Curvature and Characteristic Classes

Curvature and Characteristic Classes PDF Author: J.L. Dupont
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540359141
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description


Differential Geometry

Differential Geometry PDF Author: Loring W. Tu
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319550845
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
This text presents a graduate-level introduction to differential geometry for mathematics and physics students. The exposition follows the historical development of the concepts of connection and curvature with the goal of explaining the Chern–Weil theory of characteristic classes on a principal bundle. Along the way we encounter some of the high points in the history of differential geometry, for example, Gauss' Theorema Egregium and the Gauss–Bonnet theorem. Exercises throughout the book test the reader’s understanding of the material and sometimes illustrate extensions of the theory. Initially, the prerequisites for the reader include a passing familiarity with manifolds. After the first chapter, it becomes necessary to understand and manipulate differential forms. A knowledge of de Rham cohomology is required for the last third of the text. Prerequisite material is contained in author's text An Introduction to Manifolds, and can be learned in one semester. For the benefit of the reader and to establish common notations, Appendix A recalls the basics of manifold theory. Additionally, in an attempt to make the exposition more self-contained, sections on algebraic constructions such as the tensor product and the exterior power are included. Differential geometry, as its name implies, is the study of geometry using differential calculus. It dates back to Newton and Leibniz in the seventeenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century, with the work of Gauss on surfaces and Riemann on the curvature tensor, that differential geometry flourished and its modern foundation was laid. Over the past one hundred years, differential geometry has proven indispensable to an understanding of the physical world, in Einstein's general theory of relativity, in the theory of gravitation, in gauge theory, and now in string theory. Differential geometry is also useful in topology, several complex variables, algebraic geometry, complex manifolds, and dynamical systems, among other fields. The field has even found applications to group theory as in Gromov's work and to probability theory as in Diaconis's work. It is not too far-fetched to argue that differential geometry should be in every mathematician's arsenal.

Characteristic Classes

Characteristic Classes PDF Author: John Willard Milnor
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691081229
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
The theory of characteristic classes provides a meeting ground for the various disciplines of differential topology, differential and algebraic geometry, cohomology, and fiber bundle theory. As such, it is a fundamental and an essential tool in the study of differentiable manifolds. In this volume, the authors provide a thorough introduction to characteristic classes, with detailed studies of Stiefel-Whitney classes, Chern classes, Pontrjagin classes, and the Euler class. Three appendices cover the basics of cohomology theory and the differential forms approach to characteristic classes, and provide an account of Bernoulli numbers. Based on lecture notes of John Milnor, which first appeared at Princeton University in 1957 and have been widely studied by graduate students of topology ever since, this published version has been completely revised and corrected.

From Calculus to Cohomology

From Calculus to Cohomology PDF Author: Ib H. Madsen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521589567
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
An introductory textbook on cohomology and curvature with emphasis on applications.

Loop Spaces, Characteristic Classes and Geometric Quantization

Loop Spaces, Characteristic Classes and Geometric Quantization PDF Author: Jean-Luc Brylinski
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0817647317
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This book examines the differential geometry of manifolds, loop spaces, line bundles and groupoids, and the relations of this geometry to mathematical physics. Applications presented in the book involve anomaly line bundles on loop spaces and anomaly functionals, central extensions of loop groups, Kähler geometry of the space of knots, and Cheeger--Chern--Simons secondary characteristics classes. It also covers the Dirac monopole and Dirac’s quantization of the electrical charge.

An Introduction to Manifolds

An Introduction to Manifolds PDF Author: Loring W. Tu
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441974008
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Manifolds, the higher-dimensional analogs of smooth curves and surfaces, are fundamental objects in modern mathematics. Combining aspects of algebra, topology, and analysis, manifolds have also been applied to classical mechanics, general relativity, and quantum field theory. In this streamlined introduction to the subject, the theory of manifolds is presented with the aim of helping the reader achieve a rapid mastery of the essential topics. By the end of the book the reader should be able to compute, at least for simple spaces, one of the most basic topological invariants of a manifold, its de Rham cohomology. Along the way, the reader acquires the knowledge and skills necessary for further study of geometry and topology. The requisite point-set topology is included in an appendix of twenty pages; other appendices review facts from real analysis and linear algebra. Hints and solutions are provided to many of the exercises and problems. This work may be used as the text for a one-semester graduate or advanced undergraduate course, as well as by students engaged in self-study. Requiring only minimal undergraduate prerequisites, 'Introduction to Manifolds' is also an excellent foundation for Springer's GTM 82, 'Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology'.

Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology

Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology PDF Author: Raoul Bott
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1475739516
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
Developed from a first-year graduate course in algebraic topology, this text is an informal introduction to some of the main ideas of contemporary homotopy and cohomology theory. The materials are structured around four core areas: de Rham theory, the Cech-de Rham complex, spectral sequences, and characteristic classes. By using the de Rham theory of differential forms as a prototype of cohomology, the machineries of algebraic topology are made easier to assimilate. With its stress on concreteness, motivation, and readability, this book is equally suitable for self-study and as a one-semester course in topology.

Connections, Curvature, and Cohomology: Lie groups, principal bundles, and characteristic classes

Connections, Curvature, and Cohomology: Lie groups, principal bundles, and characteristic classes PDF Author: Werner Hildbert Greub
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 572

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Book Description
Volume 2.

Differential Geometry

Differential Geometry PDF Author: Clifford Taubes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199605882
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Bundles, connections, metrics and curvature are the lingua franca of modern differential geometry and theoretical physics. Supplying graduate students in mathematics or theoretical physics with the fundamentals of these objects, this book would suit a one-semester course on the subject of bundles and the associated geometry.

Manifolds and Differential Geometry

Manifolds and Differential Geometry PDF Author: Jeffrey Marc Lee
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 0821848151
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 690

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Book Description
Differential geometry began as the study of curves and surfaces using the methods of calculus. This book offers a graduate-level introduction to the tools and structures of modern differential geometry. It includes the topics usually found in a course on differentiable manifolds, such as vector bundles, tensors, and de Rham cohomology.