Differential Forms And Connections

Introducing the tools of modern differential geometry--exterior calculus, manifolds, vector bundles, connections--this textbook covers both classical surface theory, the modern theory of connections, and curvature. With no knowledge of topology assumed, the only prerequisites are multivariate calculus and linear algebra.

This book introduces the tools of modern differential geometry--exterior calculus, manifolds, vector bundles, connections--and covers both classical surface theory, the modern theory of connections, and curvature. Also included is a chapter on applications to theoretical physics. The author uses the powerful and concise calculus of differential forms throughout. Through the use of numerous concrete examples, the author develops computational skills in the familiar Euclidean context before exposing the reader to the more abstract setting of manifolds. The only prerequisites are multivariate calculus and linear algebra; no knowledge of topology is assumed. Nearly 200 exercises make the book ideal for both classroom use and self-study for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in mathematics, physics, and engineering.

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.

Since the times of Gauss, Riemann, and Poincare, one of the principal goals of the study of manifolds has been to relate local analytic properties of a manifold with its global topological properties. Among the high points on this route are the Gauss-Bonnet formula, the de Rham complex, and the Hodge theorem; these results show, in particular, that the central tool in reaching the main goal of global analysis is the theory of differential forms. The book by Morita is a comprehensive introduction to differential forms. It begins with a quick introduction to the notion of differentiable manifolds and then develops basic properties of differential forms as well as fundamental results concerning them, such as the de Rham and Frobenius theorems. The second half of the book is devoted to more advanced material, including Laplacians and harmonic forms on manifolds, the concepts of vector bundles and fiber bundles, and the theory of characteristic classes. Among the less traditional topics treated is a detailed description of the Chern-Weil theory. The book can serve as a textbook for undergraduate students and for graduate students in geometry.

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.

There already exist a number of excellent graduate textbooks on the theory of differential forms as well as a handful of very good undergraduate textbooks on multivariable calculus in which this subject is briefly touched upon but not elaborated on enough.The goal of this textbook is to be readable and usable for undergraduates. It is entirely devoted to the subject of differential forms and explores a lot of its important ramifications.In particular, our book provides a detailed and lucid account of a fundamental result in the theory of differential forms which is, as a rule, not touched upon in undergraduate texts: the isomorphism between the Čech cohomology groups of a differential manifold and its de Rham cohomology groups.

"This book treats the fundamentals of differential geometry: manifolds, flows, Lie groups and their actions, invariant theory, differential forms and de Rham cohomology, bundles and connections, Riemann manifolds, isometric actions, and symplectic and Poisson geometry. It gives the careful reader working knowledge in a wide range of topics of modern coordinate-free differential geometry in not too many pages. A prerequisite for using this book is a good knowledge of undergraduate analysis and linear algebra."--BOOK JACKET.

Differential Forms and the Geometry of General Relativity provides readers with a coherent path to understanding relativity. Requiring little more than calculus and some linear algebra, it helps readers learn just enough differential geometry to grasp the basics of general relativity. The book contains two intertwined but distinct halves. Designed for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in mathematics or physics, most of the text requires little more than familiarity with calculus and linear algebra. The first half presents an introduction to general relativity that describes some of the surprising implications of relativity without introducing more formalism than necessary. This nonstandard approach uses differential forms rather than tensor calculus and minimizes the use of "index gymnastics" as much as possible. The second half of the book takes a more detailed look at the mathematics of differential forms. It covers the theory behind the mathematics used in the first half by emphasizing a conceptual understanding instead of formal proofs. The book provides a language to describe curvature, the key geometric idea in general relativity.