Twistor theory and differential equations.

by Prof. Maciej Dunajski (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theorotecal Physics, Centre of Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, UK)

Wednesday 29 Oct 2008, 15:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Touschek (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

Twistor theory was originally proposed by R. Penrose as a way to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity. Its status as a physical theory remains unclear but it found unexpected applications in mathematics, from differential geometry and representation theory to integrable systems. I will give an elementary introduction to the subject concentrating on applications to differential equations.