Spinors in four-dimensional spaces (Q986668)

This book contains an elementary and essentially self-contained exposition of the two-component spinor formalism for a four-dimensional space-time having an arbitrary signature without appealing to the Clifford algebra methodology. While unquestionably the definitive exposition of two-component spinors was given in the treatise of \textit{R. Penrose} and \textit{W. Rindler} [Spinors and space-time. Volume 1: Two-spinor calculus and relativistic fields. (Reprinted with corrections). Cambridge Monographs on Mathematical Physics. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press (1986; Zbl 0602.53001)], in the intervening years, various innovations, e.g., Killing spinors, the Ernst potential, and Lanczos spinor, have been discovered. The author focuses on such innovations, and indicates how they naturally arise in physical contexts. His approach is remarkably wide-ranging, and contains numerous references to the original work. Contents includes four chapters: Spinor Algebra; Connection and Curvature; Applications to General Relativity; Further Applications (including self-dual Yang-Mills fields); an Appendix; and References (103 items). Each chapter includes numerous examples, and exercises, which make it ideal for the use as a textbook, a reference, or for independent study. It is a notable and welcome addition to the existing literature.