Advanced Search

Query:

Fill in the form and click »Search«...

Format:

Display: entries per page entries

Zbl 1021.83001
O'Donnell, Peter
Introduction to 2-spinors in general relativity. (English)
[B] River Edge, NJ: World Scientific. xii, 191 p. \$ 48.00; \sterling 33.00 (2003). ISBN 981-238-307-7/hbk

This is a text-book on the spinors and 2-spinors within general relativity theory. For pedagogic reasons, the author did not apply the most general approach; e.g., he restricts himself to three space- and one time-dimension even in those circumstances, in which the statements easily generalize to the case of an arbitrary number of spatial directions.\par Chapter 1 deals with an unusual view to the Minkowski space-time of special relativity theory: 0'Donnell uses the stereographic projection. In the usual terminology one could say: he applies ideas from projective geometry. This is the easiest way to introduce spinors for special relativity.\par With this preparation, the more abstract chapter 2 on the spinor algebra: representation of vectors, including the electromagnetic field, and the Petrov classification of the Weyl tensor in spinor form, got a readable form.\par Chapter 3, Spinor Analysis, introduces covariant derivatives, it includes the Geroch-Held-Penrose formalism and the Goldberg-Sachs theorem; and the final chapter 4 deals with the Lanczos spinor.\par The appendix presents a 50-pages introduction to general relativity theory; therefore, the book is good reading also for students not being acquainted with that theory. Bibliography and index close this well-written monograph.
[Hans-Jürgen Schmidt (Potsdam)]

MSC 2000:: *83-01 Textbooks (relativity)
83C60 Spinor and twistor methods in general retativity
83A05 Special relativity

Keywords: spinor analysis; spinors; general relativity theory; Minkowski space-time; spinor algebra; Petrov classification; Weyl tensor; Geroch-Held-Penrose formalism; Goldberg-Sachs theorem; Lanczos spinor

Comment on this Item PDF MathML XML ASCII DVI PS BibTeX Online Ordering

	Scientific prize winners of the ICM 2010
	Overhang
	Lie groups, physics and geometry. An introduction for physicists, engineers and chemists.

Advanced Search

Zentralblatt MATH Berlin [Germany]