Twistor Correspondence
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In
mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...
, the twistor correspondence (also known as Penrose–Ward correspondence) is a
bijection In mathematics, a bijection, bijective function, or one-to-one correspondence is a function between two sets such that each element of the second set (the codomain) is the image of exactly one element of the first set (the domain). Equival ...
between
instantons An instanton (or pseudoparticle) is a notion appearing in theoretical and mathematical physics. An instanton is a classical solution to equations of motion with a finite, non-zero action, either in quantum mechanics or in quantum field theory. Mo ...
on complexified
Minkowski space In physics, Minkowski space (or Minkowski spacetime) () is the main mathematical description of spacetime in the absence of gravitation. It combines inertial space and time manifolds into a four-dimensional model. The model helps show how a ...
and
holomorphic vector bundle In mathematics, a holomorphic vector bundle is a complex vector bundle over a complex manifold such that the total space is a complex manifold and the projection map is holomorphic. Fundamental examples are the holomorphic tangent bundle of a ...
s on
twistor space In mathematics and theoretical physics (especially twistor theory), twistor space is the complex vector space of solutions of the twistor equation \nabla_^\Omega_^=0 . It was described in the 1960s by Roger Penrose and Malcolm MacCallum. According ...
, which as a
complex manifold In differential geometry and complex geometry, a complex manifold is a manifold with a ''complex structure'', that is an atlas (topology), atlas of chart (topology), charts to the open unit disc in the complex coordinate space \mathbb^n, such th ...
is \mathbb^3, or complex projective 3-space. Twistor space was introduced by
Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, Philosophy of science, philosopher of science and Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics i ...
, while Richard Ward formulated the correspondence between instantons and vector bundles on twistor space.


Statement

There is a bijection between # Gauge equivalence classes of anti-self dual Yang–Mills (ASDYM) connections on complexified Minkowski space M_\mathbb \cong \mathbb^4 with
gauge group A gauge group is a group of gauge symmetries of the Yang–Mills gauge theory of principal connections on a principal bundle. Given a principal bundle P\to X with a structure Lie group G, a gauge group is defined to be a group of its vertical ...
\mathrm(n, \mathbb) (the complex
general linear group In mathematics, the general linear group of degree n is the set of n\times n invertible matrices, together with the operation of ordinary matrix multiplication. This forms a group, because the product of two invertible matrices is again inve ...
) # Holomorphic rank n vector bundles E over projective
twistor space In mathematics and theoretical physics (especially twistor theory), twistor space is the complex vector space of solutions of the twistor equation \nabla_^\Omega_^=0 . It was described in the 1960s by Roger Penrose and Malcolm MacCallum. According ...
\mathcal \cong \mathbb^3 - \mathbb^1 which are trivial on each degree one section of \mathcal \rightarrow \mathbb^1. where \mathbb^n is the
complex projective space In mathematics, complex projective space is the projective space with respect to the field of complex numbers. By analogy, whereas the points of a real projective space label the lines through the origin of a real Euclidean space, the points of a ...
of dimension n.


Applications


ADHM construction

On the anti-self dual Yang–Mills side, the solutions, known as
instantons An instanton (or pseudoparticle) is a notion appearing in theoretical and mathematical physics. An instanton is a classical solution to equations of motion with a finite, non-zero action, either in quantum mechanics or in quantum field theory. Mo ...
, extend to solutions on compactified Euclidean 4-space. On the twistor side, the vector bundles extend from \mathcal to \mathbb^3, and the reality condition on the ASDYM side corresponds to a reality structure on the algebraic bundles on the twistor side. Holomorphic vector bundles over \mathbb^3 have been extensively studied in the field of
algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...
, and all relevant bundles can be generated by the monad construction also known as the ADHM construction, hence giving a classification of instantons.


References

Mathematical physics {{math-physics-stub