Editing Twistor theory (section)

{{Short description|Possible path to quantum gravity proposed by Roger Penrose}}
In [[theoretical physics]], '''twistor theory''' was proposed by [[Roger Penrose]] in 1967<ref name ="Pen1">{{cite journal|last1=Penrose|first1=R.|date=1967|title=Twistor Algebra|journal=[[Journal of Mathematical Physics]]|volume=8|issue=2|pages=345–366|bibcode=1967JMP.....8..345P|doi=10.1063/1.1705200}}</ref> as a possible path<ref name ="PenMac">{{Cite journal|last1=Penrose|first1=R.|last2=MacCallum|first2=M.A.H.|title=Twistor theory: An approach to the quantisation of fields and space-time|journal=Physics Reports|volume=6|issue=4|pages=241–315|doi=10.1016/0370-1573(73)90008-2|year=1973|bibcode=1973PhR.....6..241P}}</ref> to [[quantum gravity]] and has evolved into a widely studied branch of [[Theoretical physics|theoretical]] and [[mathematical physics]]. Penrose's idea was that [[twistor space]] should be the basic arena for physics from which [[space-time]] itself should emerge. It has led to powerful mathematical tools that have applications to [[Differential geometry|differential]] and [[integral geometry]], [[nonlinear differential equation]]s and [[representation theory]], and in physics to [[general relativity]], [[quantum field theory]], and the theory of [[scattering amplitude]]s.

Twistor theory arose in the context of the rapidly expanding mathematical developments in Einstein's theory of [[general relativity]] in the late 1950s and in the 1960s and carries a number of influences from that period. In particular, [[Roger Penrose]] has credited [[Ivor Robinson (physicist)|Ivor Robinson]] as an important early influence in the development of twistor theory, through his construction of so-called ''Robinson congruences''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Roger |last=Penrose |chapter=On the Origins of Twistor Theory |title=Gravitation and Geometry, a Volume in Honour of Ivor Robinson |editor-first=Wolfgang |editor-last=Rindler |editor2-first=Andrzej |editor2-last=Trautman |publisher=Bibliopolis |year=1987 |isbn=88-7088-142-3 }}</ref>