It is pointed out that for boosts and rotations on orthogonal axes, a factorization of the product of their characters is possible. By using this theorem on factorization, one can factor the nontrivial products of representations in the homogeneous Lorentz group. The method is used to derive some well-known and some new formulas which define the parameters of the Thomas, or Wigner, rotation.

• Received 28 February 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.34.2458