monomial integral

$`I,J|K,L={\displaystyle (dU)U_{IJ}^{}U_{KL}}`$ (28)
over the unitary group $`U(n)`$. The degree of $`U_{IJ}^{}`$ is assumed to be $`p`$ and that of $`U_{KL}`$ is assumed to be $`q`$. The Haar measure $`dU`$ appearing in (28) is left- and right- invariant, and normalized to $`(dU)=1`$.

As mentioned in the last section, a group-theoretical formula to calculate the integral is available (see Appendix A). The integral is expressed as a multiple sum, with a summand involving the character of the symmetric group $`S_p`$, the dimensions of the irreducible representations of $`U(n)`$ and $`S_p`$, as well as the index structure of $`I,J,K,L`$. This formula is general, though not always the best way to obtain the result, because the multiple sums are often tedious and difficult to do. In what follows, we shall develop another method to calculate the integral, using the invariant approach discussed in the last section. With this approach, no knowledge of group theory is required, and multiple sums are avoided.

The invariant calculation relies only on the unitarity of the matrices in the integrand,

$`{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}U_{ij}U_{lj}^{}={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}U_{ji}U_{jl}^{}=\delta _{il},`$ (29)
as well as the invariance of the Haar measure. The latter implies

$`{\displaystyle (dU)f(U,U^{})}={\displaystyle (dU)f(VU,V^{}U^{})}={\displaystyle (dU)f(UV,U^{}V^{})}`$ (30)
for any function $`f`$, and any $`VU(n)`$. We shall apply (30) to the function $`f(U,U^{})=U_{IJ}^{}U_{KL}`$.

The calculation is very similar to that in the last section, though more complicated. The spherical condition (2) is now replaced by the unitarity condition (29), and the rotational invariance of $`d\omega `$ is now replaced by the group invariance of $`dU`$.

### A Relations from invariance

Eq. (30) is very powerful. Depending on the choice of $`V`$, many relations can be derived. Here are some examples.

#### 1 $`V_{ij}=e^{i\varphi }\delta _{ij}`$

With this choice, $`f(UV,U^{}V^{})=e^{i(qp)\varphi }f(U,U^{})`$. Hence the integral (28) is zero unless $`p=q`$. For this reason we shall assume $`q=p`$ from now on.

#### 2 $`V_{ij}=e^{i\varphi _i}\delta _{ij}`$

With this choice, $`f(UV,U^{}V^{})=e^{i\xi }f(U,U^{})`$, where $`\xi =_{a=1}^p(\varphi _{l_a}\varphi _{j_a})`$. In order for the integral (28) not to be zero, this phase $`\xi `$ must vanish. If all $`\varphi _i`$’s are different, this happens only when the indices in $`L`$ are permutations of the indices in $`J`$. Similarly, one can show that the indices in $`K`$ must be permutations of the indices in $`I`$. If $`R`$ and $`S`$ are the permutations in $`S_p`$ that do the job, then

$`K=I_R,L=J_S.`$ (31)
Using (27), we may assume $`K=I`$, with the non-zero integrals (28) now being of the form

$`I,J|I,J_Q`$ (32)
for some $`QS_p`$.

The non-zero integral over a sphere calculated in the last section is of the form $`J|J`$, but the non-zero integral over $`U(n)`$ is of the form $`I,J|I,J_Q`$. The presence of an additional index set $`I`$, and the possibility that $`J_QJ`$, both make it harder to calculate the unitarity integral than the spherical integral, though the idea is precisely the same.

If $`J_Q=J`$, then the integral (32) is positive definite. We shall refer to integrals of that type as direct integrals. If $`J_QJ`$, the sign is not guaranteed, and we shall refer to those integrals as exchange integrals.

The direct integral looks deceptively similar to the spherical integral (3) in a complex $`n^2`$-dimensional space. By mapping $`U_{ij}`$ to $`x_a`$, with $`a=(i,j)`$ running between 1 and $`n^2`$, the complex equivalent of (2), namely $`_{a=1}^{n^2}|x_a|^2=n`$, is guaranteed by the unitarity relation (29). One might therefore think that the direct integrals would turn out to be very similar to the spherical integrals, whose result is given by (23) and (26). Unfortunately that is not the case, because the measure $`dU`$ is not rotational invariant in the $`n^2`$-dimensional complex vector space. As a result, even the direct integrals become more difficult to calculate than the spherical integrals of the last section.

#### 3 permutation

Now, choose $`V`$ to be a permutation matrix of $`n`$ objects. Then $`VU`$ is obtained from $`U`$ by permuting its rows, and $`UV`$ is obtained from $`U`$ by permuting its columns. With this $`V`$, eq. (30) implies that

$`I,J|K,L=I^{},J|K^{},L=I,J^{}|K,L^{},`$ (33)
where $`I^{}`$ is obtained from $`I`$ by a reassignment of the values of its indices, and $`K^{}`$ is obtained from $`K`$ by the same reassignment. For instance, let us take $`p=6`$ and $`n=8`$. Suppose $`I=(11555247)`$ and $`K=(51524571)`$ (recall from (31) that $`K`$ has to be a permutation of $`I`$). If we make the reassignment $`18,25,47`$, then $`I^{}=(88222574)`$ and $`K^{}=(28257248)`$.

In other words, the integral is affected by whether the indices take on the same or different values, but is independent of what these values are.

#### 4 row-column interchange

Since the measure is invariant under transposition,$`(dU)=(dU^T)`$, the integral is unaltered if we interchange the rows with the columns:

$`I,J|K,L=J,I|L,K.`$ (34)
#### 5 graphical representation

It is convenient to employ a graphical description of the integral $`I,J|I,J_Q`$, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The dots in the left-hand column represent the distinct values in the index set $`I`$, and the dots in the right-hand column represent the distinct values of the index set $`J`$. As per (33), the integral does not depend on what these values are. Since $`J_Q`$ is a permutation of $`J`$, it shares the same distinct values, and hence the same dots as $`J`$.

Factors of $`U_{IJ}^{}`$ are shown as (thin) solid lines, and factors of $`U_{I,J_Q}`$ are shown as dotted lines. A number appearing above the solid line or below the dotted line denotes the multiplicity (i.e., the power) of that matrix element. If the number is absent, the multiplicity is taken to be 1. When a pair $`U_{ij}^{}U_{ij}`$ occurs together, we may choose to replace its pair of thin-solid and dotted lines by a thick solid line. In that case the multiplicity designation refers to the multiplicity of the pair. Thus a direct integral can always be drawn with only thick solid lines.

When multiplicity is taken into account, the number of solid lines and the number of dotted lines connected to each dot must be equal. This simply reflects the fact that $`J_Q`$ is a permutation of $`J`$.

The integral $`I,J|I,J_Q`$ with $`I=(11123345)=(1^323^245),J=(12277777)=(12^27^5)`$, and $`J_Q=(21777727)=(217^427)`$, is depicted in Fig. 1. The 5 left-hand dots represent the five distinct numbers 1,2,3,4,5 in $`I`$, and the three dots in the right-hand column represent the three distinct numbers 1,2,7 in $`J`$ and $`J_Q`$.

The invariance of (34) means that we may switch the left-hand column of dots with the right-hand column of dots. Namely, a reflection about the vertical line halfway between the two columns will not change the integral.

#### 6 rotation

Choose $`V=R(ab)`$ to be the matrix which rotates the $`(ab)`$ plane by an angle $`\xi `$. This matrix has 1’s along the main diagonal, except at the $`(aa)`$ and $`(bb)`$ positions, where the matrix element is $`c=\mathrm{cos}\xi `$. The off-diagonal matrix elements are all zero, except at the positions $`(ab)`$ and $`(ba)`$, where the matrix elements are respectively $`s=\mathrm{sin}\xi `$ and $`s`$.

