Representation Theory, Mathematical Physics, and Integrable Systems


Book Description

Over the course of his distinguished career, Nicolai Reshetikhin has made a number of groundbreaking contributions in several fields, including representation theory, integrable systems, and topology. The chapters in this volume – compiled on the occasion of his 60th birthday – are written by distinguished mathematicians and physicists and pay tribute to his many significant and lasting achievements. Covering the latest developments at the interface of noncommutative algebra, differential and algebraic geometry, and perspectives arising from physics, this volume explores topics such as the development of new and powerful knot invariants, new perspectives on enumerative geometry and string theory, and the introduction of cluster algebra and categorification techniques into a broad range of areas. Chapters will also cover novel applications of representation theory to random matrix theory, exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics, and integrable hierarchies. The recent progress in the mathematical and physicals aspects of deformation quantization and tensor categories is also addressed. Representation Theory, Mathematical Physics, and Integrable Systems will be of interest to a wide audience of mathematicians interested in these areas and the connections between them, ranging from graduate students to junior, mid-career, and senior researchers.




Representation Theory, Mathematical Physics, and Integrable Systems


Book Description

Over the course of his distinguished career, Nicolai Reshetikhin has made a number of groundbreaking contributions in several fields, including representation theory, integrable systems, and topology. The chapters in this volume – compiled on the occasion of his 60th birthday – are written by distinguished mathematicians and physicists and pay tribute to his many significant and lasting achievements. Covering the latest developments at the interface of noncommutative algebra, differential and algebraic geometry, and perspectives arising from physics, this volume explores topics such as the development of new and powerful knot invariants, new perspectives on enumerative geometry and string theory, and the introduction of cluster algebra and categorification techniques into a broad range of areas. Chapters will also cover novel applications of representation theory to random matrix theory, exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics, and integrable hierarchies. The recent progress in the mathematical and physicals aspects of deformation quantization and tensor categories is also addressed. Representation Theory, Mathematical Physics, and Integrable Systems will be of interest to a wide audience of mathematicians interested in these areas and the connections between them, ranging from graduate students to junior, mid-career, and senior researchers.




Group Representation Theory For Physicists (2nd Edition)


Book Description

This book introduces systematically the eigenfunction method, a new approach to the group representation theory which was developed by the authors in the 1970's and 1980's in accordance with the concept and method used in quantum mechanics. It covers the applications of the group theory in various branches of physics and quantum chemistry, especially nuclear and molecular physics. Extensive tables and computational methods are presented.Group Representation Theory for Physicists may serve as a handbook for researchers doing group theory calculations. It is also a good reference book and textbook for undergraduate and graduate students who intend to use group theory in their future research careers.




Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations


Book Description

This text systematically presents the basics of quantum mechanics, emphasizing the role of Lie groups, Lie algebras, and their unitary representations. The mathematical structure of the subject is brought to the fore, intentionally avoiding significant overlap with material from standard physics courses in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. The level of presentation is attractive to mathematics students looking to learn about both quantum mechanics and representation theory, while also appealing to physics students who would like to know more about the mathematics underlying the subject. This text showcases the numerous differences between typical mathematical and physical treatments of the subject. The latter portions of the book focus on central mathematical objects that occur in the Standard Model of particle physics, underlining the deep and intimate connections between mathematics and the physical world. While an elementary physics course of some kind would be helpful to the reader, no specific background in physics is assumed, making this book accessible to students with a grounding in multivariable calculus and linear algebra. Many exercises are provided to develop the reader's understanding of and facility in quantum-theoretical concepts and calculations.




