An Introduction to Twistor Theory (London Mathematical Society Student Texts) [Paperback]

S. A. Huggett (Author), K. P. Tod (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521456894 | ISBN-13: 978-0521456890 | Publication Date: August 26, 1994 | Edition: 2

This book is an introduction to twistor theory and modern geometrical approaches to space-time structure at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level. It will be valuable also to the physicist as an introduction to some of the mathematics that has proved useful in these areas, and to the mathematician as an example of where sheaf cohomology and complex manifold theory can be used in physics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a quick introduction to some of the deeper problems of twistor theory....book is recommended to anyone seeking to get acquainted with the area." American Scientist

"One of the virtues of this new work is that it is concise and to the point, a property that should particularly commend it to hard-pressed graduate students. Of necessity this means that a certain amount of preliminary knowledge is assumed of the reader, but this does not extend beyond the contents of introductory courses in general relativity and difficult geometry. Anyone who has these prerequisites and who is interested in twistor theory could hardly do better than to start with this book." C.J. Isham, Contemporary Physics

"...a concise but nevertheless readable introduction to some of the main strands of twistor theory and would certainly be a suitable introduction for a graduate student with a background in general relativity or differential geometry." J. Vickers, Bulletin of London Mathematical Society

Book Description

Evolving from graduate lectures given in London and Oxford, this introduction to twistor theory and modern geometrical approaches to space-time structure will provide graduate students with the basics of twistor theory, presupposing some knowledge of special relativity and differenttial geometry.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (August 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521456894
• ISBN-13: 978-0521456890
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,019,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction, April 9, 2006

By 

Dean Welch - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Introduction to Twistor Theory (London Mathematical Society Student Texts) (Paperback)

I think this book gives a very good introduction to twistor theory. However, it's not an elementary book. Readers should already be familiar with topology, differential geometry, group theory and general relativity. The book is short, as are the chapters, and it gets to the point quickly. I consider it primarily a math book, but aspects of physics are frequently considered.

After a quick introduction and review of tensors the concept of spinors is introduced. It's the usual approach drawing a correspondence between a vector and a rank (1,1) spinor. In particular between a null vector and the product of a spinor with its own conjugate. This is often informally phrased by saying a spinor is the square root of a vector.

Following this the spinor algebra is developed. At this point it is shown how to formulate tensor algebra in terms of spinors (with some bits of projective geometry thrown in). Although the book is developing the mathematics of spinors some familiarity with physics is required to appreciate all the discussion. Without some background in physics, relativity in particular, the significance of this might be missed. Applications considered include: Einstein's equation, the Weyl tensor, principle null directions and the classification of spacetime, Dirac neutrinos, source free Maxwell equations and congruences of null vectors. I would have like to have seen more discussion about the advantages of the spinor formulation, for example, how it makes classifying algebraically special spacetimes simpler.

Twistors are introduced next, this is about one-third of the way through the book. Although the correspondence between twistor space and null geodesics is considered; the original motivation of twistors, to provide a theory of quantum spacetime, isn't emphasized.

The rest of the book mainly contains chapters explaining various applications of twistor theory. They mostly have very physics sounding names like "The non-linear graviton" or "The twisted photon and Yang-Mills construction". My favorite chapter was the one covering Penrose's quasi-local momentum and quasi-local angular momentum. I may have missed something, but with the exception of this chapter I'm not sure any of the others offered any new insights to the world of physics.

On the whole I thought this was a very good book. I liked the pace and the text was clear. It even includes hints to some of the exercises. However, it does require a bit of background knowledge, I would especially recommend being familiar with topology. Obviously it's not as comprehensive as Penrose and Rindler or Ward and Wells, but it's very good for building a foundation.