The Variational Theory Of Geodesics

Riemannian geometry is a fundamental area of modern mathematics and is important to the study of relativity. Within the larger context of Riemannian mathematics, the active subdiscipline of geodesics (shortest paths) in Riemannian spaces is of particular significance. This compact and self-contained text by a noted theorist presents the essentials of modern differential geometry as well as basic tools for the study of Morse theory. The advanced treatment emphasizes analytical rather than topological aspects of Morse theory and requires a solid background in calculus. Suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students of mathematics, the text opens with a chapter on smooth manifolds, followed by a consideration of spaces of affine connection. Subsequent chapters explore Riemannian spaces and offer an extensive treatment of the variational properties of geodesics and auxiliary theorems and matters.

Appliies variational methods and critical point theory on infinite dimenstional manifolds to some problems in Lorentzian geometry which have a variational nature, such as existence and multiplicity results on geodesics and relations between such geodesics and the topology of the manifold.

Appliies variational methods and critical point theory on infinite dimenstional manifolds to some problems in Lorentzian geometry which have a variational nature, such as existence and multiplicity results on geodesics and relations between such geodesics and the topology of the manifold.

The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to some of the main techniques, ideas and concepts frequently used in modern geometry. It starts from scratch and it covers basic topics such as differential and integral calculus on manifolds, connections on vector bundles and their curvatures, basic Riemannian geometry, calculus of variations, DeRham cohomology, integral geometry (tube and Crofton formulas), characteristic classes, elliptic equations on manifolds and Dirac operators. The new edition contains a new chapter on spectral geometry presenting recent results which appear here for the first time in printed form.

The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to some of the most frequently used techniques in modern global geometry. Suited to the beginning graduate student willing to specialize in this very challenging field, the necessary prerequisite is a good knowledge of several variables calculus, linear algebra and point-set topology.The book's guiding philosophy is, in the words of Newton, that ?in learning the sciences examples are of more use than precepts?. We support all the new concepts by examples and, whenever possible, we tried to present several facets of the same issue.While we present most of the local aspects of classical differential geometry, the book has a ?global and analytical bias?. We develop many algebraic-topological techniques in the special context of smooth manifolds such as Poincar‚ duality, Thom isomorphism, intersection theory, characteristic classes and the Gauss-;Bonnet theorem.We devoted quite a substantial part of the book to describing the analytic techniques which have played an increasingly important role during the past decades. Thus, the last part of the book discusses elliptic equations, including elliptic Lpand H”lder estimates, Fredholm theory, spectral theory, Hodge theory, and applications of these. The last chapter is an in-depth investigation of a very special, but fundamental class of elliptic operators, namely, the Dirac type operators.The second edition has many new examples and exercises, and an entirely new chapter on classical integral geometry where we describe some mathematical gems which, undeservedly, seem to have disappeared from the contemporary mathematical limelight.