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Lagrangian Density
Lagrangian field theory is a formalism in classical field theory. It is the field-theoretic analogue of Lagrangian mechanics. Lagrangian mechanics is used to analyze the motion of a system of discrete particles each with a finite number of degrees of freedom. Lagrangian field theory applies to continua and fields, which have an infinite number of degrees of freedom. One motivation for the development of the Lagrangian formalism on fields, and more generally, for classical field theory, is to provide a clear mathematical foundation for quantum field theory, which is infamously beset by formal difficulties that make it unacceptable as a mathematical theory. The Lagrangians presented here are identical to their quantum equivalents, but, in treating the fields as classical fields, instead of being quantized, one can provide definitions and obtain solutions with properties compatible with the conventional formal approach to the mathematics of partial differential equations. This enabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Field Theory
A classical field theory is a physical theory that predicts how one or more fields in physics interact with matter through field equations, without considering effects of quantization; theories that incorporate quantum mechanics are called quantum field theories. In most contexts, 'classical field theory' is specifically intended to describe electromagnetism and gravitation, two of the fundamental forces of nature. A physical field can be thought of as the assignment of a physical quantity at each point of space and time. For example, in a weather forecast, the wind velocity during a day over a country is described by assigning a vector to each point in space. Each vector represents the direction of the movement of air at that point, so the set of all wind vectors in an area at a given point in time constitutes a vector field. As the day progresses, the directions in which the vectors point change as the directions of the wind change. The first field theories, Newtonian g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action (physics)
In physics, action is a scalar quantity that describes how the balance of kinetic versus potential energy of a physical system changes with trajectory. Action is significant because it is an input to the principle of stationary action, an approach to classical mechanics that is simpler for multiple objects. Action and the variational principle are used in Feynman's formulation of quantum mechanics and in general relativity. For systems with small values of action close to the Planck constant, quantum effects are significant. In the simple case of a single particle moving with a constant velocity (thereby undergoing uniform linear motion), the action is the momentum of the particle times the distance it moves, added up along its path; equivalently, action is the difference between the particle's kinetic energy and its potential energy, times the duration for which it has that amount of energy. More formally, action is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tensor Algebra
In mathematics, the tensor algebra of a vector space ''V'', denoted ''T''(''V'') or ''T''(''V''), is the algebra over a field, algebra of tensors on ''V'' (of any rank) with multiplication being the tensor product. It is the free algebra on ''V'', in the sense of being left adjoint to the forgetful functor from algebras to vector spaces: it is the "most general" algebra containing ''V'', in the sense of the corresponding universal property (see #Adjunction and universal property, below). The tensor algebra is important because many other algebras arise as quotient associative algebra, quotient algebras of ''T''(''V''). These include the exterior algebra, the symmetric algebra, Clifford algebras, the Weyl algebra and universal enveloping algebras. The tensor algebra also has two coalgebra structures; one simple one, which does not make it a bi-algebra, but does lead to the concept of a cofree coalgebra, and a more complicated one, which yields a bialgebra, and can be extended by gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigidity (mathematics)
In mathematics, a rigid collection ''C'' of mathematical objects (for instance sets or functions) is one in which every ''c'' ∈ ''C'' is uniquely determined by less information about ''c'' than one would expect. The above statement does not define a mathematical property; instead, it describes in what sense the adjective "rigid" is typically used in mathematics, by mathematicians. __FORCETOC__ Examples Some examples include: #Harmonic functions on the unit disk are rigid in the sense that they are uniquely determined by their boundary values. #Holomorphic functions are determined by the set of all derivatives at a single point. A smooth function from the real line to the complex plane is not, in general, determined by all its derivatives at a single point, but it is if we require additionally that it be possible to extend the function to one on a neighbourhood of the real line in the complex plane. The Schwarz lemma is an example of such a rigidity theorem. #By the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spin Manifold
In differential geometry, a spin structure on an orientable Riemannian manifold allows one to define associated spinor bundles, giving rise to the notion of a spinor in differential geometry. Spin structures have wide applications to mathematical physics, in particular to quantum field theory where they are an essential ingredient in the definition of any theory with uncharged fermions. They are also of purely mathematical interest in differential geometry, algebraic topology, and K theory. They form the foundation for spin geometry. Overview In geometry and in field theory, mathematicians ask whether or not a given oriented Riemannian manifold (''M'',''g'') admits spinors. One method for dealing with this problem is to require that ''M'' have a spin structure. This is not always possible since there is potentially a topological obstruction to the existence of spin structures. Spin structures will exist if and only if the second Stiefel–Whitney class ''w''2(''M'') ∈ H2(''M' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contact Geometry