The replacement $`UUV`$ causes the following change in the matrix elements:

$`U_{ia}`$ $``$ $`+cU_{ia}+sU_{ib},`$ (35)
$`U_{ib}`$ $``$ $`sU_{ia}+cU_{ib},`$ (36)
$`U_{ij}`$ $``$ $`U_{ij},`$ (37)
provided $`ja,b`$. Similar replacements on $`U_{ia}^{}`$ and $`U_{ib}^{}`$ should also be made. The result is to change $`I,J|I,J_Q`$ into a sum of terms of the form<sup>*</sup><sup>*</sup>*Odd powers of $`cs`$ never enters because of (31). $`M_e(c^2)^{de}(s^2)^e`$, where $`d`$ is the total number of column indices in $`U_{IJ}^{}`$ with value $`a`$ or $`b`$, and $`e`$ varies between 0 and $`d`$. The invariance condition (30) requires

$`I,J|I,J_Q={\displaystyle \underset{e=0}{\overset{d}{}}}M_e(c^2)^{de}(s^2)^e.`$ (38)
In order for this to be true for all $`\xi `$, we must have

$`M_e=I,J|I,J_Q\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}}\right)=M_0\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}}\right),`$ (39)
where $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)=d!/e!(de)!`$ is the binomial coefficient.

Let us see how $`M_e`$ is computed in the graphical language. Take any two dots on the right-hand column to represent the values $`a`$ and $`b`$. One of the two dots should have some lines attached to it, but the other one may or may not be empty. The total number of solid (or of dotted) lines attached to the two dots is $`d`$. Now move $`e`$ (thin) solid and $`e`$ dotted lines between the two dots, subject to the constraint that at the end of the move, each dot must have an equal number of solid and dotted lines attached to it (otherwise the integral is zero). Assign a weight $`+1`$ for a line moved from $`a`$ to $`b`$, and a weight $`1`$ for each line moved from $`b`$ to $`a`$. The quantity $`M_e`$ in (39) is simply the sum of all the resulting integrals after the move, weighted by the product of the factors $`\pm 1`$ associated with each move.

It is important to note that these relations are local. They involve only the indices of $`J`$ and $`J_Q`$ with values $`a`$ and $`b`$. It does not matter what $`I`$ is and what the rest of the indices of $`J`$ and $`J_Q`$ are.

Let us illustrate this graphical application of the rotational relation with two examples.

example 1

Fig. 2 represents part of a diagram. The whole diagram may have many more dots and lines. They are not drawn because the relation derived below is independent of these other dots and lines.

The values of $`a`$ and $`b`$ must be different, and there must be no more lines coming out of them than is shown in Fig. 2. The indices $`i_1,i_2,i_3,i_4`$ may or may not have the same values, and there may be many more lines attached to them than is shown, as long as these other lines do not connect with either $`a`$ or $`b`$. If some of their values are the same, say $`i_1=i_2`$, then graphically the two dots $`i_1,i_2`$ simply merge together into a single dot. If the values are different, then other lines must also come out of these dots in order to make the integral non-zero.

The integrals corresponding to Figs. 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), and 2(d) will be denoted by $`I(2a)`$, $`I(2b)`$, $`I(2c)`$, and $`I(2d)`$, respectively. In these diagrams we are dealing with $`d=2`$, because there are two pairs of (solid and dotted) lines ending on the right-hand dots.

Let us apply rotation to Fig. 2(a). We could either move two lines ($`e=1`$), or four lines ($`e=2`$). By moving two lines, we get $`I(2b)`$ (two solid lines), $`I(2c)`$ (two dotted lines), and two others, $`I_1`$ (one solid and one dotted lines from $`a`$ to $`b`$) and $`I_2`$ (one solid and one dotted lines from $`b`$ to $`a`$). The graphs for the last two are not shown, but they can be obtained from $`I(2a)`$ by merging the $`a`$ and $`b`$ dots. In this way we get $`M_1=I(2b)I(2c)+I_1+I_2=2(I(2b)+I_1)`$, where (33) has been used in the last step. By using (39), we conclude that $`M_1=2M_0=2I(2a)`$. Hence we obtain the relation

$`I(2a)=I(2b)+I_1.`$ (40)
If we move all four lines, we get $`M_2=I(2d)`$. The formula in (39) demands $`M_2=M_0`$, or $`I(2d)=I(2a)`$. We already know this to be true from (33).

example 2: the fan relation

Fig. 3(b) is a partial diagram of some integral. We assume there are no other lines connected to the dots on the right-hand column, though there may be other lines emerging from dot $`i`$. There may also be many other dots and lines not shown in the diagram.

The multiplicities of the lines shown are $`m_i(1it)`$, so the integrand is proportional to $`|U_{ia}|^{2m_1}|U_{ib}|^{2m_2}\mathrm{}`$. The corresponding integral is denoted by $`f(m_1,m_2,\mathrm{},m_t)`$.

Using (39) repeatedly, it will be shown below that

$`f(m_1,m_2,\mathrm{},m_t)={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{t}{}}m_i!\right)}{\left(_{i=1}^tm_i\right)!}}f(d),`$ (41)
where $`d=_{i=1}^tm_i`$ and $`f(d)=f(d,0,0,\mathrm{},0)`$.

$`f(d)`$ is drawn in Fig. 3(a). Having multiplicity $`d`$ means that there are $`d`$ (thin) solid lines and $`d`$ dotted lines between $`i`$ and $`a`$. Now move $`e=_{i=2}^tm_i`$ solid and $`e`$ dotted lines from $`a`$ to an empty dot $`b`$. There are $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)`$ ways of choosing the set of solid lines to move, and independently there are also $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)`$ ways to select the dotted lines. Hence $`M_e=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)^2f(de,e)`$. From (39), we know that $`M_e=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)M_0=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)f(d)`$. Hence

$`f(de,e)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)}}f(d).`$ (42)
This process can be repeated by moving $`g=_{i=3}^tm_i`$ pair of lines from $`b`$ to an empty dot $`c`$. Then we get

$`f(de,eg,g)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{e}{g}\right)}}f(de,e)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{e}{g}\right)}}f(d).`$ (43)
By repeating this process again and again, we arrive at the fan relation (41), which tells us how to fan out a thick line with a high multiplicity into $`t`$ different lines.

### B Results from unitarity

In the last subsection, relations between different integrals are obtained using the invariance requirement (30). To calculate the actual value of any of these integrals, the unitarity condition (29) must be used.

The unitarity sum (29) for $`il`$ simply brings out more relations between different integrals. But for $`i=l`$, a pair of $`U,U^{}`$ disappears on the right-hand side of $`(\text{29})`$, so (29) relates integrals of degree $`p`$ to integrals of degree $`p1`$. By using this repeatedly, eventually the degree comes down to zero, and the integral is known to be 1. In this way the values of the integrals can be computed recursively.

This procedure will be illustrated by various examples in the rest of this section.

#### 1 direct integrals

the fan integrals

The simplest ($`p=1`$) direct integral is

$`i,a|i,a={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n}}`$ (44)
To get this result, we make use of the fact from (33) that $`i,a|i,a`$ is independent of $`i`$ and $`a`$. Summing over $`a`$ (from 1 to $`n`$), and using (29), we get $`ni,a|i,a=1`$. Hence eq. (44).

This calculation can be generalized to the integral in Fig. 4(a) to give

$`(i^m),(j^m)|(i^m),(j^m)F(m)={\displaystyle \frac{(n1)!m!}{(n+m1)!}}.`$ (45)
Note that Fig. 4(a) is just the diagram Fig. 3(a), but without any additional dots and lines.

