Foundational aspects of spinor structures and exotic spinors

Abstract

Spinors are mathematical objects susceptible to the spacetime characteristics upon which they are defined. Not all spacetimes admit spinor structure; when it does, it may have more than one spinor structure, depending on topological properties. When more than one nonequivalent spinor structure is allowed in a given spacetime, the spinors resulting from the extra structures are called exotic. In this review, we revisit the topological conditions driving the discussion about the spacetime characteristics leading to the existence and (non)uniqueness of spinor structures in a relatively comprehensive manner, accounting for step-to-step demonstrations. In the sequel, we delve into the topologically corrected Dirac operator, explicitly obtaining it and exploring the physical consequences encoded in the exotic spinor dynamics. Finally, we overview early and recent achievements in the area, pointing out possible directions within this research program.