An application of differential forms for the study of some local and global aspects of the differential geometry of surfaces. Differential forms are introduced in a simple way that will make them attractive to "users" of mathematics. A brief and elementary introduction to differentiable manifolds is given so that the main theorem, namely Stokes' theorem, can be presented in its natural setting. The applications consist in developing the method of moving frames expounded by E. Cartan to study the local differential geometry of immersed surfaces in R3 as well as the intrinsic geometry of surfaces. This is then collated in the last chapter to present Chern's proof of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for compact surfaces.
This book explains and helps readers to develop geometric intuition as it relates to differential forms. It includes over 250 figures to aid understanding and enable readers to visualize the concepts being discussed. The author gradually builds up to the basic ideas and concepts so that definitions, when made, do not appear out of nowhere, and both the importance and role that theorems play is evident as or before they are presented. With a clear writing style and easy-to- understand motivations for each topic, this book is primarily aimed at second- or third-year undergraduate math and physics students with a basic knowledge of vector calculus and linear algebra.
This book is a high-level introduction to vector calculus based solidly on differential forms. Informal but sophisticated, it is geometrically and physically intuitive yet mathematically rigorous. It offers remarkably diverse applications, physical and mathematical, and provides a firm foundation for further studies.
Suitable for students and researchers in commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, and neighboring disciplines, this book introduces various sheaves of differential forms for equidimensional morphisms of finite type between noetherian schemes, the most important being the sheaf of regular differential forms.
Differential Forms and the Geometry of General Relativity provides readers with a coherent path to understanding relativity. Requiring little more than calculus and some linear algebra, it helps readers learn just enough differential geometry to grasp the basics of general relativity. The book contains two intertwined but distinct halves. Designed for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in mathematics or physics, most of the text requires little more than familiarity with calculus and linear algebra. The first half presents an introduction to general relativity that describes some of the surprising implications of relativity without introducing more formalism than necessary. This nonstandard approach uses differential forms rather than tensor calculus and minimizes the use of "index gymnastics" as much as possible. The second half of the book takes a more detailed look at the mathematics of differential forms. It covers the theory behind the mathematics used in the first half by emphasizing a conceptual understanding instead of formal proofs. The book provides a language to describe curvature, the key geometric idea in general relativity.
Developed from a first-year graduate course in algebraic topology, this text is an informal introduction to some of the main ideas of contemporary homotopy and cohomology theory. The materials are structured around four core areas: de Rham theory, the Cech-de Rham complex, spectral sequences, and characteristic classes. By using the de Rham theory of differential forms as a prototype of cohomology, the machineries of algebraic topology are made easier to assimilate. With its stress on concreteness, motivation, and readability, this book is equally suitable for self-study and as a one-semester course in topology.
Incisive, self-contained account of tensor analysis and the calculus of exterior differential forms, interaction between the concept of invariance and the calculus of variations. Emphasis is on analytical techniques. Includes problems.
An inviting, intuitive, and visual exploration of differential geometry and forms Visual Differential Geometry and Forms fulfills two principal goals. In the first four acts, Tristan Needham puts the geometry back into differential geometry. Using 235 hand-drawn diagrams, Needham deploys Newton’s geometrical methods to provide geometrical explanations of the classical results. In the fifth act, he offers the first undergraduate introduction to differential forms that treats advanced topics in an intuitive and geometrical manner. Unique features of the first four acts include: four distinct geometrical proofs of the fundamentally important Global Gauss-Bonnet theorem, providing a stunning link between local geometry and global topology; a simple, geometrical proof of Gauss’s famous Theorema Egregium; a complete geometrical treatment of the Riemann curvature tensor of an n-manifold; and a detailed geometrical treatment of Einstein’s field equation, describing gravity as curved spacetime (General Relativity), together with its implications for gravitational waves, black holes, and cosmology. The final act elucidates such topics as the unification of all the integral theorems of vector calculus; the elegant reformulation of Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism in terms of 2-forms; de Rham cohomology; differential geometry via Cartan’s method of moving frames; and the calculation of the Riemann tensor using curvature 2-forms. Six of the seven chapters of Act V can be read completely independently from the rest of the book. Requiring only basic calculus and geometry, Visual Differential Geometry and Forms provocatively rethinks the way this important area of mathematics should be considered and taught.
