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An Introduction to Twistor Theory (London Mathematical Society Student Texts) (2nd Revised edition)
This book is an introduction to twistor theory and modern geometrical approaches to space-time structure at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level. The choice of material presented has evolved from graduate lectures given in London and Oxford and the authors have aimed to retain the informal tone of those lectures. The book will provide graduate
students with an introduction to the literature of twistor theory, presupposing some knowledge of special relativity and differential geometry. It would also be of use for a short course on space-time structure independently of twistor theory. The physicist could be introduced gently to some of the mathematics which has proved useful in these areas, and the mathematician could be shown where sheaf cohomology and complex manifold theory can be used in physics.
Contents:
1
Introduction
- 2
Review of tensor algebra
- 3
Lorentzian spinors at a point
- 4
Spinor fields
- 5
Compactified Minkowski space
- 6
The geometry of null congruences
- 7
The geometry of twistor space
- 8
Solving the zero rest mass equations I
- 9
Sheaf cohomology
- 10
Solving the zero rest mass equations II
- 11
The twisted photon and Yang-Mills constructions
- 12
The non-linear graviton
- 13
Penrose's quasi-local momentum
- 14
Cohomological functionals
- 15
Further developments and conclusion
- Appendix: The GHP equations.
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