To obtain this result, start from the integral $`F(m1,1)`$, shown in Fig. 4(b). The integral is independent of the value of the index (dot) indicated by a downward arrow, as long as it does not take on the value of the other dot. Sum over this indicated index, from 1 to $`n`$. Eq. (29) implies

$`(n1)F(m1,1)+F(m)=F(m1).`$ (46)
Now the fan relation (41) tells us that $`F(m1,1)=F(m)/m`$. Substituting this into (46), we get a recursion relation between $`F(m)`$ and $`F(m1)`$, namely,

$`F(m)=F(m1){\displaystyle \frac{m}{n+m1}}.`$ (47)
Using the initial value $`F(0)=1`$, this recursion relation can be solved to get (45).

Define the ‘fan integral’ $`F(m_1,m_2,\mathrm{},m_n)`$ to be Fig. 3(b), without any extra dots and lines. It follows from (45) and (41) that

$`F(m_1,m_2,\mathrm{},m_t)={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{t}{}}m_i!\right)(n1)!}{\left(n+_{i=1}^tm_i1\right)!}}.`$ (48)
the $`Z`$ integrals

Next, consider the ‘Z integral’ in Fig. 4(c). We shall prove that

$`Z(m_1,m_2,m_3)={\displaystyle \frac{m_1!m_2!m_3!(n2)!(n1)!(n+m_1+m_32)!}{(n+m_12)!(n+m_32)!(n+m_1+m_2+m_31)!}}.`$ (49)
To do so, consider Fig. 4(d). Summing over the index indicated by the vertical arrow, and denoting the integral in Fig. 4(d) by $`I(4d)`$, the unitarity condition (29) gives

$`(n2)I(4d)+Z(m_1,m_2,m_3)+Z(m_1,m_2+1,m_31)=Z(m_1,m_2,m_31).`$ (50)
The fan formula (41) tells us that $`I(4d)=Z(m_1,m_2,m_3)/m_3`$. Substituting this into (50), we get a recursion relation in $`m_3`$:

$`Z(m_1,m_2,m_3)={\displaystyle \frac{m_3}{n+m_32}}\left[Z(m_1,m_2,m_31)Z(m_1,m_2+1,m_31)\right].`$ (51)
Using the initial value $`Z(m_1,m_2,0)=F(m_1,m_2)=(n1)!m_1!m_2!/(n+m_1+m_21)!`$, the recursion relation can be solved to yield (49).

Relation (41) can also be used to fan out the two open ends of Fig. 4(c) and (49) to obtain the ‘fanned Z integrals’.

### C Exchange integrals

To illustrate how to compute exchange integrals, all second and third degree exchange integrals will be computed in this subsection.

#### 1 $`p=2`$

All the second degree integrals are shown in Fig. 5. The integrals in Figs. 5(a), 5(c), 5(d), 5(e) are direct integrals, either of the fan type, or the Z type, so they are known. The only exchange integral is $`E(2)`$ depicted in Fig. 5(b). It can be computed either by rotation from a direct integral, or by unitarity. We will discuss both methods.

by rotation

Starting from Fig. 5(d), rotate two solid and two dotted lines from the dot in the right-hand column to an empty dot. This is a special case of example 1 of Sec. IIIA5 and Fig. 2, but let us do it directly once again. Using the notation in (39), we get

$`M_1=2Z(1,0,1)+2E(2)=2M_0=2F(1,1).`$ (52)
Hence

$`E(2)=F(1,1)Z(1,0,1)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n(n+1)}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n1)(n+1)}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n(n^21)}}.`$ (53)
by unitarity

Summing over the indicated index in Fig. 5(b) from 1 to $`n`$ yields $`(n1)E(2)+F(1,1)=0`$, hence

$`E(2)={\displaystyle \frac{F(1,1)}{n1}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n(n^21)}}.`$ (54)
#### 2 $`p=3`$

Fig. 6 shows the two direct integrals which are not of the fan type or the Z type, and all the exchange integrals of degree 3.

To get $`I(6a)`$, the integral for Fig. 6(a), carry out a unitarity sum on the indicated index. This yields $`(n1)I(6a)+F(1,1,1)=F(1,1)`$, hence

$`I(6a)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n1}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{n(n+1)}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n(n+1)(n+2)}}\right)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n1)n(n+2)}}.`$ (55)
This integral can also be computed by fanning out the bottom line of $`Z(2,0,1)=2(n+1)(n2)!/(n+2)!`$.

To compute $`I(6b)`$, take a unitary sum over the indicated index. This yields $`(n2)I(6b)+2I(6a)=Z(1,0,1)`$. Hence

$`I(6b)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^21}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{(n1)n(n+2)}}\right)={\displaystyle \frac{(n^22)(n3)!}{(n+2)!}}.`$ (56)
The exchange integrals can be obtained by taking the unitary sum on the indicated vertex. Note that the right-hand side of the sum is always zero in the case of exchange integrals.

In this way we obtain the relations

$`(n1)I(6c)+F(1,2)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (57)
$`(n1)I(6d)+F(1,2)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (58)
$`(n1)I(6e)+F(1,1,1)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (59)
$`(n2)I(6f)+I(6a)+I(6e)`$ $`=`$ $`0`$ (60)
$`(n2)I(6g)+2I(6e)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (61)
The solutions are

$`I(6c)=I(6d)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2(n1)!}{(n+2)!(n1)}}=2{\displaystyle \frac{(n2)!}{(n+2)!}}`$ (62)
$`I(6e)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{F(1,1,1)}{n1}}={\displaystyle \frac{(n2)!}{(n+2)!}}`$ (63)
$`I(6f)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{n2}}\left(I(6a)+I(6e)\right)=n{\displaystyle \frac{(n3)!}{(n+2)!}}`$ (64)
$`I(6g)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{n2}}I(6e)=2{\displaystyle \frac{(n3)!}{(n+2)!}}.`$ (65)
### D The X integrals

To illustrate how direct and exchange integrals may be coupled in the recursion relation, let us look at the 1-loop ‘X integrals’ depicted in Fig. 7(a). This integral, specified by the four weights $`r,s,t,u`$ of $`U^{}`$ and the four weights $`r^{},s^{},t^{},u^{}`$ of $`U`$, will be designated as $`X(rstu|r^{}s^{}t^{}u^{})=I(7a)`$. Since the number of dotted lines and the number of solid lines emerging from each vertex must be equal, there are three relations for these eight parameters,

$`r^{}+s^{}`$ $`=`$ $`r+s,`$ (66)
$`s^{}+t^{}`$ $`=`$ $`s+t,`$ (67)
$`t^{}+u^{}`$ $`=`$ $`t+u,`$ (68)
so only five independent parameters are required to specify all the $`X`$ integrals.

It is fairly complicated to calculate all these integrals, so we will only derive the recursion relation here and illustrate how it can be used in the simplest case. Let $`\rho =r+r^{}`$ be the total number of top lines in $`X`$, and $`\sigma =s+s^{}`$ the total number of lines on one side. The idea is to find a recursion relation in $`\rho +\sigma `$, each time reducing either $`\rho `$ or $`\sigma `$ by 1. Eventually one gets down to either $`\rho =0`$ or $`\sigma =0`$, which are the $`Z`$ integrals obtained before.

#### 1 recursion relation

Rotate one solid and one dotted line from the $`rs`$ junction of Fig. 7(a) to an empty dot. The result is Fig. 7(b) to Fig. 7(e). In the notation of (39), we have

$`M_1=r^{}sI(7b)+rs^{}I(7c)+ss^{}I(7d)+rr^{}I(7e)=(r+s)M_0=(r+s)I(7a),`$ (69)
where $`I(7b)`$ is the integral depicted in Fig. 7(b), etc.

The parameters of Figs. 7(b) to 7(e) are those of 7(a), except where a ‘$``$’ sign occurs, in which case the corresponding parameter is reduced by 1. In Fig. 8 we will also use a ‘$`+`$’ sign to indicate where the parameter is increased by 1.

