Nonlinear field equations and twistor theory

In 1967 Roger Penrose introduced what is now called twistor geometry (Penrose 1967). This geometry is an amplification of the geometry of lines in projective space studied extensively by Felix Klein and others in the late 19th century. Penrose made the fundamental observation that this classical geometry could be used in conjunction with a Radon transform style integral geometry to provide rather complete sets of solutions of numerous partial differential equations, both linear and nonlinear, which arise naturally in theoretical physics. The Radon transform, which involves integration over straight lines in R 3, was used by F. John to generate solutions of hyperbolic partial differential equations in 1942. Penrose integrates over complex projective lines, real 2-spheres, and the data of the integration is complex-analytic functions of 3 complex variables. This is analogous to (and indeed related to) Weierstrass' representation of solutions of the minimal surface equation in terms of triples of holomorphic functions of a single complex variable which satisfy an algebraic relation. In this paper we discuss the origins of the differential equations which are amiable to twistor-geometric study from the realms of theoretical physics. Twistor geometry is most suitable for physical theories which are relativistically invariant, including Maxwell's description of electromagnetic phenomena from the 19th century (Maxwell's equations), Einstein's theory of gravitation (the equations of general relativity), and the contemporary descriptions of elementary particles (quantum field theory). Twistor geometry interacts in a nontrivial manner with the mathematical models involved in all of the above physical theories. In particular, it has led to new solutions of some of the nonlinear partial differential equations involved (Einstein's equations, Yang-Mills equations, equations of a magnetic monopole). We will describe some recent progress on twistorgeometric representations of solutions of classical field equations. There are two aspects to this. First, there is the problem of translating a given system of differential equations into twistor-geometric language. This has been done successfully in many different cases, and will be described in Section 3. Once a given problem has been transferred to a twistor-geometric context, it becomes, in general, a specific problem involving algebraic geometry, several complex variables, and algebraic topology involving holomorphic data on complex manifolds. The only partial differential equations remaining in the twistor context are the CauchyRiemann equations characterizing holomorphic functions. In effect, the partial differential equation has been transformed into a geometric problem. This is analogous to the Fourier transform transforming a partial differential equation with constant coefficients into an algebraic problem, where differentiation is replaced by the (algebraic) symbol of the differential operator in question. The second aspect of the recent progress on the twistor-geometric representation of the solutions of the classical field equations concerns itself with solving the geometric problem in question and transforming back to space-time (or Euclidean space), generating (sometimes new) solutions of the classical field equations.