Introduction to twistor theory

[MathematicalPhysicist]

does someone know where may i find itroductory information about
twistor theory?
im asking because the website of twistor theory with introduction
paper is currently not working.
thanks in advance.

 

[wolram]

here are a few to get started on hope you find
some of interest,


http://arxiv.org/abs/math.DG/0101017
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by roger penrose.
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tweb/00001/index.shtml
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http://www.compsoc.net/~fedja/twistors/node2.html

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

thanks.

 

[meteor]

There exist also a theory called Supertwistor theory, that is twistor theory with the incorporation of supersymmetry

 

[marcus]

LoopQG what is the link to the regular site?
(which you say is not working right now)
wolram, that 1987 paper by Penrose that gives a
personal account of how he arrived at twistors
had some interesting and understandable parts---
thanks for a good reference!

 

[marcus]

as far as hardcopy goes
for introductions to twistors
selfAdjoint says he has Huggett and Tod
which is one of halfdozen introductions mentioned in
the Witten paper,

as introductions the paper recommended numbers
15, 28-32 from its list of references:


[15] M. A. H. MacCallum and R. Penrose, “Twistor Theory: An Approach To The Quantization Of Fields And Space-Time,” Phys. Rept. 6C (1972) 241.

[28] R. Penrose and W. Rindler, Spinors And Space-Time: Volume 1, Two-Spinor Calculus and Relativistic Fields, Volume 2, Spinor And Twistor Methods In Spacetime Geometry (Cambridge University Press, 1986).

[29] R. S. Ward and R. O’Neil Jr. Wells, Twistor Geometry And Field Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1991).

[30] L. P. Hughston, Twistors and Particles, Lecture Notes in Physics 97 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1989).

[31] T. N. Bailey and R. J. Baston, eds., Twistors In Mathematics And Physics, London Mathematical Society Lecture Notes Series 156 (1990). 93

[32] S. A. Huggett and K. P. Tod, An Introduction To Twistor Theory, London Mathematical Society Student Texts 4.

I haven't ever laid eyes on any of these. But the fact that selfAdjoint already owns [32] Huggett and Tod is something of a recommendation.

I am still curious to know if anyone has found some sort of introductory twistor textbook ONLINE. Could one be buried in PF's "napster" links?

 

[MathematicalPhysicist]

Originally posted by marcus
LoopQG what is the link to the regular site?
(which you say is not working right now)
wolram, that 1987 paper by Penrose that gives a
personal account of how he arrived at twistors
had some interesting and understandable parts---
thanks for a good reference!

here it is:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tweb/

 

[marcus]

thanks LQG, I tried it too, and just got a blank-white page
if you try again later, and it works, please let us others know
I will do the same

 

[meteor]

Here's info about the Penrose transform, that I think is of central importance in twistor theory:
http://www.msri.org/calendar/workshops/WksInfo/4/show_info
By the way, what's an ambitwistor space? Perhaps our old friend Ambitwistor can respond to it?