The unitarity sum, applied to the indicated index in Figs. 7(b) to 7(e), results in the relations

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`(n2)I(7b)+I(7a)+I(8b)`$ (70)
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`(n2)I(7c)+I(7a)+I(8c),`$ (71)
$`I(8d_2)`$ $`=`$ $`(n2)I(7d)+I(7a)+I(8d_1),`$ (72)
$`I(8e_2)`$ $`=`$ $`(n2)I(7e)+I(7a)+I(8e_1).`$ (73)
A substitution of (73) into (69) yields the desired recursion relation

$`I(7a)={\displaystyle \frac{r^{}sI(8b)+rs^{}I(8c)+ss^{}[I(8d_1)I(8d_2)]+rr^{}[I(8e_1)I(8e_2)]}{(r+s)(r^{}+s^{}+n2)}}.`$ (74)
Let us illustrate the recursion relation by computing the simplest cases, with $`\rho +\sigma =2`$.

There are four possibilities with $`r+r^{}+s+s^{}=2`$. Two of them are the known $`Z`$-integrals, namely, $`X(0,1,t,u|0,1,t,u)=Z(1,t,u)`$ and $`X(1,0,t,u|1,0,t,u)=Z(1,u,t)`$. The other two are exchange integrals which can be obtained from (74):

$`X(1,0,t,u|0,1,t1,u+1)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{I(8c)}{n1}}={\displaystyle \frac{F(t,u+1)}{n1}}={\displaystyle \frac{t!(u+1)!(n2)!}{(n+t+u)!}},`$ (75)
$`X(0,1,t1,u|1,0,t,u1)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{I(8b)}{n1}}={\displaystyle \frac{F(t+1,u)}{n1}}={\displaystyle \frac{(t+1)!u!(n2)!}{(n+t+u)!}}.`$ (76)
In particular, (75) reduces to $`I(6d)`$ of (65) when $`t=u=1`$.

## IV Conclusion

We have shown how an integral over the $`U(n)`$ manifold can be computed recursively using only the invariance of the Haar measure and the unitarity condition. The same method can also be used to get a closed expression for a monomial integral over a unit sphere.

In a forthcoming paper, we shall compare the relative advantages of the invariant method developed here, and the group-theoretical method reviewed in Appendix A. We will show how the two methods can be combined to strengthen each other.

CSL would like to thank G. Semenoff and A. D’Adda for helpful discussions. This research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and by the Fonds de recherche sur la nature et les technologies of Québec.

## A Group Theoretical Calculation

As shown in (32), the non-zero integrals of (28) can be written in the form $`I,J|I,J_Q`$. Using group theory, to be reviewed below, the integral can be turned into a multiple sumCSL wishes to thank Prof. Alessandro D’Adda for introducing him to this formula.:

$`I,J|I,J_Q={\displaystyle \underset{R𝒢_I}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{S𝒢_J}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_f^2}{(p!)^2\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\chi _f(SQR),`$ (A1)
where $`p`$ is the degree of $`U_{IJ}`$ appearing in the integral (28). The other symbols will be explained below.

The irreducible representations of the unitary group $`U(n)`$ are labeled by a Young’s tableau. It is defined by a sequence of non-negative integers $`f=(f_1f_2\mathrm{}f_n)`$, with $`f_if_{i+1}`$. All irreducible representations contained in a $`p`$th rank tensor have their Young’s tableaux restricted to $`p`$ boxes, namely, $`_{i=1}^nf_i=p`$. In that case clearly $`f_i=0`$ for $`i>p`$. It is customary to drop the zeros when the sequence $`f`$ is written, so $`f`$ can be written as $`(f_1f_2\mathrm{}f_p)`$, or even shorter if there are more zeros.

The dimension of the irreducible representation $`f`$ of $`U(n)`$, denoted by $`\stackrel{~}{d}_f`$, is given by the ratio of two Vandermonde determinants

$`\stackrel{~}{d}_f={\displaystyle \frac{D(\mathrm{}_1,\mathrm{}_2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}_n)}{D(n1,n2,\mathrm{},0)}},`$ (A2)
where $`\mathrm{}_i=f_i+ni`$, and

$`D(x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_n)={\displaystyle \underset{i>j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}(x_ix_j).`$ (A3)
The irreducible representations of the symmetric group $`S_p`$ are also labeled by Young’s tableaux $`f=(f_1f_2\mathrm{}f_p)`$. The dimension of an irreducible representation of $`S_p`$ is denoted by $`d_f`$, and the character for the element $`PS_p`$ is denoted by $`\chi _f(P)`$. Tables are available to give their values for small $`p`$.

The character $`\chi _f(P)`$ depends only on the class that $`P`$ belongs to. If a permutation $`P`$ is written in the cycle form, then permutations with the same cycle structure belong to the same class. The cycle structure can be labeled by a Young’s tableau $`c=(c_1c_2\mathrm{}c_p)`$, where $`c_1`$ is the length of the longest cycle in $`P`$, $`c_2`$ is the length of the next longest cycle in $`P`$, etc. If $`Pc`$, we will also write $`\chi _f(P)`$ as $`\chi _f(c)`$. The characters together are given by $`\gamma _p^2`$ numbers, where $`\gamma _p`$ is either the total number of distinct classes in $`S_p`$, or the number of inequivalent irreducible representations. It is equal to the number of partitions of $`p`$, and is given by $`\gamma _p=1,2,3,5,7,11,15`$, for $`p=1,2,3,4,5,6,7`$, respectively.

$`𝒢_IS_p`$ is the symmetry group of the index set $`I`$, and $`𝒢_JS_p`$ is the symmetry group of the index set $`J`$. For example, if $`I=(111338888)`$, then $`𝒢_I=S_3\times S_2\times S_4S_9`$. If $`I=(13254798)`$, then $`𝒢_I`$ consists of the identity $`e`$ only.

The sum in (A1) is over all the irreducible representations $`f`$, all elements $`R`$ of the symmetry group $`𝒢_I`$, and all elements $`S`$ of the symmetry group $`𝒢_J`$.

The simplest integrals to calculate are those where the indices in $`I`$ all take on distinct values, and similarly for $`J`$. In that case, $`𝒢_I=𝒢_J=e`$, so the sums in (A1) reduces the single sum over the irreducible representations $`f`$. Since $`\chi _f(Q)`$ depends on the class $`c`$ $`Q`$ lies in, there are $`\gamma _p`$ distinct integrals $`I,J|I,J_Q`$ of this type. It is convenient to denote these integrals by $`\xi (c)`$. To compute them, we need to use (A2) to compute $`\stackrel{~}{d}_f`$, a character table of $`S_p`$ to compute $`\chi _f`$ and $`d_f`$, then we must sum up $`\gamma _p`$ terms in (A1) before we get $`\xi (c)`$.

More generally, (A1) can be written in terms of $`\xi (c)`$ as

$`I,J|I,J_Q={\displaystyle \underset{c}{}}N(I,J,Q|c)\xi (c),`$ (A4)
where

$`N(I,J,Q|c)={\displaystyle \underset{R𝒢_I}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{S𝒢_J}{}}\delta (SQRc)`$ (A5)
is the total number of $`SQR`$ in class $`c`$. They are often quite tedious to compute. Once it is calculated, we still have to carry out the $`\gamma _p`$ sums over $`c`$ to get $`I,J|I,J_Q`$.

This completes the description of formula (A1). In the remainder of this Appendix, we will sketch how it is arrived at.

