Spinors

[□h=-16πT]

Could anyone give me a brief exposition, or direct me to books/resources, on spinor algebra/calculus?

 

Thanks in advance

[ydoaPs]

http://bordersstores.com/search/search.jsp?srchTerms=spinor&mediaType=1&srchType=Keyword

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/103-2641169-9619032

 

you can get them online or , at borders, you can order and reserve them and pick them up at the store. the nearest big bookstore is 30 or so miles away, so i use a small store in town called "Three Sisters Books and Gifts." i give them the ISBN and they order it for me. perhaps you can do the same thing with a local bookstore.

[fuhrerkeebs]

Could anyone give me a brief exposition, or direct me to books/resources, on spinor algebra/calculus?

 

Fundamental Formulas of Physics, Vol. 1 by D.H. Menzel was my first introduction to spinors, and it pretty much covers all of the important stuff. If you want, I'll post a little introduction to spinors when I get back from church...

 

Oh, and Cartan's book is really good too...however, it's much more lengthy than FFoP and it doesn't really contain that much more info on just spinors (the whole second part of the book is on applications to physics...ie Dirac's equation, using spinors in SR, etc.)

[revprez]

And before you buy the books, check out the articles on Wikipedia and Mathworld, these links to free tutorials and introductions, and these lecture notes from MIT and UIUC.

 

Rev Prez

[□h=-16πT]

Cheers guys.

[Tom Mattson]

The definitive classic is The Theory of Spinors by Cartan.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486640701/qid=1118280520/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4889131-5900916?v=glance&s=books

[lqg]

The definitive classic is The Theory of Spinors by Cartan.

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0486640701/qid=1118280520/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4889131-5900916?v=glance&s=books

tom, what about roger penrose's two volumes about spinors and space time, isnt there also a rigorous treat to spinors besdies the physical one?

[□h=-16πT]

tom, what about roger penrose's two volumes about spinors and space time, isnt there also a rigorous treat to spinors besdies the physical one?

 

I've just got the first of those volumes, and they are brilliant.

[lqg]

are the books of penrose's as rigorous as cartan's books?

bacause if they are, i think it's better to buy them bacause of the rigorous treatment with the physical examples as well.

[□h=-16πT]

I haven't read Cartan's book on spinors, but I have read about a third of the first of Penrose's volumes and the exposition is very detailed and rigorous. For example, Penrose discusses every necessary and sufficient topological condition for a manifold to have a spinor structure as well as discussing any properties that do not allow a spinor structure, in excellent detail.

 

Cartan's book is 176 pages, whereas the first of Penrose's volumes is about 400, so you could judge it just by size.

 

I'm currently on chapter 3.2 (of 5) and he is only really just getting into the algebra of spinors. The previous chapters, which are pretty long, develop the geometry and topology and introduce methods from classical tensor analysis that can be applied to spinor analysis (such as contraction, and the invention of a new labelling notation called the "Abstract index formalism").

[DQW]

Cartan's book is 176 pages, whereas the first of Penrose's volumes is about 400, so you could judge it just by size.

I have learned that this is not a great way to judge rigor. Detail or comprehensiveness perhaps, but not rigor.

[□h=-16πT]

I have learned that this is not a great way to judge rigor. Detail or comprehensiveness perhaps, but not rigor.

 

That's why I gave an example of the book's rigor.