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Twistor Theory (The Penrose Transform)

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Complex Analysis

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mathematics ((LNM,volume 950))

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Abstract

Where does complex mathematics intervene in our real world? [5]

Answer: Twistor Theory! [19]

Twistors were introduced by Penrose [11, 13] in order to provide an alternative description of Minkowski-space which emphasizes the light rays rather than the points of space-time. Minkowski-space constructions must be replaced by corresponding constructions in twistor-space. The twistor programme [17] has met with much success:

  1. (1)

    The description of massless free fields (the Penrose transform)

  2. (2)

    The description of self-dual Einstein manifolds

  3. (3)

    The description of self-dual Yang-Mills fields

  4. (4)

    The description of elementary particles (rather tentative).

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© 1982 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Eastwood, M.G. (1982). Twistor Theory (The Penrose Transform). In: Complex Analysis. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol 950. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0061875

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0061875

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-11596-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-39366-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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