The basic goals of the book are: (i) to introduce the subject to those interested in discovering it, (ii) to coherently present a number of basic techniques and results, currently used in the subject, to those working in it, and (iii) to present some of the results that are attractive in their own right, and which lend themselves to a presentation not overburdened with technical machinery.
This book provides an introduction to Riemannian geometry, the geometry of curved spaces. Its main theme is the effect of the curvature of these spaces on the usual notions of geometry, angles, lengths, areas, and volumes, and those new notions and ideas motivated by curvature itself. Isoperimetric inequalities--the interplay of curvature with volume of sets and the areas of their boundaries--is reviewed along with other specialized classical topics. A number of completely new themes are created by curvature: they include local versus global geometric properties, that is, the interaction of microscopic behavior of the geometry with the macroscopic structure of the space. Also featured is an ambitious "Notes and Exercises" section for each chapter that will develop and enrich the reader's appetite and appreciation for the subject.
For a Riemannian manifold M, the geometry, topology and analysis are interrelated in ways that have become widely explored in modern mathematics. Bounds on the curvature can have significant implications for the topology of the manifold. The eigenvalues of the Laplacian are naturally linked to the geometry of the manifold. For manifolds that admit spin structures, one obtains further information from equations involving Dirac operators and spinor fields. In the case of four-manifolds, for example, one has the remarkable Seiberg-Witten invariants. In this text, Friedrich examines the Dirac operator on Riemannian manifolds, especially its connection with the underlying geometry and topology of the manifold. The presentation includes a review of Clifford algebras, spin groups and the spin representation, as well as a review of spin structures and $\textrm{spin}mathbb{C}$ structures. With this foundation established, the Dirac operator is defined and studied, with special attention to the cases of Hermitian manifolds and symmetric spaces. Then, certain analytic properties are established, including self-adjointness and the Fredholm property. An important link between the geometry and the analysis is provided by estimates for the eigenvalues of the Dirac operator in terms of the scalar curvature and the sectional curvature. Considerations of Killing spinors and solutions of the twistor equation on M lead to results about whether M is an Einstein manifold or conformally equivalent to one. Finally, in an appendix, Friedrich gives a concise introduction to the Seiberg-Witten invariants, which are a powerful tool for the study of four-manifolds. There is also an appendix reviewing principal bundles and connections. This detailed book with elegant proofs is suitable as a text for courses in advanced differential geometry and global analysis, and can serve as an introduction for further study in these areas. This edition is translated from the German edition published by Vieweg Verlag.
Eigenfunctions of the Laplacian of a Riemannian manifold can be described in terms of vibrating membranes as well as quantum energy eigenstates. This book is an introduction to both the local and global analysis of eigenfunctions. The local analysis of eigenfunctions pertains to the behavior of the eigenfunctions on wavelength scale balls. After re-scaling to a unit ball, the eigenfunctions resemble almost-harmonic functions. Global analysis refers to the use of wave equation methods to relate properties of eigenfunctions to properties of the geodesic flow. The emphasis is on the global methods and the use of Fourier integral operator methods to analyze norms and nodal sets of eigenfunctions. A somewhat unusual topic is the analytic continuation of eigenfunctions to Grauert tubes in the real analytic case, and the study of nodal sets in the complex domain. The book, which grew out of lectures given by the author at a CBMS conference in 2011, provides complete proofs of some model results, but more often it gives informal and intuitive explanations of proofs of fairly recent results. It conveys inter-related themes and results and offers an up-to-date comprehensive treatment of this important active area of research.
This book introduces readers to the living topics of Riemannian Geometry and details the main results known to date. The results are stated without detailed proofs but the main ideas involved are described, affording the reader a sweeping panoramic view of almost the entirety of the field. From the reviews "The book has intrinsic value for a student as well as for an experienced geometer. Additionally, it is really a compendium in Riemannian Geometry." --MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS
This book provides an introduction to Riemannian geometry, the geometry of curved spaces, for use in a graduate course. Requiring only an understanding of differentiable manifolds, the author covers the introductory ideas of Riemannian geometry followed by a selection of more specialized topics. Also featured are Notes and Exercises for each chapter, to develop and enrich the reader's appreciation of the subject. This second edition, first published in 2006, has a clearer treatment of many topics than the first edition, with new proofs of some theorems and a new chapter on the Riemannian geometry of surfaces. The main themes here are the effect of the curvature on the usual notions of classical Euclidean geometry, and the new notions and ideas motivated by curvature itself. Completely new themes created by curvature include the classical Rauch comparison theorem and its consequences in geometry and topology, and the interaction of microscopic behavior of the geometry with the macroscopic structure of the space.
Unlike many other texts on differential geometry, this textbook also offers interesting applications to geometric mechanics and general relativity. The first part is a concise and self-contained introduction to the basics of manifolds, differential forms, metrics and curvature. The second part studies applications to mechanics and relativity including the proofs of the Hawking and Penrose singularity theorems. It can be independently used for one-semester courses in either of these subjects. The main ideas are illustrated and further developed by numerous examples and over 300 exercises. Detailed solutions are provided for many of these exercises, making An Introduction to Riemannian Geometry ideal for self-study.
Spectral theory is a diverse area of mathematics that derives its motivations, goals, and impetus from several sources. In particular, the spectral theory of the Laplacian on a compact Riemannian manifold is a central object in differential geometry. From a physical point a view, the Laplacian on a compact Riemannian manifold is a fundamental linear operator which describes numerous propagation phenomena: heat propagation, wave propagation, quantum dynamics, etc. Moreover, the spectrum of the Laplacian contains vast information about the geometry of the manifold. This book gives a self-contained introduction to spectral geometry on compact Riemannian manifolds. Starting with an overview of spectral theory on Hilbert spaces, the book proceeds to a description of the basic notions in Riemannian geometry. Then its makes its way to topics of main interests in spectral geometry. The topics presented include direct and inverse problems. Direct problems are concerned with computing or finding properties on the eigenvalues while the main issue in inverse problems is knowing the spectrum of the Laplacian, can we determine the geometry of the manifold? Addressed to students or young researchers, the present book is a first introduction to spectral theory applied to geometry. For readers interested in pursuing the subject further, this book will provide a basis for understanding principles, concepts, and developments of spectral geometry.
The totality of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian of a compact Riemannian manifold is called the spectrum. We describe how the spectrum determines a Riemannian manifold. The continuity of the eigenvalue of the Laplacian, Cheeger and Yau's estimate of the first eigenvalue, the Lichnerowicz-Obata's theorem on the first eigenvalue, the Cheng's estimates of the kth eigenvalues, and Payne-Pólya-Weinberger's inequality of the Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian are also described. Then, the theorem of Colin de Verdière, that is, the spectrum determines the totality of all the lengths of closed geodesics is described. We give the V Guillemin and D Kazhdan's theorem which determines the Riemannian manifold of negative curvature.