The orthonormal relation for the irreducible representaions $`D_f(R)`$ of the $`S_p`$ group is

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{f!}}{\displaystyle \underset{PS_p}{}}\left[D_f(P)\right]_{il}\left[D_g(P^1)\right]_{mj}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{d_f}}\delta _{fg}\delta _{ij}\delta _{lm}.`$ (A6)
This leads to the following relation for characters, true for any $`Q`$ and $`R`$ in $`S_p`$;

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{p!}}{\displaystyle \underset{PS_p}{}}\chi _f(PQ)\chi _g(RP^1)`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{fg}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{d_f}}\chi _f(QR).`$ (A7)
The corresponding character relation for $`U(n)`$,

$`{\displaystyle (dU)\stackrel{~}{\chi }_f(UV)\stackrel{~}{\chi }_g(WU^1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{fg}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_f(VW),`$ (A8)
is true for any $`V`$ and $`W`$ in $`U(n)`$.

Given a $`UU(n)`$ and a $`PS_p`$, define $`(U)_P`$ to be $`_IU_{II_P}`$, where the sum is taken over all the indices in the set $`I=(i_1i_2\mathrm{}i_p)`$, each covering its full range of values from 1 to $`n`$. The index set $`I_P`$ as well as $`U_{II_P}`$ are defined at the beginning of Sec. III. If $`P`$ consists of $`\alpha _i`$ cycles of length $`i`$, then

$`(U)_P={\displaystyle \underset{j}{}}\left(\mathrm{Tr}(U^i)\right)^{\alpha _i}.`$ (A9)
Since $`(U)_P`$ depends only on the cycle structure of $`P`$, it is the same for two $`P`$’s in the same class.

The crucial input to the computation of the integral is Frobenius formula,

$`(U)_P={\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_f(U)\chi _f(P).`$ (A10)
Applying it to $`(UV)_e`$ and $`(WU^1)_e`$, and using (A8) to integrate, one arrives at the expression

$`{\displaystyle (dU)(UV)_e(WU^{})_e}={\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_f^2}{\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_f(VW),`$ (A11)
where $`d_f=\chi _f(e)`$ has been used. Next, use (A7) to introduce the factor

$`\delta _{fg}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{p!}}{\displaystyle \underset{PS_p}{}}\chi _f(P)\chi _g(P^1)`$ (A12)
to the right-hand side of (A11), and use the Frobenius formula again (note that $`\chi _g(P^1)=\chi _g(P)`$). This allows (A11) to be written as

$`{\displaystyle (dU)(UV)_e(WU^{})_e}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{PS_p}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_f^2}{p!\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\chi _f(P)(VW)_P`$ (A13)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}S_p}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_f^2}{(p!)^2\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\chi _f(RS^{})(VW)_{RS^{}}.`$ (A14)
Introducing the shorthand

$`\delta _{KI_R}\delta _{JL_S^{}}=\left({\displaystyle \underset{a=1}{\overset{p}{}}}\delta _{k_ai_{R(a)}}\delta _{j_a\mathrm{}_{S^{}(a)}}\right),`$ (A15)
the sum over $`R`$ and $`S^{}`$ on the right-hand side is

$`{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})V_{LK}W_{IJ}\delta _{KI}\delta _{JL_{RS^{}}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})V_{LK}W_{IJ}\delta _{KI}\delta _{J_{R^1}L_S^{}}`$ (A16)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})V_{LK}W_{IJ_R}\delta _{KI}\delta _{JL_S^{}}`$ (A17)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})V_{LK}W_{I_{R^1}J}\delta _{KI}\delta _{JL_S^{}}`$ (A18)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})V_{LK}W_{IJ}\delta _{KI_R}\delta _{JL_S^{}}.`$ (A19)
Since $`V`$ and $`W`$ are arbitrary, the coefficients of $`V_{LK}W_{IJ}`$ on both sides must be the same. Hence

$`I,J|K,L={\displaystyle (dU)U_{IJ}^{}U_{KL}}={\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_f^2}{(p!)^2\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\delta _{KI_R}\delta _{JL_S^{}}\chi _f(RS^{}).`$ (A20)
Let us now apply (A20) to the special case $`I,J|I,J_Q`$. Since $`K=I`$, the factor $`\delta _{II_R}`$ is non-zero if and only if $`R𝒢_I`$. Similarly, since $`L=J_Q`$, the factor $`\delta _{JL_S^{}}`$ equals to $`\delta _{JJ_{QS^{}}}`$. Hence $`S=QS^{}`$ must be in the invariant group $`𝒢_J`$. Now the argument of $`\chi _f`$ in (A20) is $`RS^{}=RQ^1S`$. Since $`R`$ is summed over a group and so is $`S`$, we may replace $`R`$ by $`R^1`$ and $`S`$ by $`S^1`$. With this replacement, the argument of $`\chi _f`$ is $`(SQR)^1`$, Using $`\chi _f(SQR)=\chi _f((SQR)^1)`$, we finally arrive at the formula shown in (A1).

Formula (A1) can also be obtained from the following version of the Itzykson-Zuber formula

$`{\displaystyle (dU)\mathrm{exp}\left[\beta \mathrm{Tr}\left(M_1UM_2U^{}\right)\right]}={\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta ^{|f|}d_f}{|f|!\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_f(M_1)\stackrel{~}{\chi }_f(M_2),`$ (A21)
where the sum is over all the Young’s tableaux, and $`|f|=_if_i`$ is the number of boxes in a particular tableau. Using the orthonormal relation (A12), Frobenius’s formula (A10) can be inverted to read

$`{\displaystyle (dU)\mathrm{exp}\left[\beta \mathrm{Tr}\left(M_1UM_2U^{}\right)\right]}={\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta ^{|f|}d_f}{(|f|!)^3\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}{\displaystyle \underset{R,S}{}}\chi _f(R)\chi _f(S)(M_1)_R(M_2)_S.`$ (A22)
Next, use the formula

$`\chi _f(R)\chi _f(S)={\displaystyle \frac{d_f}{|f|!}}{\displaystyle \underset{P}{}}\chi _f(RPSP^1),`$ (A23)
which can be derived from (A6), to combine the two characters into one,

$`{\displaystyle (dU)\mathrm{exp}\left[\beta \mathrm{Tr}\left(M_1UM_2U^{}\right)\right]}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta ^{|f|}d_f^2}{(|f|!)^4\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}{\displaystyle \underset{P,R,S}{}}\chi _f(RPSP^1)(M_1)_R(M_2)_S`$ (A24)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\beta ^{|f|}d_f^2}{(|f|!)^4\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}{\displaystyle \underset{P,R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})(M_1)_R(M_2)_{P^1S^{}P}.`$ (A25)
Since $`(M_2)_S`$ depends only on the class that $`S`$ lies in, the last factor is thus independent of $`P`$. Therefore the sum over $`P`$ yields only a factor $`|f|!`$.

Identifying terms proportional to $`\beta ^p`$ on both sides, one gets

$`{\displaystyle \underset{I,J,K,L}{}}I,J|K,L(M_1)_{IK}(M_2)_{LJ}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{f}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d_f^2}{(p!)^2\stackrel{~}{d}_f}}{\displaystyle \underset{R,S^{}}{}}\chi _f(RS^{})(M_1)_{IK}(M_2)_{LJ}\delta _{KI_R}\delta _{JL_S^{}},`$ (A26)
which agrees with (A20).

References


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# Proper co-ordinates of non-inertial observers and rotation

## 1 Proper non-inertial co-ordinates

In physics, all dynamical equations of motion are certain differential equations that describe certain quantities as functions of space-time points. Space-time points are parametrized by their co-ordinates. It is convenient to write the equations of motion (as well as other related equations) in a form which is manifestly covariant with respect to general co-ordinate transformations. When one solves the equations, one must use some specific co-ordinates. The covariance provides that one can use any co-ordinates he wants, because later he can easily transform the results to any other co-ordinates. Therefore, it is convenient to choose co-ordinates that simplify the technicalities of the physical problem considered.

