Twistor Geometry and Field Theory

R. S. Ward (Author), Raymond O. Wells, Jr (Author)

9780521422680, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 July 1991

532 pages
22.8 x 15 x 2.9 cm, 0.77 kg

"... skillfully written. It will serve as a relatively accessible introduction to twistor theory for many readers who have not studied the subject before. Others will find it useful as a refresher and as a source of many valuable insights." Nature

This book deals with the twistor treatment of certain linear and non-linear partial differential equations. The description in terms of twistors involves algebraic and differential geometry, algebraic topology and results in a new perspective on the properties of space and time. The authors firstly develop the mathematical background, then go on to discuss Yang-Mills fields and gravitational fields in classical language, and in the final part a number of field-theoretic problems are solved. Issued here for the first time in paperback, this self-contained volume should be of use to graduate mathematicians and physicists and research workers in theoretical physics, relativity, and cosmology.

Part I. Geometry: 1. Klein correspondence
2. Fibre bundles
3. Differential geometry
4. Integral geometry
Part II. Field Theory: 5. Linear field theory
6. Gauge theory
7. General relativity
Part III. The Penrose Transform: 8. Massless free fields
9. Self-dual gauge fields
10. Self-dual space-times
11. General gauge fields
12. Stationary axisymmetric space-times
Special topics.

Subject Areas: Relativity physics [PHR]