Paper | April 2012 | ISBN: 9780691153483
Cloth | April 2012 | ISBN: 9780691153476
568 pp. | 6 x 9
This book addresses a basic question in differential geometry that was first considered by physicists Stanley Deser and Adam Schwimmer in 1993 in their study of conformal anomalies. The question concerns conformally invariant functionals on the space of Riemannian metrics over a given manifold. These functionals act on a metric by first constructing a Riemannian scalar out of it, and then integrating this scalar over the manifold. Suppose this integral remains invariant under conformal re-scalings of the underlying metric. What information can one then deduce about the Riemannian scalar? Deser and Schwimmer asserted that the Riemannian scalar must be a linear combination of three obvious candidates, each of which clearly satisfies the required property: a local conformal invariant, a divergence of a Riemannian vector field, and the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet integrand. This book provides a proof of this conjecture.
The result itself sheds light on the algebraic structure of conformal anomalies, which appear in many settings in theoretical physics. It also clarifies the geometric significance of the renormalized volume of asymptotically hyperbolic Einstein manifolds. The methods introduced here make an interesting connection between algebraic properties of local invariants--such as the classical Riemannian invariants and the more recently studied conformal invariants--and the study of global invariants, in this case conformally invariant integrals. Key tools used to establish this connection include the Fefferman-Graham ambient metric and the author's super divergence formula.
Spyros Alexakis is assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto.
Paper | April 2012 |ISBN: 9780691154251
Cloth | April 2012 |ISBN: 9780691154244
288 pp. | 7 x 10 | 40 line illus. 6 tables.
Mumford-Tate groups are the fundamental symmetry groups of Hodge theory, a subject which rests at the center of contemporary complex algebraic geometry. This book is the first comprehensive exploration of Mumford-Tate groups and domains. Containing basic theory and a wealth of new views and results, it will become an essential resource for graduate students and researchers.
Although Mumford-Tate groups can be defined for general structures, their theory and use to date has mainly been in the classical case of abelian varieties. While the book does examine this area, it focuses on the nonclassical case. The general theory turns out to be very rich, such as in the unexpected connections of finite dimensional and infinite dimensional representation theory of real, semisimple Lie groups. The authors give the complete classification of Hodge representations, a topic that should become a standard in the finite-dimensional representation theory of noncompact, real, semisimple Lie groups. They also indicate that in the future, a connection seems ready to be made between Lie groups that admit discrete series representations and the study of automorphic cohomology on quotients of Mumford-Tate domains by arithmetic groups. Bringing together complex geometry, representation theory, and arithmetic, this book opens up a fresh perspective on an important subject.
Mark Green is professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles and is Director Emeritus of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics. Phillip A. Griffiths is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and former director at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Matt Kerr is assistant professor of mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis.
Cloth | April 2012 | ISBN: 9780691151229
464 pp. | 7 x 10 | 78 halftones. 145 line illus.
Numerical Methods provides a clear and concise exploration of standard numerical analysis topics, as well as nontraditional ones, including mathematical modeling, Monte Carlo methods, Markov chains, and fractals. Filled with appealing examples that will motivate students, the textbook considers modern application areas, such as information retrieval and animation, and classical topics from physics and engineering. Exercises use MATLAB and promote understanding of computational results.
The book gives instructors the flexibility to emphasize different aspects--design, analysis, or computer implementation--of numerical algorithms, depending on the background and interests of students. Designed for upper-division undergraduates in mathematics or computer science classes, the textbook assumes that students have prior knowledge of linear algebra and calculus, although these topics are reviewed in the text. Short discussions of the history of numerical methods are interspersed throughout the chapters. The book also includes polynomial interpolation at Chebyshev points, use of the MATLAB package Chebfun, and a section on the fast Fourier transform. Supplementary materials are available online.
Clear and concise exposition of standard numerical analysis topics
Explores nontraditional topics, such as mathematical modeling and Monte Carlo methods
Covers modern applications, including information retrieval and animation, and classical applications from physics and engineering
Promotes understanding of computational results through MATLAB exercises
Provides flexibility so instructors can emphasize mathematical or applied/computational aspects of numerical methods or a combination
Includes recent results on polynomial interpolation at Chebyshev points and use of the MATLAB package Chebfun
Short discussions of the history of numerical methods interspersed throughout
Supplementary materials available online
Anne Greenbaum is professor of applied mathematics at the University of Washington. She is the author of Iterative Methods for Solving Linear Systems. Timothy P. Chartier is associate professor of mathematics at Davidson College.
Paper | April 2012 |ISBN: 9780691153711
Cloth | April 2012 |ISBN: 9780691153704
160 pp. | 7 x 10
This book considers the so-called Unlikely Intersections, a topic that embraces well-known issues, such as Lang's and Manin-Mumford's, concerning torsion points in subvarieties of tori or abelian varieties. More generally, the book considers algebraic subgroups that meet a given subvariety in a set of unlikely dimension. The book is an expansion of the Hermann Weyl Lectures delivered by Umberto Zannier at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in May 2010.
The book consists of four chapters and seven brief appendixes, the last six by David Masser. The first chapter considers multiplicative algebraic groups, presenting proofs of several developments, ranging from the origins to recent results, and discussing many applications and relations with other contexts. The second chapter considers an analogue in arithmetic and several applications of this. The third chapter introduces a new method for approaching some of these questions, and presents a detailed application of this (by Masser and the author) to a relative case of the Manin-Mumford issue. The fourth chapter focuses on the Andre-Oort conjecture (outlining work by Pila).
Umberto Zannier is professor of mathematics at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa in Pisa, Italy. He is the author of Lecture Notes on Diophantine Analysis and the editor of Diophantine Geometry.