Natural Operations in Differential Geometry

by Ivan Kolar, Peter W. Michor, Jan Slovak

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783642081491
Publisher:	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publication date:	12/06/2010
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 1993
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.24(d)

Table of Contents

I. Manifolds and Lie Groups.- II. Differential Forms.- III. Bundles and Connections.- IV. Jets and Natural Bundles.- V. Finite Order Theorems.- VI. Methods for Finding Natural Operators.- VII. Further Applications.- VIII. Product Preserving Functors.- IX. Bundle Functors on Manifolds.- X. Prolongation of Vector Fields and Connections.- XI. General Theory of Lie Derivatives.- XII. Gauge Natural Bundles and Operators.- References.- List of symbols.- Author index.