Particles, twistors and the division algebras

Journal article, 1987

We study twistorial mechanics of particles and super-particles in six dimensions. To this end we formulate (in a general division algebra framework) a twistor theory in D = 6 based on quaternionic numbers, and prove the equivalence between this version of particle dynamics and the ordinary one. The super-twistors define a covariant and gauge invariant concept of a super world-line and allow us to write an action for the supersymmetric particle that is not plagued by the content of second class constraints that prevents a covariant quantization in the space-time picture. The notion and geometry of projectile twistor space, and its connection to Minkowski space, are examined and shown to directly generalize the results in D = 3, 4. Quantization is performed and analytic quaternionic eigenfunctions and integrations are discussed. We also draw some conclusions on the possible generalization to ten dimensions.