Chapman and Hall/CRC Further Advances in Twistor Theory, Volume III: Curved Twistor Spaces: 03 (Chapman & Hall/CRC Research Notes in Mathematics Series)

Although twistor theory originated as an approach to the unification of quantum theory and general relativity, twistor correspondences and their generalizations have provided powerful mathematical tools for studying problems in differential geometry, nonlinear equations, and representation theory. At the same time, the theory continues to offer promising new insights into the nature of quantum theory and gravitation. Further Advances in Twistor Theory, Volume III: Curved Twistor Spaces is actually the fourth in a series of books compiling articles from Twistor Newsletter-a somewhat informal journal published periodically by the Oxford research group of Roger Penrose. Motivated both by questions in differential geometry and by the quest to find a twistor correspondence for general Ricci-flat space times, this volume explores deformed twistor spaces and their applications. Articles from the world's leading researchers in this field-including Roger Penrose-have been written in an informal, easy-to-read style and arranged in four chapters, each supplemented by a detailed introduction. Collectively, they trace the development of the twistor programme over the last 20 years and provide an overview of its recent advances and current status.