Pure connection formulation, twistors, and the chase for a twistor action for general relativity

Abstract

This paper establishes the relation between traditional results from the (Euclidean) twistor theory and chiral formulations of general relativity (GR), especially the pure connection formulation. Starting from an SU(2)-connection only, we show how to construct natural complex data on twistor space, mainly an almost Hermitian structure and a connection on some complex line bundle. Only when this almost Hermitian structure is integrable is the connection related to an anti-self-dual-Einstein metric and makes contact with the usual results. This leads to a new proof of the non-linear graviton theorem. Finally, we discuss what new strategies this “connection approach” to twistors suggests for constructing a twistor action for gravity. In Appendix A, we also review all known chiral Lagrangians for GR.