  Generalized Clifford algebras (GCAs) and their physical applications were
extensively studied for about a decade from 1967 by Alladi Ramakrishnan and his
collaborators under the name of L-matrix theory. Some aspects of GCAs and their
physical applications are outlined here. The topics dealt with include: GCAs
and projective representations of finite abelian groups, Alladi Ramakrishnan's
sigma operation approach to the representation theory of Clifford algebra and
GCAs, Dirac's positive energy relativistic wave equation, Weyl-Schwinger
unitary basis for matrix algebra and Alladi Ramakrishnan's matrix decomposition
theorem, finite-dimensional Wigner function, finite-dimensional canonical
transformations, magnetic Bloch functions, finite-dimensional quantum
mechanics, and the relation between GCAs and quantum groups.
