265 challenging problems in all phases of group theory, gathered for the most part from papers published since 1950, although some classics are included.
Recipient of the Mathematical Association of America's Beckenbach Book Prize in 2012! Group theory is the branch of mathematics that studies symmetry, found in crystals, art, architecture, music and many other contexts, but its beauty is lost on students when it is taught in a technical style that is difficult to understand. Visual Group Theory assumes only a high school mathematics background and covers a typical undergraduate course in group theory from a thoroughly visual perspective. The more than 300 illustrations in Visual Group Theory bring groups, subgroups, homomorphisms, products, and quotients into clear view. Every topic and theorem is accompanied with a visual demonstration of its meaning and import, from the basics of groups and subgroups through advanced structural concepts such as semidirect products and Sylow theory.
This book is aimed at graduate students and young researchers in physics who are studying group theory and its application to physics. It contains a short explanation of the fundamental knowledge and method, and the fundamental exercises for the method, as well as some important conclusions in group theory. This book is also suitable for some graduate students in theoretical chemistry.
While group theory and its application to solid state physics is well established, this textbook raises two completely new aspects. First, it provides a better understanding by focusing on problem solving and making extensive use of Mathematica tools to visualize the concepts. Second, it offers a new tool for the photonics community by transferring the concepts of group theory and its application to photonic crystals. Clearly divided into three parts, the first provides the basics of group theory. Even at this stage, the authors go beyond the widely used standard examples to show the broad field of applications. Part II is devoted to applications in condensed matter physics, i.e. the electronic structure of materials. Combining the application of the computer algebra system Mathematica with pen and paper derivations leads to a better and faster understanding. The exhaustive discussion shows that the basics of group theory can also be applied to a totally different field, as seen in Part III. Here, photonic applications are discussed in parallel to the electronic case, with the focus on photonic crystals in two and three dimensions, as well as being partially expanded to other problems in the field of photonics. The authors have developed Mathematica package GTPack which is available for download from the book's homepage. Analytic considerations, numerical calculations and visualization are carried out using the same software. While the use of the Mathematica tools are demonstrated on elementary examples, they can equally be applied to more complicated tasks resulting from the reader's own research.
This seminal, much-cited account begins with a fairly elementary exposition of basic concepts and a discussion of factor groups and subgroups. The topics of Nielsen transformations, free and amalgamated products, and commutator calculus receive detailed treatment. The concluding chapter surveys word, conjugacy, and related problems; adjunction and embedding problems; and more. Second, revised 1976 edition.
This is a book of problems in abstract algebra for strong undergraduates or beginning graduate students. It can be used as a supplement to a course or for self-study. The book provides more variety and more challenging problems than are found in most algebra textbooks. It is intended for students wanting to enrich their learning of mathematics by tackling problems that take some thought and effort to solve. The book contains problems on groups (including the Sylow Theorems, solvable groups, presentation of groups by generators and relations, and structure and duality for finite abelian groups); rings (including basic ideal theory and factorization in integral domains and Gauss's Theorem); linear algebra (emphasizing linear transformations, including canonical forms); and fields (including Galois theory). Hints to many problems are also included.
This concise, class-tested book was refined over the authors’ 30 years as instructors at MIT and the University Federal of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil. The approach centers on the conviction that teaching group theory along with applications helps students to learn, understand and use it for their own needs. Thus, the theoretical background is confined to introductory chapters. Subsequent chapters develop new theory alongside applications so that students can retain new concepts, build on concepts already learned, and see interrelations between topics. Essential problem sets between chapters aid retention of new material and consolidate material learned in previous chapters.