The general covariance is often interpreted as a statement that “physics does not depend on the co-ordinates chosen”. However, this is not so. The choice of co-ordinates is more than a matter of convenience. The main purpose of theoretical physics is to predict what will be observed under given circumstances. The main lesson we have learned from Lorentz co-ordinates is the fact that what an observer observes (time intervals, space intervals, components of a tensor, …) depends on how the observer moves. Lorentz co-ordinates are proper co-ordinates of an observer that moves inertially in flat space-time. Proper non-inertial co-ordinates are the generalization of Lorentz co-ordinates to arbitrary motion in arbitrary space-time. If one is interested in how a physical system looks like to a specific observer, one must transform the results to the corresponding proper non-inertial co-ordinates.

Proper non-inertial co-ordinates are determined by the (time-like) trajectory of the observer, by the rotation of the observer with respect to a local inertial observer and by the properties of space-time itself. The general geometrical construction of proper non-inertial co-ordinates is well established . Here I present the most important properties of proper non-inertial co-ordinates:

1. Proper non-inertial co-ordinates are chosen such that the position of the observer is given by $`x^\mu =(t,0,0,0)`$, where $`t`$ is the time measured by a clock co-moving with the observer.
2. The metric expressed in proper non-inertial co-ordinates has the property

$$g_{\mu \nu }(t,0,0,0)=\eta _{\mu \nu }.$$
(1)
3. The connections $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\beta \gamma }^\alpha `$ vanish at $`(t,0,0,0)`$ if and only if the trajectory is a geodesic and there is no rotation.

The general geometrical construction of proper non-inertial co-ordinates is not very useful for practical calculations. However, in flat space-time, proper non-inertial co-ordinates can be constructed in an alternative way, more useful for practical calculations . Here I present an elegant form of this construction introduced in .

Let $`S`$ be a Lorentz frame and let $`S^{}`$ be the proper non-inertial frame of the observer whose 3-velocity is $`u^i(t^{})\text{u}(t^{})`$, as seen by an observer in $`S`$. The co-ordinate transformation between these two frames can be obtained by summing the infinitesimal Lorentz transformations. Let

$$x^\mu =f^\mu (t^{},\text{x}^{};\text{u})$$
(2)
denotes the ordinary Lorentz transformation, i.e. the transformation between two Lorentz frames specified by the constant relative velocity u. The quantities

$$f_\nu ^\mu =\left(\frac{f^\mu }{x^\nu }\right)_{\text{u}=\text{const}}$$
(3)
have explicit values

$`f_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}}^0=\gamma ,f_j^0=\gamma u_j,f_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}}^i=\gamma u^i,`$
$`f_j^i=\delta _j^i+{\displaystyle \frac{1\gamma }{\text{u}^2}}u^iu_j,`$ (4)
where $`u^j=u_j`$, $`\text{u}^2=u^iu^i`$, $`\gamma =1/\sqrt{1\text{u}^2}`$. The differential of (2) is

$$dx^\mu =f_\nu ^\mu (t^{},\text{x}^{};\text{u})dx^\nu .$$
(5)
The transition to a noninertial frame introduces a time-dependent velocity: $`\text{u}\text{u}(t^{})`$. The transformation between $`S`$ and $`S^{}`$ is given by the integration of (5) in the following way:

$$x^\mu =_0^t^{}f_{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}}^\mu (t^{},0;\text{u}(t^{}))𝑑t^{}+_Cf_i^\mu (t^{},\text{x}^{};\text{u}(t^{}))𝑑x^i.$$
(6)
In (6), $`C`$ is an arbitrary curve with constant $`t^{}`$, starting from $`0`$ and ending at $`x^i`$.

In general, $`S^{}`$ can also rotate i.e. change the orientation of the co-ordinate axes with respect to an inertial frame. The rotation can be described by the rotation matrix $`A_{ji}(t^{})=A_j^i(t^{})`$. It satisfies the differential equation

$$\frac{dA_{ij}}{dt}=A_i^k\omega _{kj},$$
(7)
where $`\omega _{ik}=\epsilon _{ikl}\omega ^l`$, $`\epsilon _{123}=1`$ and $`\omega ^i(t^{})`$ is the angular velocity as seen by an observer in $`S`$. In this more general case the transformation is also given by (6), but now $`C`$ is an arbitrary curve with constant $`t^{}`$, starting from $`0`$ and ending at $`A_j^i(t^{})x^j`$. Note that the proper non-inertial co-ordinates $`x^\mu `$ are constructed such that the space origins of $`S`$ and $`S^{}`$ coincide at $`t=t^{}=0`$.

The metric tensor in $`S^{}`$ is given by

$$g_{\mu \nu }^{}=\frac{x^\alpha }{x^\mu }\frac{x^\beta }{x^\nu }g_{\alpha \beta },$$
(8)
where $`g_{\alpha \beta }=\eta _{\alpha \beta }=\mathrm{diag}(1,1,1,1)`$ is the Minkowski metric in $`S`$. Using (6), it is straightforward (but slightly tedious) to obtain

$`g_{ij}^{}=\delta _{ij},g_{0j}^{}=(𝝎^{}\times \text{x}^{})_j,`$
$`g_{00}^{}=c^2\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\text{a}^{}\text{x}^{}}{c^2}}\right)^2(𝝎^{}\times \text{x}^{})^2,`$ (9)
where

$$\omega ^i=\gamma (\omega ^i\mathrm{\Omega }^i),a^i=\gamma ^2\left[a^i+\frac{1}{\text{u}^2}(\gamma 1)(\text{u}\text{a})u^i\right],$$
(10)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }^i`$ is the time-dependent Thomas precession frequency

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_i=\frac{1}{2\text{u}^2}(\gamma 1)\epsilon _{ikj}(u^ka^ju^ja^k),$$
(11)
and $`a^i=du^i/dt`$ is the time-dependent acceleration.

From Property 2 we see that the space co-ordinates $`x^i`$ are a generalization of Cartesian co-ordinates. However, this does not imply that an observer is not allowed to use polar co-ordinates, for example. The most general co-ordinate transformations that correspond merely to a redefinition of the co-ordinates of the same physical observer are the so-called restricted internal transformations , i.e. the transformations of the form

$$t^{}=f^0(t),x^i=f^i(x^1,x^2,x^3),$$
(12)
where $`t,x^i`$ are proper non-inertial co-ordinates. The quantities $`g_{00}dt^2`$ and

$$dl^2=g_{ij}dx^idx^j$$
(13)
do not change under restricted internal transformations. In order to describe physical effects as seen by a local observer, one must use proper non-inertial co-ordinates modulo restricted internal transformations. For simplicity, in the rest of the paper I use proper non-inertial co-ordinates.

Two observers with different trajectories have different proper non-inertial frames. In particular, this implies that even if there is no relative motion between two observers, they belong to different frames if they do not have the same position. This fact was not realized in many previous papers, which led to many misinterpretations. At first sight, this fact contradicts the well-known fact that two inertial observers in flat space-time may be regarded as belonging to the same Lorentz frame if there is no relative motion between them. However, this is because their proper non-inertial frames (with the space origins at their positions) are related by a translation of the space origin, which is a restricted internal transformation. In general, for practical purposes, two observers can be regarded as belonging to the same proper non-inertial frame if there is no relative motion between them and the other observer is close enough to the first one, in the sense that the metric expressed in proper non-inertial co-ordinates of the first observer does not depart significantly from $`\eta _{\mu \nu }`$ at the position of the second one. It is an exclusive property of Minkowski co-ordinates, among other proper non-inertial co-ordinates in flat or curved space-time, that the metric is equal to $`\eta _{\mu \nu }`$ everywhere. This implies that two observers at different positions but with zero relative velocity may be regarded as belonging to the same co-ordinate frame only if they move inertially in flat space-time.