Representation Theory of the Virasoro Algebra


Book Description

The Virasoro algebra is an infinite dimensional Lie algebra that plays an increasingly important role in mathematics and theoretical physics. This book describes some fundamental facts about the representation theory of the Virasoro algebra in a self-contained manner. Topics include the structure of Verma modules and Fock modules, the classification of (unitarizable) Harish-Chandra modules, tilting equivalence, and the rational vertex operator algebras associated to the so-called minimal series representations. Covering a wide range of material, this book has three appendices which provide background information required for some of the chapters. The authors organize fundamental results in a unified way and refine existing proofs. For instance in chapter three, a generalization of Jantzen filtration is reformulated in an algebraic manner, and geometric interpretation is provided. Statements, widely believed to be true, are collated, and results which are known but not verified are proven, such as the corrected structure theorem of Fock modules in chapter eight. This book will be of interest to a wide range of mathematicians and physicists from the level of graduate students to researchers.




Group Theory In Physics: A Practitioner's Guide


Book Description

'The book contains a lot of examples, a lot of non-standard material which is not included in many other books. At the same time the authors manage to avoid numerous cumbersome calculations … It is a great achievement that the authors found a balance.'zbMATHThis book presents the study of symmetry groups in Physics from a practical perspective, i.e. emphasising the explicit methods and algorithms useful for the practitioner and profusely illustrating by examples.The first half reviews the algebraic, geometrical and topological notions underlying the theory of Lie groups, with a review of the representation theory of finite groups. The topic of Lie algebras is revisited from the perspective of realizations, useful for explicit computations within these groups. The second half is devoted to applications in physics, divided into three main parts — the first deals with space-time symmetries, the Wigner method for representations and applications to relativistic wave equations. The study of kinematical algebras and groups illustrates the properties and capabilities of the notions of contractions, central extensions and projective representations. Gauge symmetries and symmetries in Particle Physics are studied in the context of the Standard Model, finishing with a discussion on Grand-Unified Theories.




Dirac Operators in Representation Theory


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive treatment of important new ideas on Dirac operators and Dirac cohomology. Using Dirac operators as a unifying theme, the authors demonstrate how some of the most important results in representation theory fit together when viewed from this perspective. The book is an excellent contribution to the mathematical literature of representation theory, and this self-contained exposition offers a systematic examination and panoramic view of the subject. The material will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in representation theory, differential geometry, and physics.




Quantum Groups and Their Representations


Book Description

This book start with an introduction to quantum groups for the beginner and continues as a textbook for graduate students in physics and in mathematics. It can also be used as a reference by more advanced readers. The authors cover a large but well-chosen variety of subjects from the theory of quantum groups (quantized universal enveloping algebras, quantized algebras of functions) and q-deformed algebras (q-oscillator algebras), their representations and corepresentations, and noncommutative differential calculus. The book is written with potential applications in physics and mathematics in mind. The basic quantum groups and quantum algebras and their representations are given in detail and accompanied by explicit formulas. A number of topics and results from the more advanced general theory are developed and discussed.




Naive Lie Theory


Book Description

In this new textbook, acclaimed author John Stillwell presents a lucid introduction to Lie theory suitable for junior and senior level undergraduates. In order to achieve this, he focuses on the so-called "classical groups'' that capture the symmetries of real, complex, and quaternion spaces. These symmetry groups may be represented by matrices, which allows them to be studied by elementary methods from calculus and linear algebra. This naive approach to Lie theory is originally due to von Neumann, and it is now possible to streamline it by using standard results of undergraduate mathematics. To compensate for the limitations of the naive approach, end of chapter discussions introduce important results beyond those proved in the book, as part of an informal sketch of Lie theory and its history. John Stillwell is Professor of Mathematics at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of several highly regarded books published by Springer, including The Four Pillars of Geometry (2005), Elements of Number Theory (2003), Mathematics and Its History (Second Edition, 2002), Numbers and Geometry (1998) and Elements of Algebra (1994).




Representations of Finite and Compact Groups


Book Description

This text is a comprehensive pedagogical presentation of the theory of representation of finite and compact Lie groups. It considers both the general theory and representation of specific groups. Representation theory is discussed on the following types of groups: finite groups of rotations, permutation groups, and classical compact semisimple Lie groups. Along the way, the structure theory of the compact semisimple Lie groups is exposed. This is aimed at research mathematicians and graduate students studying group theory.