Abstract
Conformal rescalings of spinors are considered, in which the factor Ω, inε AB ↦Ωε AB, is allowed to be complex. It is argued that such rescalings naturally lead to the presence of torsion in the space-time derivative▽ a. It is further shown that, in standard general relativity, a circularly polarized gravitational wave produces a (nonlocal) rotation effect along rays intersecting it similar to, and apparently consistent with, the local torsion of the Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory. The results of these deliberations are suggestive rather than conclusive.
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Penrose, R. Spinors and torsion in general relativity. Found Phys 13, 325–339 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01906181
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01906181