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Normal Coordinates
In differential geometry, normal coordinates at a point ''p'' in a differentiable manifold equipped with a torsion tensor, symmetric affine connection are a local coordinate system in a neighborhood (mathematics), neighborhood of ''p'' obtained by applying the exponential map (Riemannian geometry), exponential map to the tangent space at ''p''. In a normal coordinate system, the Christoffel symbols of the connection vanish at the point ''p'', thus often simplifying local calculations. In normal coordinates associated to the Levi-Civita connection of a Riemannian manifold, one can additionally arrange that the metric tensor is the Kronecker delta at the point ''p'', and that the first partial derivatives of the metric at ''p'' vanish. A basic result of differential geometry states that normal coordinates at a point always exist on a manifold with a symmetric affine connection. In such coordinates the covariant derivative reduces to a partial derivative (at ''p'' only), and the ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Geometry
Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, linear algebra and multilinear algebra. The field has its origins in the study of spherical geometry as far back as classical antiquity, antiquity. It also relates to astronomy, the geodesy of the Earth, and later the study of hyperbolic geometry by Nikolai Lobachevsky, Lobachevsky. The simplest examples of smooth spaces are the Differential geometry of curves, plane and space curves and Differential geometry of surfaces, surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space, and the study of these shapes formed the basis for development of modern differential geometry during the 18th and 19th centuries. Since the late 19th century, differential geometry has grown into a field concerned more generally with geometric structures on differentiable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inertial Frame
In classical physics and special relativity, an inertial frame of reference (also called an inertial space or a Galilean reference frame) is a frame of reference in which objects exhibit inertia: they remain at rest or in uniform motion relative to the frame until acted upon by external forces. In such a frame, the laws of nature can be observed without the need to correct for acceleration. All frames of reference with zero acceleration are in a state of constant rectilinear motion (straight-line motion) with respect to one another. In such a frame, an object with zero net force acting on it, is perceived to move with a constant velocity, or, equivalently, Newton's first law of motion holds. Such frames are known as inertial. Some physicists, like Isaac Newton, originally thought that one of these frames was absolute — the one approximated by the fixed stars. However, this is not required for the definition, and it is now known that those stars are in fact moving, relative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Block Diagonal
In mathematics, a block matrix or a partitioned matrix is a matrix that is interpreted as having been broken into sections called blocks or submatrices. Intuitively, a matrix interpreted as a block matrix can be visualized as the original matrix with a collection of horizontal and vertical lines, which break it up, or partition it, into a collection of smaller matrices. For example, the 3x4 matrix presented below is divided by horizontal and vertical lines into four blocks: the top-left 2x3 block, the top-right 2x1 block, the bottom-left 1x3 block, and the bottom-right 1x1 block. : \left \begin a_ & a_ & a_ & b_ \\ a_ & a_ & a_ & b_ \\ \hline c_ & c_ & c_ & d \end \right Any matrix may be interpreted as a block matrix in one or more ways, with each interpretation defined by how its rows and columns are partitioned. This notion can be made more precise for an n by m matrix M by partitioning n into a collection \text, and then partitioning m into a collection \text. The original m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gradient
In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The gradient transforms like a vector under change of basis of the space of variables of f. If the gradient of a function is non-zero at a point p, the direction of the gradient is the direction in which the function increases most quickly from p, and the magnitude of the gradient is the rate of increase in that direction, the greatest absolute directional derivative. Further, a point where the gradient is the zero vector is known as a stationary point. The gradient thus plays a fundamental role in optimization theory, where it is used to minimize a function by gradient descent. In coordinate-free terms, the gradient of a function f(\mathbf) may be defined by: df=\nabla f \cdot d\mathbf where df is the total infinitesimal change in f for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gauss's Lemma (Riemannian Geometry)
In Riemannian geometry, Gauss's lemma asserts that any sufficiently small sphere centered at a point in a Riemannian manifold is perpendicular to every geodesic through the point. More formally, let ''M'' be a Riemannian manifold, equipped with its Levi-Civita connection, and ''p'' a point of ''M''. The exponential map is a mapping from the tangent space at ''p'' to ''M'': :\mathrm : T_pM \to M which is a diffeomorphism in a neighborhood of zero. Gauss' lemma asserts that the image of a sphere of sufficiently small radius in ''T''p''M'' under the exponential map is perpendicular to all geodesics originating at ''p''. The lemma allows the exponential map to be understood as a radial isometry, and is of fundamental importance in the study of geodesic convexity and normal coordinates. Introduction We define the exponential map at p\in M by : \exp_p: T_pM\supset B_(0) \longrightarrow M,\quad vt \longmapsto \gamma_(t), where \gamma_ is the unique geodesic with \gamma_(0)=p and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
N Sphere
In mathematics, an -sphere or hypersphere is an - dimensional generalization of the -dimensional circle and -dimensional sphere to any non-negative integer . The circle is considered 1-dimensional and the sphere 2-dimensional because a point within them has one and two degrees of freedom respectively. However, the typical embedding of the 1-dimensional circle is in 2-dimensional space, the 2-dimensional sphere is usually depicted embedded in 3-dimensional space, and a general -sphere is embedded in an -dimensional space. The term ''hyper''sphere is commonly used to distinguish spheres of dimension which are thus embedded in a space of dimension , which means that they cannot be easily visualized. The -sphere is the setting for -dimensional spherical geometry. Considered extrinsically, as a hypersurface embedded in -dimensional Euclidean space, an -sphere is the locus of points at equal distance (the ''radius'') from a given '' center'' point. Its interior, consisting of all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spherical Coordinates
