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20: Sir Roger Penrose - Plotting the Twist of Einstein’s Legacy: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Penrosetribar.png|thumb|The tribar shown in pieces, embedded into three open sets. The numbered and circled subregions contain duplicate overlapping points and the rules for translating into the other open sets.]]
[[File:Penrosetribar.png|thumb|The tribar shown in pieces, embedded into three open sets. The numbered and circled subregions contain duplicate overlapping points and the rules for translating into the other open sets.]]


=== Spinors and Cohomology ===
=== Cohomology ===
Cohomology of a smooth manifold can be computed by solving certain differential equations, or by combinatorially approximating the manifold with a cover as shown with the tribar. Further, it plays a necessary role in Penrose's Twistor theory. Both mathematical approaches are demonstrated in the book by Bott and Tu:
Cohomology of a smooth manifold can be computed by solving certain differential equations, or by combinatorially approximating the manifold with a cover as shown with the tribar. Further, it plays a necessary role in Penrose's Twistor theory. Both mathematical approaches are demonstrated in the book by Bott and Tu:
{{BookListing
{{BookListing
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| desc = Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology by Raoul Bott and Loring Tu.
| desc = Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology by Raoul Bott and Loring Tu.
}}
}}
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=== Spinors ===
Spinors have two main instantiations: the infinitesimal quantity usually in finite dimensions as the value of a vector field at a point, or as the vector field taken over a finite region of space(time).  
Spinors have two main instantiations: the infinitesimal quantity usually in finite dimensions as the value of a vector field at a point, or as the vector field taken over a finite region of space(time).  
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