Research group on Twistor in USA.

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the pursuit of studying Twistor Theory for a master's degree in the USA, particularly given the concentration of specialists in the UK, such as those at Oxford and Cambridge. The original poster is seeking recommendations for universities in the USA that have strong programs in Twistor Theory or related fields. Suggestions include Penn State, noted for its strong faculty in quantum gravity and connections to Roger Penrose. The conversation highlights the importance of being flexible in research focus, considering related areas that could lead back to Twistor Theory later. Participants emphasize that Twistor Theory, particularly as envisioned by Witten, is more of a tool used in various theoretical physics contexts rather than a standalone theory. The original Twistor program's goal of unifying gravity with quantum mechanics is acknowledged, with a consensus that most significant work in this area is still being conducted in the UK. Participants recommend exploring citations of Witten's work to identify other researchers active in Twistor-related studies.
Empty Set
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Hello ladies and gentelmen.


I am currently studying mathematics in middle-east, I want to study Twistor Theory in master. the problem is most of twistor specialists in UK(including Roger Penrose) and my scholarship allow me to choose only university in USA . I did quick search here are professors or schools that I found interested in twistor:

UK:
Oxford University (the only university that has group on twistor http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/groups/mathematical-physics/research-areas/twistor-theory)

2-Dr Maciej Dunajski
University of Cambridge
Theoretical High Energy Particle Physics Group(Centre for Mathematical Sciences)


3-Stephen Huggett, Reader in Mathematical Physics, University of Plymouth


-Christian Saemann Department of Mathematics, Heriot-Watt University

4-Bill Spence, current: Head of School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary, University of London

5-Gabriele Travaglini School of Physics and Astronomy Queen Mary, University of London

5-Mr Moritz F. Högner, Moritz is a member of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics High Energy Physics research group. His current research interests are self-duality, twistor theory and integrability.

USA:
Edward Witten(who combined twistor and string theory) : But seems near to impossible to be your advisor ("www.princeton.edu/physics/graduate-program/theses/theses-from-2005/P.Svrcekthesis.pdf" )

So, Which school do you suggest to study twistor in usa?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org


Twistor theory seems like an awfully narrow target. Perhaps, you should be open to studying related areas, and then doing twistor theory later, if you want. You could maybe look into Penn State. Penrose visits there sometimes and there are some very good quantum gravity people there.
 


homeomorphic said:
Twistor theory seems like an awfully narrow target. Perhaps, you should be open to studying related areas, and then doing twistor theory later, if you want.

That seems reasonable advice.

You could maybe look into Penn State. Penrose visits there sometimes and there are some very good quantum gravity people there.

Indeed :bugeye:,I didn't expect they have that excellent staff (Ashtekar for example), Thank you so much.

Do you know any other hidden university who has really good staff in general relativity and differential geometry?
 


What do you mean by "twistor theory"? Like, what are some relevant papers?

I'm not sure about the first people you mention, but twistors in the way Witten used them aren't a theory, they are a now commonly used tool, like spinors or vectors. In that sense, anyone working on scattering amplitudes, and many people working on Yang-Mills or AdS/CFT use them.

Besides well known groups at say Princeton, UCLA, Brown, your best bet is to look at people who cited Witten's paper: http://arxiv.org/cits/hep-th/0312171 .

Look at the more frequent authors and those are people working with twistors.
 


negru said:
What do you mean by "twistor theory"? Like, what are some relevant papers?

I'm not sure about the first people you mention, but twistors in the way Witten used them aren't a theory, they are a now commonly used tool, like spinors or vectors. In that sense, anyone working on scattering amplitudes, and many people working on Yang-Mills or AdS/CFT use them.
The topic got off a track a little bit.
I mean the original twistor program, which is aim to unify Gravity with quantum, not using it as tool to calculate, the problem is as far as I know who works in Twistor program only in UK espically Twistor Group in Oxford(most of twistor discoveries done by them).

Besides well known groups at say Princeton, UCLA, Brown, your best bet is to look at people who cited Witten's paper: http://arxiv.org/cits/hep-th/0312171 .

Look at the more frequent authors and those are people working with twistors.

helpful advice , thank you.
 
Hey, I am Andreas from Germany. I am currently 35 years old and I want to relearn math and physics. This is not one of these regular questions when it comes to this matter. So... I am very realistic about it. I know that there are severe contraints when it comes to selfstudy compared to a regular school and/or university (structure, peers, teachers, learning groups, tests, access to papers and so on) . I will never get a job in this field and I will never be taken serious by "real"...
Yesterday, 9/5/2025, when I was surfing, I found an article The Schwarzschild solution contains three problems, which can be easily solved - Journal of King Saud University - Science ABUNDANCE ESTIMATION IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT https://jksus.org/the-schwarzschild-solution-contains-three-problems-which-can-be-easily-solved/ that has the derivation of a line element as a corrected version of the Schwarzschild solution to Einstein’s field equation. This article's date received is 2022-11-15...

Similar threads

Replies
2
Views
1K
Replies
14
Views
5K
Replies
1
Views
1K
Replies
8
Views
3K
Replies
71
Views
645
Replies
10
Views
2K
Replies
6
Views
2K
Back
Top