In mathematics, a spherical coordinate system specifies a given point in three-dimensional space by using a distance and two angles as its three coordinates. These are * the radial distance along the line connecting the point to a fixed point called the origin; * the polar angle between this radial line and a given ''polar axis''; and * the azimuthal angle , which is the angle of rotation of the radial line around the polar axis. (See graphic regarding the "physics convention".) Once the radius is fixed, the three coordinates (''r'', ''θ'', ''φ''), known as a 3-tuple, provide a coordinate system on a sphere, typically called the spherical polar coordinates. The plane passing through the origin and perpendicular to the polar axis (where the polar angle is a right angle) is called the ''reference plane'' (sometimes '' fundamental plane''). Terminology The radial distance from the fixed point of origin is also called the ''radius'', or ''radial line'', or ''radial coord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metric Tensor
In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a metric tensor (or simply metric) is an additional structure on a manifold (such as a surface) that allows defining distances and angles, just as the inner product on a Euclidean space allows defining distances and angles there. More precisely, a metric tensor at a point of is a bilinear form defined on the tangent space at (that is, a bilinear function that maps pairs of tangent vectors to real numbers), and a metric field on consists of a metric tensor at each point of that varies smoothly with . A metric tensor is ''positive-definite'' if for every nonzero vector . A manifold equipped with a positive-definite metric tensor is known as a Riemannian manifold. Such a metric tensor can be thought of as specifying ''infinitesimal'' distance on the manifold. On a Riemannian manifold , the length of a smooth curve between two points and can be defined by integration, and the distance between and can be defined as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geodesic
In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the locally shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connection. It is a generalization of the notion of a " straight line". The noun '' geodesic'' and the adjective '' geodetic'' come from ''geodesy'', the science of measuring the size and shape of Earth, though many of the underlying principles can be applied to any ellipsoidal geometry. In the original sense, a geodesic was the shortest route between two points on the Earth's surface. For a spherical Earth, it is a segment of a great circle (see also great-circle distance). The term has since been generalized to more abstract mathematical spaces; for example, in graph theory, one might consider a geodesic between two vertices/nodes of a graph. In a Riemannian manifold or submanifold, geodesics are characterised by the property of havi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topological Basis
In mathematics, a base (or basis; : bases) for the topology of a topological space is a family \mathcal of open subsets of such that every open set of the topology is equal to the union of some sub-family of \mathcal. For example, the set of all open intervals in the real number line \R is a basis for the Euclidean topology on \R because every open interval is an open set, and also every open subset of \R can be written as a union of some family of open intervals. Bases are ubiquitous throughout topology. The sets in a base for a topology, which are called , are often easier to describe and use than arbitrary open sets. Many important topological definitions such as continuity and convergence can be checked using only basic open sets instead of arbitrary open sets. Some topologies have a base of open sets with specific useful properties that may make checking such topological definitions easier. Not all families of subsets of a set X form a base for a topology on X. Under so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diffeomorphism
In mathematics, a diffeomorphism is an isomorphism of differentiable manifolds. It is an invertible function that maps one differentiable manifold to another such that both the function and its inverse are continuously differentiable. Definition Given two differentiable manifolds M and N, a Differentiable manifold#Differentiability of mappings between manifolds, continuously differentiable map f \colon M \rightarrow N is a diffeomorphism if it is a bijection and its inverse f^ \colon N \rightarrow M is differentiable as well. If these functions are r times continuously differentiable, f is called a C^r-diffeomorphism. Two manifolds M and N are diffeomorphic (usually denoted M \simeq N) if there is a diffeomorphism f from M to N. Two C^r-differentiable manifolds are C^r-diffeomorphic if there is an r times continuously differentiable bijective map between them whose inverse is also r times continuously differentiable. Diffeomorphisms of subsets of manifolds Given a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthonormal Basis
In mathematics, particularly linear algebra, an orthonormal basis for an inner product space V with finite Dimension (linear algebra), dimension is a Basis (linear algebra), basis for V whose vectors are orthonormal, that is, they are all unit vectors and Orthogonality_(mathematics), orthogonal to each other. For example, the standard basis for a Euclidean space \R^n is an orthonormal basis, where the relevant inner product is the dot product of vectors. The Image (mathematics), image of the standard basis under a Rotation (mathematics), rotation or Reflection (mathematics), reflection (or any orthogonal transformation) is also orthonormal, and every orthonormal basis for \R^n arises in this fashion. An orthonormal basis can be derived from an orthogonal basis via Normalize (linear algebra), normalization. The choice of an origin (mathematics), origin and an orthonormal basis forms a coordinate frame known as an ''orthonormal frame''. For a general inner product space V, an orthono ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
