Elliptic Functions And Applications

The subject matter of this book formed the substance of a mathematical se am which was worked by many of the great mathematicians of the last century. The mining metaphor is here very appropriate, for the analytical tools perfected by Cauchy permitted the mathematical argument to penetra te to unprecedented depths over a restricted region of its domain and enabled mathematicians like Abel, Jacobi, and Weierstrass to uncover a treasurehouse of results whose variety, aesthetic appeal, and capacity for arousing our astonishment have not since been equaled by research in any other area. But the circumstance that this theory can be applied to solve problems arising in many departments of science and engineering graces the topic with an additional aura and provides a powerful argument for including it in university courses for students who are expected to use mathematics as a tool for technological investigations in later life. Unfortunately, since the status of university staff is almost wholly determined by their effectiveness as research workers rather than as teachers, the content of undergraduate courses tends to reflect those academic research topics which are currently popular and bears little relationship to the future needs of students who are themselves not destined to become university teachers. Thus, having been comprehensively explored in the last century and being undoubtedly difficult .

The field of elliptic functions, apart from its own mathematical beauty, has many applications in physics in a variety of topics, such as string theory or integrable systems. This book, which focuses on the Weierstrass theory of elliptic functions, aims at senior undergraduate and junior graduate students in physics or applied mathematics. Supplemented by problems and solutions, it provides a fast, but thorough introduction to the mathematical theory and presents some important applications in classical and quantum mechanics. Elementary applications, such as the simple pendulum, help the readers develop physical intuition on the behavior of the Weierstrass elliptic and related functions, whereas more Interesting and advanced examples, like the n=1 Lamé problem-a periodic potential with an exactly solvable band structure, are also presented.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This book is devoted to the geometry and arithmetic of elliptic curves and to elliptic functions with applications to algebra and number theory. It includes modern interpretations of some famous classical algebraic theorems such as Abel's theorem on the lemniscate and Hermite's solution of the fifth degree equation by means of theta functions. Suitable as a text, the book is self-contained and assumes as prerequisites only the standard one-year courses of algebra and analysis.

Presents the theory of elliptic functions and its applications. Suitable primarily for engineers who work with elliptic functions, this work is also intended for those with background in the elements of mathematical analysis and the theory of functions contained in the first two years of mathematics and physics courses at the college level.