An Introduction to Geometrical Physics
By addebook • Jun 29th, 2008 • Category: Mathematics •
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An Introduction to Geometrical Physics
By R. Aldrovandi, J. G. Pereira,
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Number Of Pages: 699
Publication Date: 1995-12
Sales Rank: 1789556
ISBN / ASIN: 9810222327
EAN: 9789810222321
Binding: Hardcover
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
Studio: World Scientific Publishing Company
Average Rating: 4
This book stresses the unifying power of the geometrical framework in bringing together concepts from the different areas of physics. Common underpinnings of optics, elasticity, gravitation, relativistic fields, particle mechanics and others subjects are underlined. It attempts to extricate the notion of space currently in the physical literature from the metric connotation.
The book’s goal is to present mathematical ideas associated with geometrical physics in a rather introductory language. Included are many examples from elementary physics and also, for those wishing to reach a higher level of understanding, a more advanced treatment of the mathematical topics. It is aimed as an elementary text, more so than most others on the market, and is intended for first year graduate students.
Review:
Good support for theoretical Physics …
This book contains lots of subjects all of great interest for students in theoretical Physics. The right way to read this book is just to read those chapters one is interested in. The level is at advanced-undergraduate / graduate. Tensors are treated in a self contained way, as differential forms, and connection with Physics is always present. A good way to learn more from that stuff is to couple this book with Frankel’s “The Geometry of Physics” (which goes more far by treating homology, cohomology, De Rahm theorem …). One thing one could point out is that Aldrovandi’s formalism is not the most recent (compared to Frankel’s) but this is just a small problem for those who are used to maths. This book is a useful reference and matemathical support for those learning on QFT and GR. I particularly appreciated the part about tensor fields, differential forms and integration of differential forms (Very well written !). Sections about chains, homology, De Rham’s theorem, Betti numbers … are also quite good. The last few chapters contain some original and interesting parts about GR compared to Gauge Theory, dS and AdS spaces, even if this section seems to me a bit shortly written. The book contains also some other stuff that you will not need immediatelly for QFT and GR (Morse theory, …).password:
http://rapidshare.com/files/54874192/9810222327.rar.html
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