p-adic numbers play a very important role in modern number theory, algebraic geometry and representation theory. Lately p-adic numbers have attracted a great deal of attention in modern theoretical physics as a promising new approach for describing the non-Archimedean geometry of space-time at small distances.This is the first book to deal with applications of p-adic numbers in theoretical and mathematical physics. It gives an elementary and thoroughly written introduction to p-adic numbers and p-adic analysis with great numbers of examples as well as applications of p-adic numbers in classical mechanics, dynamical systems, quantum mechanics, statistical physics, quantum field theory and string theory.
Numbers ... , natural, rational, real, complex, p-adic .... What do you know about p-adic numbers? Probably, you have never used any p-adic (nonrational) number before now. I was in the same situation few years ago. p-adic numbers were considered as an exotic part of pure mathematics without any application. I have also used only real and complex numbers in my investigations in functional analysis and its applications to the quantum field theory and I was sure that these number fields can be a basis of every physical model generated by nature. But recently new models of the quantum physics were proposed on the basis of p-adic numbers field Qp. What are p-adic numbers, p-adic analysis, p-adic physics, p-adic probability? p-adic numbers were introduced by K. Hensel (1904) in connection with problems of the pure theory of numbers. The construction of Qp is very similar to the construction of (p is a fixed prime number, p = 2,3,5, ... ,127, ... ). Both these number fields are completions of the field of rational numbers Q. But another valuation 1 . Ip is introduced on Q instead of the usual real valuation 1 . I· We get an infinite sequence of non isomorphic completions of Q : Q2, Q3, ... , Q127, ... , IR = Qoo· These fields are the only possibilities to com plete Q according to the famous theorem of Ostrowsky.
This book provides an overview of the theory of p-adic (and more general non-Archimedean) dynamical systems. The main part of the book is devoted to discrete dynamical systems. It presents a model of probabilistic thinking on p-adic mental space based on ultrametric diffusion. Coverage also details p-adic neural networks and their applications to cognitive sciences: learning algorithms, memory recalling.
p-adic numbers are of great theoretical importance in number theory, since they allow the use of the language of analysis to study problems relating toprime numbers and diophantine equations. Further, they offer a realm where one can do things that are very similar to classical analysis, but with results that are quite unusual. The book should be of use to students interested in number theory, but at the same time offers an interesting example of the many connections between different parts of mathematics. The book strives to be understandable to an undergraduate audience. Very little background has been assumed, and the presentation is leisurely. There are many problems, which should help readers who are working on their own (a large appendix with hints on the problem is included). Most of all, the book should offer undergraduates exposure to some interesting mathematics which is off the beaten track. Those who will later specialize in number theory, algebraic geometry, and related subjects will benefit more directly, but all mathematics students can enjoy the book.
The subject of this conference was recent developments in p-adic mathematical physics and related areas. The field of p-Adic mathematical physics was conceived in 1987 as a result of attempts to find non-Archimedean approaches to space-time at the Planck scale as well as to strings. Since then, many applications of p-adic numbers and adeles in physics and related sciences have emerged. Some of them are p-adic and adelic string theory, p-adic and adelic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, ultrametricity of spin glasses, biological and hierarchical systems, p-adic dynamical systems, p-adic probability theory, p-adic models of cognitive processes and cryptography, as well as p-adic and adelic cosmology.
The mutual influence between mathematics and science and technology is becoming more and more widespread with profound connections among them being discovered. In particular, important connections between harmonic analysis, wavelet analysis and p-adic analysis have been found recently. This volume reports these findings and guides the reader towards the latest areas for further research. It is divided into two parts: harmonic, wavelet and p-adic analysis and p-adic and stochastic analysis.
Berkeley Lectures on p-adic Geometry presents an important breakthrough in arithmetic geometry. In 2014, leading mathematician Peter Scholze delivered a series of lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on new ideas in the theory of p-adic geometry. Building on his discovery of perfectoid spaces, Scholze introduced the concept of “diamonds,” which are to perfectoid spaces what algebraic spaces are to schemes. The introduction of diamonds, along with the development of a mixed-characteristic shtuka, set the stage for a critical advance in the discipline. In this book, Peter Scholze and Jared Weinstein show that the moduli space of mixed-characteristic shtukas is a diamond, raising the possibility of using the cohomology of such spaces to attack the Langlands conjectures for a reductive group over a p-adic field. This book follows the informal style of the original Berkeley lectures, with one chapter per lecture. It explores p-adic and perfectoid spaces before laying out the newer theory of shtukas and their moduli spaces. Points of contact with other threads of the subject, including p-divisible groups, p-adic Hodge theory, and Rapoport-Zink spaces, are thoroughly explained. Berkeley Lectures on p-adic Geometry will be a useful resource for students and scholars working in arithmetic geometry and number theory.
The present book contains fourteen expository contributions on various topics connected to Number Theory, or Arithmetics, and its relationships to Theoreti cal Physics. The first part is mathematically oriented; it deals mostly with ellip tic curves, modular forms, zeta functions, Galois theory, Riemann surfaces, and p-adic analysis. The second part reports on matters with more direct physical interest, such as periodic and quasiperiodic lattices, or classical and quantum dynamical systems. The contribution of each author represents a short self-contained course on a specific subject. With very few prerequisites, the reader is offered a didactic exposition, which follows the author's original viewpoints, and often incorpo rates the most recent developments. As we shall explain below, there are strong relationships between the different chapters, even though every single contri bution can be read independently of the others. This volume originates in a meeting entitled Number Theory and Physics, which took place at the Centre de Physique, Les Houches (Haute-Savoie, France), on March 7 - 16, 1989. The aim of this interdisciplinary meeting was to gather physicists and mathematicians, and to give to members of both com munities the opportunity of exchanging ideas, and to benefit from each other's specific knowledge, in the area of Number Theory, and of its applications to the physical sciences. Physicists have been given, mostly through the program of lectures, an exposition of some of the basic methods and results of Num ber Theory which are the most actively used in their branch.
The study of the mapping class group Mod(S) is a classical topic that is experiencing a renaissance. It lies at the juncture of geometry, topology, and group theory. This book explains as many important theorems, examples, and techniques as possible, quickly and directly, while at the same time giving full details and keeping the text nearly self-contained. The book is suitable for graduate students. A Primer on Mapping Class Groups begins by explaining the main group-theoretical properties of Mod(S), from finite generation by Dehn twists and low-dimensional homology to the Dehn-Nielsen-Baer theorem. Along the way, central objects and tools are introduced, such as the Birman exact sequence, the complex of curves, the braid group, the symplectic representation, and the Torelli group. The book then introduces Teichmüller space and its geometry, and uses the action of Mod(S) on it to prove the Nielsen-Thurston classification of surface homeomorphisms. Topics include the topology of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, the connection with surface bundles, pseudo-Anosov theory, and Thurston's approach to the classification.
This is an introduction to p-adic analysis which is elementary yet complete and which displays the variety of applications of the subject. Dr Schikhof is able to point out and explain how p-adic and 'real' analysis differ. This approach guarantees the reader quickly becomes acquainted with this equally 'real' analysis and appreciates its relevance. The reader's understanding is enhanced and deepened by the large number of exercises included throughout; these both test the reader's grasp and extend the text in interesting directions. As a consequence, this book will become a standard reference for professionals (especially in p-adic analysis, number theory and algebraic geometry) and will be welcomed as a textbook for advanced students of mathematics familiar with algebra and analysis.
