Tensor Analysis And Elementary Differential Geometry For Physicists And Engineers

This book presents tensors and differential geometry in a comprehensive and approachable manner, providing a bridge from the place where physics and engineering mathematics end, and the place where tensor analysis begins. Among the topics examined are tensor analysis, elementary differential geometry of moving surfaces, and k-differential forms. The book includes numerous examples with solutions and concrete calculations, which guide readers through these complex topics step by step. Mindful of the practical needs of engineers and physicists, book favors simplicity over a more rigorous, formal approach. The book shows readers how to work with tensors and differential geometry and how to apply them to modeling the physical and engineering world. The authors provide chapter-length treatment of topics at the intersection of advanced mathematics, and physics and engineering: • General Basis and Bra-Ket Notation • Tensor Analysis • Elementary Differential Geometry • Differential Forms • Applications of Tensors and Differential Geometry • Tensors and Bra-Ket Notation in Quantum Mechanics The text reviews methods and applications in computational fluid dynamics; continuum mechanics; electrodynamics in special relativity; cosmology in the Minkowski four-dimensional space time; and relativistic and non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Tensor Analysis and Elementary Differential Geometry for Physicists and Engineers benefits research scientists and practicing engineers in a variety of fields, who use tensor analysis and differential geometry in the context of applied physics, and electrical and mechanical engineering. It will also interest graduate students in applied physics and engineering.

Tensor analysis is an essential tool in any science (e.g. engineering, physics, mathematical biology) that employs a continuum description. This concise text offers a straightforward treatment of the subject suitable for the student or practicing engineer. The final chapter introduces the reader to differential geometry, including the elementary theory of curves and surfaces. A well-organized formula list, provided in an appendix, makes the book a very useful reference. A second appendix contains full hints and solutions for the exercises.

This book is designed for students in engineering, physics and mathematics. The material can be taught from the beginning of the third academic year. It could also be used for self study, given its pedagogical structure and the numerous solved problems which prepare for modem physics and technology. One of the original aspects of this work is the development together of the basic theory of tensors and the foundations of continuum mechanics. Why two books in one? Firstly, Tensor Analysis provides a thorough introduction of intrinsic mathematical entities, called tensors, which is essential for continuum mechanics. This way of proceeding greatly unifies the various subjects. Only some basic knowledge of linear algebra is necessary to start out on the topic of tensors. The essence of the mathematical foundations is introduced in a practical way. Tensor developments are often too abstract, since they are either aimed at algebraists only, or too quickly applied to physicists and engineers. Here a good balance has been found which allows these extremes to be brought closer together. Though the exposition of tensor theory forms a subject in itself, it is viewed not only as an autonomous mathematical discipline, but as a preparation for theories of physics and engineering. More specifically, because this part of the work deals with tensors in general coordinates and not solely in Cartesian coordinates, it will greatly help with many different disciplines such as differential geometry, analytical mechanics, continuum mechanics, special relativity, general relativity, cosmology, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, etc ..

This textbook provides a rigorous approach to tensor manifolds in several aspects relevant for Engineers and Physicists working in industry or academia. With a thorough, comprehensive, and unified presentation, this book offers insights into several topics of tensor analysis, which covers all aspects of n-dimensional spaces. The main purpose of this book is to give a self-contained yet simple, correct and comprehensive mathematical explanation of tensor calculus for undergraduate and graduate students and for professionals. In addition to many worked problems, this book features a selection of examples, solved step by step. Although no emphasis is placed on special and particular problems of Engineering or Physics, the text covers the fundamentals of these fields of science. The book makes a brief introduction into the basic concept of the tensorial formalism so as to allow the reader to make a quick and easy review of the essential topics that enable having the grounds for the subsequent themes, without needing to resort to other bibliographical sources on tensors. Chapter 1 deals with Fundamental Concepts about tensors and chapter 2 is devoted to the study of covariant, absolute and contravariant derivatives. The chapters 3 and 4 are dedicated to the Integral Theorems and Differential Operators, respectively. Chapter 5 deals with Riemann Spaces, and finally the chapter 6 presents a concise study of the Parallelism of Vectors. It also shows how to solve various problems of several particular manifolds.

There is a large gap between engineering courses in tensor algebra on one hand, and the treatment of linear transformations within classical linear algebra on the other. This book addresses primarily engineering students with some initial knowledge of matrix algebra. Thereby, mathematical formalism is applied as far as it is absolutely necessary. Numerous exercises provided in the book are accompanied by solutions enabling autonomous study. The last chapters deal with modern developments in the theory of isotropic and anisotropic tensor functions and their applications to continuum mechanics and might therefore be of high interest for PhD-students and scientists working in this area.

Deep comprehension of applied sciences requires a solid knowledge of Mathematical Analysis. For most of high level scientific research, the good understanding of Functional Analysis and weak solutions to differential equations is essential. This book aims to deal with the main topics that are necessary to achieve such a knowledge. Still, this is the goal of many other texts in advanced analysis; and then, what would be a good reason to read or to consult this book? In order to answer this question, let us introduce the three Authors. Alberto Ferrero got his degree in Mathematics in 2000 and presently he is researcher in Mathematical Analysis at the Universit`a del Piemonte Orientale. Filippo Gazzola got his degree in Mathematics in 1987 and he is now full professor in Mathematical Analysis at the Politecnico di Milano. Maurizio Zanotti got his degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2004 and presently he is structural and machine designer and lecturer professor in Mathematical Analysis at the Politecnico di Milano. The three Authors, for the variety of their skills, decided to join their expertises to write this book. One of the reasons that should encourage its reading is that the presentation turns out to be a reasonable compromise among the essential mathematical rigor, the importance of the applications and the clearness, which is necessary to make the reference work pleasant to the readers, even to the inexperienced ones. The range of treated topics is quite wide and covers the main basic notions of the scientific research which is based upon mathematical models. We start from vector spaces and Lebesgue integral to reach the frontier of theoretical research such as the study of critical exponents for semilinear elliptic equations and recent problems in fluid dynamics. This long route passes through the theory of Banach and Hilbert spaces, Sobolev spaces, differential equations, Fourier and Laplace transforms, before which we recall some appropriate tools of Complex Analysis. We give all the proofs that have some didactic or applicative interest, while we omit the ones which are too technical or require too high level knowledge. This book has the ambitious purpose to be useful to a broad variety of readers. The first possible beneficiaries are of course the second or third year students of a scientific course of degree: in what follows they will find the topics that are necessary to approach more advanced studies in Mathematics and in other fields, especially Physics and Engineering. This text could be also useful to graduate students who want to start a Ph.D. course: indeed it contains the matter of a multidisciplinary Ph.D. course given by Filippo Gazzola for several years at Politecnico di Milano. Finally, this book could be addressed also to the ones who have already left education far-back but occasionally need to use mathematical tools: we refer both to university professors and their research, and to professionals and designers who want to model a certain phenomenon, but also to the nostalgics of the good old days when they were students. It is precisely for this last type of reader that we have also reported some elementary topics, such as the properties of numerical sets and of the integrals; moreover, every chapter is provided with examples and specific exercises aimed at the involvement of the reader. Let us start immediately inviting the reader to find an “anomaly” among the six formulas appearing in the cover. This book is the translation from Italian of the book ”Elementi di Analisi Superiore per la Fisica e l’Ingegneria”. The translation is due to Ilaria Lucardesi.