## 2 Application to rotation

For motivation, let us first review the problems  of the standard resolution  of the Ehrenfest paradox. We study a rotating ring in a rigid non-rotating circular gutter with radius $`r`$. One introduces the co-ordinates of the rotating frame $`S^{}`$

$$\phi ^{}=\phi \omega t,r^{}=r,z^{}=z,t^{}=t,$$
(14)
where $`\phi `$, $`r`$, $`z`$, $`t`$ are cylindrical co-ordinates of the inertial frame $`S`$ and $`\omega `$ is the angular velocity. The metric in $`S^{}`$ is given by

$$ds^2=(c^2\omega ^2r^2)dt^22\omega r^2d\phi ^{}dt^{}dr^2r^2d\phi ^2dz^2.$$
(15)
It is generally accepted that the space line element should be calculated by the formula

$$dl^2=\gamma _{ij}^{}dx^idx^j,i,j=1,2,3,$$
(16)
where

$$\gamma _{ij}^{}=\frac{g_{0i}^{}g_{0j}^{}}{g_{00}^{}}g_{ij}^{}.$$
(17)
This leads to the circumference of the ring

$$L^{}=_0^{2\pi }\frac{r^{}d\phi ^{}}{\sqrt{1\omega ^2r^2/c^2}}=\frac{2\pi r^{}}{\sqrt{1\omega ^2r^2/c^2}}\gamma (r^{})2\pi r^{}.$$
(18)
The circumference of the same ring as seen from $`S`$ is $`L=2\pi r=2\pi r^{}`$. Since the ring is constrained to have the same radius $`r`$ as the same ring when it does not rotate, $`L`$ is not changed by the rotation, but the proper circumference $`L^{}`$ is larger than the proper circumference of the non-rotating ring. This implies that there are tensile stresses in the rotating ring. The problem is that it is assumed here that (14) defines the proper frame of the whole ring. This implies that an observer on the ring sees that the circumference is $`L^{}=\gamma L`$. The circumference of the gutter seen by him cannot be different from the circumference of the ring seen by him, so the observer on the ring sees that the circumference of the relatively moving gutter is larger than the proper circumference of the gutter, whereas we expect, using our experience with the usual Lorentz contraction, that he should see that it is smaller. Of course, it depends on how the circumference is measured. Here we have in mind an experimental procedure that in principle can also be used to measure the usual Lorentz contraction, based on photographing with a very short exposition, such that the change of the photographed object position during the exposition can be neglected. The size of the object’s picture on the photography corresponds to the measured size. Obviously, with such a measuring procedure, for any observer the apparent circumference of the whole ring must be equal to the apparent circumference of the whole gutter. This is a simple consequence of the fact that, at any instance of time, any part of the ring is somewhere inside the gutter and any part of the gutter has a part of the ring near it. (Note also that this is not so for a well known “paradox” of a car in a garrage where different observers may disagree on whether a fast car can fit into an open garrage at rest. This is because, for each part of the car, there are times for which that part is outside the garrage as well as times for which it is inside the garrage.)

The problem discussed above resolves when one realizes that (14) does not define the proper frame of the ring. Each point on the ring belongs to a different proper non-inertial frame. The co-ordinates (14) are actually proper non-inertial co-ordinates (modulo a restricted internal transformation) of an observer that rotates in the centre of the ring. However, this raises another problem. If (16) is the correct definition of the space line element, then the observer that rotates in the centre should see that the circumference of the gutter is larger than the proper circumference of the gutter by a factor $`\gamma (r^{})`$. However, $`\omega r^{}/c`$ can be arbitrarily large, so $`\gamma (r^{})`$ can be not only arbitrarily large, but also even imaginary. On the other hand, we know from everyday experience that the apparent velocity $`\omega r^{}`$ of stars, due to our rotation, can exceed the velocity of light, but we see neither a contraction nor an elongation of the stars observed. This implies that the definition of the space line element (16) is not always appropriate. In , (16) is derived by defining the space line element through a measuring procedure that lasts a finite time, so, in general, this formula is not appropriate for a definition of the instantaneous length. Of course, if rotation is stationary, then it is not necessary to use a definition appropriate for the instantaneous length. However, we want to have a definition that is appropriate for any case and to consider a stationary rotation only as a special case of arbitrary motion. In flat space-time, as shown in , if physics is described by proper non-inertial co-ordinates modulo restricted internal transformations, a more appropriate definition of the space line element is (13).

Using the co-ordinate transformation (6), one can study the relativistic contraction in the same way as in the conventional approach with Lorentz frames. One assumes that two ends of a body are seen to have the same time co-ordinate. From (6) and (1) one can easily see that the co-ordinate transformation is linear in $`x^i`$. As demonstrated in more detail in , it implies that an arbitrarily accelerated and rotating observer sees equal lengths of other differently moving objects as an inertial observer whose instantaneous position and velocity are equal to that of the arbitrarily accelerated and rotating observer.

Using (6), one can also study the rate of clocks as seen by various observers. In particular, one can study the twin paradox for various motions of the observers . However, it is more interesting to study not only the time shift after the two differently moving observers eventually meet, but also the continuous changes of the time shifts during the motion. As can be seen from (6), it is the time dependence (not the space dependence) of the co-ordinate transformation that significantly differs from the ordinary Lorentz transformations. One cannot invert (6) simply by putting $`u^iu^i`$. Therefore, inertial and non-inertial observers see quite different continuous changes of the time shift.

Following , let us discuss in more detail the case of uniform circular motion. Here we only present the results, while the technical details are delegated to the Appendix. Assume that there are three clocks. One is at rest in $`S`$, so it moves inertially. The other two are moving around a circle with the radius $`R`$ and have the velocity $`\omega R`$ in the counter-clockwise direction, as seen by the observer in $`S`$. The relative angular distance between these two non-inertial clocks is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0`$, as seen in $`S`$. The inertial observer will see that the two non-inertial clocks lapse equally fast, so I choose that he sees that they show the same time. He will see the clock rate $`t=\gamma t^{}`$, where $`\gamma =1/\sqrt{1\omega ^2R^2/c^2}`$. The observer co-moving with one of the non-inertial clocks will not see that the other non-inertial clock shows the same time as his clock. He will see the constant time shift given by the equation

$$\gamma \omega (t^{\prime \prime }t^{})=\beta ^2\mathrm{sin}(\gamma \omega (t^{\prime \prime }t^{})+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0),$$
(19)
where $`\beta ^2\omega ^2R^2/c^2`$ and $`t^{\prime \prime }`$ is the time of the other non-inertial clock. Finally, let us see how the inertial clock looks like from the point of view of the observer co-moving with one of the non-inertial clocks. Let the position of the inertial clock be given by its co-ordinates $`(x,y)`$. We choose the origin of $`S`$ such that, at $`t=t^{}=0`$, the space origins of $`S`$ and $`S^{}`$ coincide and the velocity of the non-inertial observer is in the $`y`$-direction, as seen in $`S`$. The rate of clocks as seen by the non-inertial observer is given by

$$t=\gamma t^{}+\frac{\omega R}{c^2}[y\mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{}(x+R)\mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{}].$$
(20)
The oscillatory functions in (20) vanish when they are averaged over time. This means that the observer in $`S^{}`$ agrees with the observer in $`S`$ that the clock in $`S^{}`$ is slower, but only in a time-averaged sense. For example, when these two clocks are very close to each other, then, by expanding (20) for small $`t^{}`$, one finds $`t=t^{}/\gamma `$, which is the result that one would obtain if the velocity of the non-inertial observer were constant. If the clock in $`S`$ is in the centre, which corresponds to $`x=R`$, $`y=0`$, then (20) gives $`t=\gamma t^{}`$, so in this case there is no oscillatory behaviour.