In mathematics, contact geometry is the study of a geometric structure on smooth manifolds given by a hyperplane distribution in the tangent bundle satisfying a condition called 'complete non-integrability'. Equivalently, such a distribution may be given (at least locally) as the kernel of a differential one-form, and the non-integrability condition translates into a maximal non-degeneracy condition on the form. These conditions are opposite to two equivalent conditions for ' complete integrability' of a hyperplane distribution, i.e. that it be tangent to a codimension one foliation on the manifold, whose equivalence is the content of the Frobenius theorem. Contact geometry is in many ways an odd-dimensional counterpart of symplectic geometry, a structure on certain even-dimensional manifolds. Both contact and symplectic geometry are motivated by the mathematical formalism of classical mechanics, where one can consider either the even-dimensional phase space of a mechanical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symplectic Manifold
In differential geometry, a subject of mathematics, a symplectic manifold is a smooth manifold, M , equipped with a closed nondegenerate differential 2-form \omega , called the symplectic form. The study of symplectic manifolds is called symplectic geometry or symplectic topology. Symplectic manifolds arise naturally in abstract formulations of classical mechanics and analytical mechanics as the cotangent bundles of manifolds. For example, in the Hamiltonian formulation of classical mechanics, which provides one of the major motivations for the field, the set of all possible configurations of a system is modeled as a manifold, and this manifold's cotangent bundle describes the phase space of the system. Motivation Symplectic manifolds arise from classical mechanics; in particular, they are a generalization of the phase space of a closed system. In the same way the Hamilton equations allow one to derive the time evolution of a system from a set of differential equations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tangent Manifold
A tangent bundle is the collection of all of the tangent spaces for all points on a manifold, structured in a way that it forms a new manifold itself. Formally, in differential geometry, the tangent bundle of a differentiable manifold M is a manifold TM which assembles all the tangent vectors in M . As a set, it is given by the disjoint unionThe disjoint union ensures that for any two points and of manifold the tangent spaces and have no common vector. This is graphically illustrated in the accompanying picture for tangent bundle of circle , see Examples section: all tangents to a circle lie in the plane of the circle. In order to make them disjoint it is necessary to align them in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the circle. of the tangent spaces of M . That is, : \begin TM &= \bigsqcup_ T_xM \\ &= \bigcup_ \left\ \times T_xM \\ &= \bigcup_ \left\ \\ &= \left\ \end where T_x M denotes the tangent space to M at the point x . So, an element ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Mechanics
Classical mechanics is a Theoretical physics, physical theory describing the motion of objects such as projectiles, parts of Machine (mechanical), machinery, spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. The development of classical mechanics involved Scientific Revolution, substantial change in the methods and philosophy of physics. The qualifier ''classical'' distinguishes this type of mechanics from physics developed after the History of physics#20th century: birth of modern physics, revolutions in physics of the early 20th century, all of which revealed limitations in classical mechanics. The earliest formulation of classical mechanics is often referred to as Newtonian mechanics. It consists of the physical concepts based on the 17th century foundational works of Sir Isaac Newton, and the mathematical methods invented by Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Leonhard Euler and others to describe the motion of Physical body, bodies under the influence of forces. Later, methods bas ... [...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] |
Volume Form
In mathematics, a volume form or top-dimensional form is a differential form of degree equal to the differentiable manifold dimension. Thus on a manifold M of dimension n, a volume form is an n-form. It is an element of the space of sections of the line bundle \textstyle^n(T^*M), denoted as \Omega^n(M). A manifold admits a nowhere-vanishing volume form if and only if it is orientable. An orientable manifold has infinitely many volume forms, since multiplying a volume form by a nowhere-vanishing real valued function yields another volume form. On non-orientable manifolds, one may instead define the weaker notion of a density. A volume form provides a means to define the integral of a function on a differentiable manifold. In other words, a volume form gives rise to a measure with respect to which functions can be integrated by the appropriate Lebesgue integral. The absolute value of a volume form is a volume element, which is also known variously as a ''twisted volume form' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Density On A Manifold
In mathematics, and specifically differential geometry, a density is a spatially varying quantity on a differentiable manifold that can be integrated in an intrinsic manner. Abstractly, a density is a section of a certain line bundle, called the density bundle. An element of the density bundle at ''x'' is a function that assigns a volume for the parallelotope spanned by the ''n'' given tangent vectors at ''x''. From the operational point of view, a density is a collection of functions on coordinate charts which become multiplied by the absolute value of the Jacobian determinant in the change of coordinates. Densities can be generalized into ''s''-densities, whose coordinate representations become multiplied by the ''s''-th power of the absolute value of the jacobian determinant. On an oriented manifold, 1-densities can be canonically identified with the ''n''-forms on ''M''. On non-orientable manifolds this identification cannot be made, since the density bundle is the tenso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
