Product Description

In recent years the methods of modern differential geometry have become of considerable importance in theoretical physics and have found application in relativity and cosmology, high-energy physics and field theory, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and mechanics. This textbook provides an introduction to these methods - in particular Lie derivatives, Lie groups and differential forms - and covers their extensive applications to theoretical physics. The reader is assumed to have some familiarity with advanced calculus, linear algebra and a little elementary operator theory. The advanced physics undergraduate should therefore find the presentation quite accessible. This account will prove valuable for those with backgrounds in physics and applied mathematics who desire an introduction to the subject. Having studied the book, the reader will be able to comprehend research papers that use this mathematics and follow more advanced pure-mathematical expositions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178984 in Books
• Published on: 1980-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review
‘Although there are a welter of books where similar material can be found, this book is the most lucid I have come across at this level of exposition. It is eminently suitable for a graduate course (indeed, the more academically able undergraduate should be about to cope with most of it), and the applications should suffice to persuade any physicist or applied mathematician of its importance … Schutz’s book is a triumph …’ The Times Higher Education Supplement

About the Author
Bernard Schutz has done research and teaching in general relativity and especially its applications in astronomy since 1970. He is an author of more than 170 publications, including three highly-regarded books published by Cambridge University Press: Geometrical Methods of Mathematical Physics, A First Course in General Relativity, and Gravity From the Ground Up. Schutz currently specialises in gravitational wave research, studying the theory of potential sources and designing new methods for analysing the data from current and planned detectors. He is a member of most of the current large-scale gravitational wave projects: GEO600 (operated by the AEI), LIGO, and LISA. Schutz is a Director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, also known as the Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), in Potsdam, Germany. He holds a part-time chair in Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University, Wales, as well as Honorary Professorships at Potsdam and Hanover universities in Germany. Born and educated in the USA, he taught physics and astronomy for twenty years at Cardiff before moving to Germany. In 1998 he founded the open-access online journal Living Reviews in Relativity. In 2006 he was awarded the Amaldi Gold Medal of the Italian Society for Gravitation (SIGRAV). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Institute of Physics, and a member of the German Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina and of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences Uppsala.

Customer Reviews

excellent
This book provides a unique introduction to differential geometry and its applications. The only prerequisites are a general knowledge of algebra and calculus. Applications in areas such as mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism and especially general relativity are explained in detail. An almost essential book for the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student of theoretical or mathematical physics.

A comprehensive intro to Differential Geometry
It is a bit informal exposition in comparison with other more mathematical rigorous titles. Definitions of difficult concepts like tensors or manifolds are very accessible and the same to differential forms. It is suitable for any first course in modern geometry applied to physics, above all in relativity theory. As a suggest I think the Riemannian geometry chapter should be increased.