Finally, let us shortly discuss the implications on the velocity of light. If (14) is interpreted as a proper frame of all observers on a rotating platform, then one can conclude that the observer on the rotating platform will see that the velocity of light depends on whether light is propagating in the clockwise or in the counter-clockwise direction (see, for example, ). This is related to the fact that the metric (15) is not time orthogonal. However, now we know that each observer belongs to a different proper non-inertial frame, and from Property 2 we see that in the vicinity of any observer the metric is equal to the Minkowski metric $`\eta _{\mu \nu }`$. This implies that for any local observer the velocity of light is isotropic and is equal to $`c`$, provided that it is measured by propagating a light beam in a small neighbourhood of the observer. In particular, this leads to a slightly different interpretation of the Sagnac effect , in which the velocity of light as seen by the observer on the rotating platform depends on the instantaneous relative position of the light beam with respect to the observer. The details are presented in the Appendix.

## Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to G. Rizzi for his editorial critical remarks that significantly improved this paper. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia under the contract No. 0098002.

## Appendix

In this Appendix, we derive Eqs. (19) and (20) and discuss how the velocity of light apppears to an observer on the rim of a rotating platform. In these derivations, we follow .

Let the gutter be placed at the $`z=0`$ plane. We put the space origin of $`S`$ at a fixed point on the gutter, such that the $`y`$-axis is tangential to the gutter and the $`x`$-axis is perpendicular to the gutter at $`\text{x}=0`$. In the rest of the analysis the $`z`$-co-ordinate can be suppressed. A part of the ring in the gutter can be considered as a short rod initially placed at $`\text{x}=0`$ and uniformly moving along the gutter in the counterclockwise direction. The gutter causes a torque that provides that the rod is always directed tangentially to the gutter. Therefore, $`\omega =u/R`$, where $`u=\sqrt{\text{u}^2}`$ is the time independent speed of rod. Now, $`\gamma =1/\sqrt{1\omega ^2R^2/c^2}`$ is also time independent. Since a clock in $`S^{}`$ is at $`\text{x}^{}=0`$, the clock rate between a clock in $`S`$ and a clock in $`S^{}`$ is given by $`t=\gamma t^{}`$, as seen by an observer in $`S`$. We assume that, initially, the axes $`x^{}`$, $`y^{}`$ are parallel to the axes $`x`$, $`y`$, respectively. Therefore the velocity

$$\text{u}(t^{})=\omega R(\mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{},\mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{})$$
(21)
is always in the $`y^{}`$-direction and the solution of (7) is

$$A_{ij}(t^{})=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{}& \mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{}\\ \mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{}& \mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{}\end{array}\right).$$
(22)
The transformation (6) reduces to

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ y\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{}& \gamma \mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{}\\ \mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{}& \gamma \mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x^{}\\ y^{}\end{array}\right)+R\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\gamma \omega t^{}1\\ \mathrm{sin}\gamma \omega t^{}\end{array}\right),$$
(23)
$$t=\gamma t^{}+\frac{\gamma }{c^2}\omega Ry^{}.$$
(24)
In particular, at $`t^{}=0`$ these transformations become

$$x=x^{},y=\gamma y^{},t=\frac{\gamma u}{c^2}y^{},$$
(25)
which coincide with the ordinary Lorentz boost at $`t^{}=0`$ for the velocity in the $`y`$-direction.

Let us now study how other parts of the ring appear to the observer on the ring. Since the rotation is uniform the result cannot depend on $`t^{}`$, so without losing on generality, we evaluate this at $`t^{}=0`$. We introduce polar co-ordinates $`r`$, $`\phi `$, defined by

$$y=r\mathrm{sin}\phi ,R+x=r\mathrm{cos}\phi ,$$
(26)
which are new space co-ordinates for $`S`$, with the origin in the center of the circular gutter. The angle $`\phi `$ is a good label of the position of any part of the ring even in $`S^{}`$. (To visualize this, one can draw angular marks on the gutter. The number of marks separating two points on the gutter or on the ring is a measure of the “angular distance” in any frame.) Let $`S^{\prime \prime }`$ be the frame of another part of the ring. The position of that part of the ring is $`x^{\prime \prime }=y^{\prime \prime }=0`$. The relative position of the space origin of $`S^{\prime \prime }`$ with respect to that of $`S^{}`$ is given by the constant relative angle $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0`$, as seen by an observer in $`S`$. In analogy with (23)-(24), we find that $`S^{\prime \prime }`$ is determined by

$`\left(\begin{array}{c}x\\ y\end{array}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}(\gamma \omega t^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0)& \gamma \mathrm{sin}(\gamma \omega t^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0)\\ \mathrm{sin}(\gamma \omega t^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0)& \gamma \mathrm{cos}(\gamma \omega t^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0)\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}x^{\prime \prime }\\ y^{\prime \prime }\end{array}\right)`$ (36)
$`+R\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}(\gamma \omega t^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0)1\\ \mathrm{sin}(\gamma \omega t^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0)\end{array}\right),`$
$$t=\gamma t^{\prime \prime }+\frac{\gamma }{c^2}\omega Ry^{\prime \prime }.$$
(37)
Let the labels $`A`$, $`B`$ denote the co-ordinates of the part of the ring that lie at $`S^{}`$ and $`S^{\prime \prime }`$, respectively. Since the observer sees both parts of the ring at the same instant, we have $`t_A^{}=t_B^{}=0`$. Since $`x_B^{\prime \prime }=y_B^{\prime \prime }=0`$, from (36) we find

$$y_B=R\mathrm{sin}(\gamma \omega t_B^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0),$$
(38)
and from (37)

$$t_B=\gamma t_B^{\prime \prime }.$$
(39)
From $`t_B^{}=0`$ and (25) it follows $`t_B=\omega Ry_B/c^2`$, which, because of (39), can be written as $`\gamma t_B^{\prime \prime }=\omega Ry_B/c^2`$. This, together with (38), leads to the equation that determines $`t_B^{\prime \prime }`$:

$$\gamma \omega t_B^{\prime \prime }=\beta ^2\mathrm{sin}(\gamma \omega t_B^{\prime \prime }+\mathrm{\Delta }\phi _0),$$
(40)
where $`\beta ^2\omega ^2R^2/c^2`$. Eq. (40) together with the fact that the rotation is uniform implies (19).

To see how the inertial clock appears to the observer on the ring, the transformations (23) and (24) are sufficient. From (23) one expresses $`y^{}`$ as a function of $`x`$, $`y`$ and $`t^{}`$ and puts this in (24). The result is given by (20).

Let us now discuss how the velocity of light appears to the observer on the ring. Let the light beam move along the gutter. The trajectory of the light beam expressed in $`S`$-co-ordinates is given by

$$y=R\mathrm{sin}\omega _Lt,x=R(1+\mathrm{cos}\omega _Lt),$$
(41)
where $`\omega _L=\pm c/R`$. The plus and minus signs refer to the counterclockwise and clockwise propagated beams, respectively. Using (23), (24), and (41), one can eliminate $`x,y,t`$ and express $`x^{},y^{}`$ as functions of $`t^{}`$. The speed of light as seen by the observer in $`S^{}`$ is

$$v_L^{}=\sqrt{\left(\frac{dx^{}}{dt^{}}\right)^2+\left(\frac{dy^{}}{dt^{}}\right)^2}.$$
(42)
Expanding (23) and (41) for small $`t^{}`$ and $`t`$, respectively, one can easily find $`y^{}=\pm ct^{}+𝒪(t^2)`$, $`x^{}=𝒪(t^2)`$, which means that the observer sees the velocity of light equal to $`c`$ when the light is at the same position as the observer, just as expected.