Since the times of Gauss, Riemann, and Poincare, one of the principal goals of the study of manifolds has been to relate local analytic properties of a manifold with its global topological properties. Among the high points on this route are the Gauss-Bonnet formula, the de Rham complex, and the Hodge theorem; these results show, in particular, that the central tool in reaching the main goal of global analysis is the theory of differential forms. The book by Morita is a comprehensive introduction to differential forms. It begins with a quick introduction to the notion of differentiable manifolds and then develops basic properties of differential forms as well as fundamental results concerning them, such as the de Rham and Frobenius theorems. The second half of the book is devoted to more advanced material, including Laplacians and harmonic forms on manifolds, the concepts of vector bundles and fiber bundles, and the theory of characteristic classes. Among the less traditional topics treated is a detailed description of the Chern-Weil theory. The book can serve as a textbook for undergraduate students and for graduate students in geometry.

This ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF MATHEMATICS aims to be a reference work for all parts of mathe matics. It is a translation with updates and editorial comments of the Soviet Mathematical Encyclopaedia published by 'Soviet Encyclopaedia Publishing House' in five volumes in 1977-1985. The annotated translation consists of ten volumes including a special index volume. There are three kinds of articles in this ENCYCLOPAEDIA. First of all there are survey-type articles dealing with the various main directions in mathematics (where a rather fine subdivi sion has been used). The main requirement for these articles has been that they should give a reasonably complete up-to-date account of the current state of affairs in these areas and that they should be maximally accessible. On the whole, these articles should be understandable to mathematics students in their first specialization years, to graduates from other mathematical areas and, depending on the specific subject, to specialists in other domains of science, en gineers and teachers of mathematics. These articles treat their material at a fairly general level and aim to give an idea of the kind of problems, techniques and concepts involved in the area in question. They also contain background and motivation rather than precise statements of precise theorems with detailed definitions and technical details on how to carry out proofs and constructions. The second kind of article, of medium length, contains more detailed concrete problems, results and techniques.

The aim of this work is threefold: First it should be a monographical work on natural bundles and natural op erators in differential geometry. This is a field which every differential geometer has met several times, but which is not treated in detail in one place. Let us explain a little, what we mean by naturality. Exterior derivative commutes with the pullback of differential forms. In the background of this statement are the following general concepts. The vector bundle A kT* M is in fact the value of a functor, which associates a bundle over M to each manifold M and a vector bundle homomorphism over f to each local diffeomorphism f between manifolds of the same dimension. This is a simple example of the concept of a natural bundle. The fact that exterior derivative d transforms sections of A kT* M into sections of A k+1T* M for every manifold M can be expressed by saying that d is an operator from A kT* M into A k+1T* M.

The Encyclopaedia of Mathematics is the most up-to-date, authoritative and comprehensive English-language work of reference in mathematics which exists today. With over 7,000 articles from `A-integral' to `Zygmund Class of Functions', supplemented with a wealth of complementary information, and an index volume providing thorough cross-referencing of entries of related interest, the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics offers an immediate source of reference to mathematical definitions, concepts, explanations, surveys, examples, terminology and methods. The depth and breadth of content and the straightforward, careful presentation of the information, with the emphasis on accessibility, makes the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics an immensely useful tool for all mathematicians and other scientists who use, or are confronted by, mathematics in their work. The Enclyclopaedia of Mathematics provides, without doubt, a reference source of mathematical knowledge which is unsurpassed in value and usefulness. It can be highly recommended for use in libraries of universities, research institutes, colleges and even schools.

This book provides an introduction to the basic concepts in differential topology, differential geometry, and differential equations, and some of the main basic theorems in all three areas. This new edition includes new chapters, sections, examples, and exercises. From the reviews: "There are many books on the fundamentals of differential geometry, but this one is quite exceptional; this is not surprising for those who know Serge Lang's books." --EMS NEWSLETTER

This book provides an up-to-date overview of the foundations of spacetime physics. It features original essays written by world-class experts in the physics and philosophy of spacetime. The foundational questions regarding the origin and nature of spacetime are branching into new and exciting directions. These questions are not restricted to the quantum gravity program but also arise in the context of a well-established theory like general relativity. Against the background of these quick and diverse developments, this volume features a broad range of perspectives on spacetime. Part I focuses on the nature of spacetime in non-quantum theories, such as Newtonian mechanics and relativity. Part II explores some intriguing conceptual implications of developing a quantum theory of spacetime. The Foundations of Spacetime Physics is an essential resource for scholars and advanced students working in philosophy of physics, philosophy of science, and scientific metaphysics.

Differential geometry has become one of the most active areas of math publishing, yet a small list of older, unofficial classics continues to interest the contemporary generation of mathematicians and students. This advanced treatment of topics in differential geometry, first published in 1957, was praised as "well written" by The American Mathematical Monthly and hailed as "undoubtedly a valuable addition to the literature." Its topics include: • Spaces with a non-vanishing curvature tensor that admit a group of automorphisms of the maximum order • Groups of transformations in generalized spaces • The study of global properties of the groups of motions in a compact orientable Riemannian space • Lie derivatives in an almost complex space For advanced undergraduates and graduate students in mathematics