Princeton Landmarks in Mathematics and Physics – serie

In this classic of statistical mathematical theory, Harald Cramer joins the two major lines of development in the field: while British and American statisticians were developing the science of statistical inference, French and Russian probabilitists transformed the classical calculus of probability into a rigorous and pure mathematical theory. The result of Cramer's work is a masterly exposition of the mathematical methods of modern statistics that set the standard that others have since sought to follow. For anyone with a working knowledge of undergraduate mathematics the book is self contained. The first part is an introduction to the fundamental concept of a distribution and of integration with respect to a distribution. The second part contains the general theory of random variables and probability distributions while the third is devoted to the theory of sampling, statistical estimation, and tests of significance.

Fibre bundles, now an integral part of differential geometry, are also of great importance in modern physics--such as in gauge theory. This book, a succinct introduction to the subject by renown mathematician Norman Steenrod, was the first to present the subject systematically. It begins with a general introduction to bundles, including such topics as differentiable manifolds and covering spaces. The author then provides brief surveys of advanced topics, such as homotopy theory and cohomology theory, before using them to study further properties of fibre bundles. The result is a classic and timeless work of great utility that will appeal to serious mathematicians and theoretical physicists alike.

Einstein's general theory of relativity requires a curved space for the description of the physical world. If one wishes to go beyond superficial discussions of the physical relations involved, one needs to set up precise equations for handling curved space. The well-established mathematical technique that accomplishes this is clearly described in this classic book by Nobel Laureate P.A.M. Dirac. Based on a series of lectures given by Dirac at Florida State University, and intended for the advanced undergraduate, General Theory of Relativity comprises thirty-five compact chapters that take the reader point-by-point through the necessary steps for understanding general relativity.

In his classic work of geometry, Euclid focused on the properties of flat surfaces. In the age of exploration, mapmakers such as Mercator had to concern themselves with the properties of spherical surfaces. The study of curved surfaces, or non-Euclidean geometry, flowered in the late nineteenth century, as mathematicians such as Riemann increasingly questioned Euclid's parallel postulate, and by relaxing this constraint derived a wealth of new results. These seemingly abstract properties found immediate application in physics upon Einstein's introduction of the general theory of relativity. In this book, Eisenhart succinctly surveys the key concepts of Riemannian geometry, addressing mathematicians and theoretical physicists alike.

This book offers a concise introduction to the angular momentum, one of the most fundamental quantities in all of quantum mechanics. Beginning with the quantization of angular momentum, spin angular momentum, and the orbital angular momentum, the author goes on to discuss the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients for a two-component system. After developing the necessary mathematics, specifically spherical tensors and tensor operators, the author then investigates the 3-j, 6-j, and 9-j symbols. Throughout, the author provides practical applications to atomic, molecular, and nuclear physics. These include partial-wave expansions, the emission and absorption of particles, the proton and electron quadrupole moment, matrix element calculation in practice, and the properties of the symmetrical top molecule.

Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics was a revolutionary book that caused a sea change in theoretical physics. Here, John von Neumann, one of the leading mathematicians of the twentieth century, shows that great insights in quantum physics can be obtained by exploring the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. He begins by presenting the theory of Hermitean operators and Hilbert spaces. These provide the framework for transformation theory, which von Neumann regards as the definitive form of quantum mechanics. Using this theory, he attacks with mathematical rigor some of the general problems of quantum theory, such as quantum statistical mechanics as well as measurement processes. Regarded as a tour de force at the time of publication, this book is still indispensable for those interested in the fundamental issues of quantum mechanics.

This elegant book by distinguished mathematician John Milnor, provides a clear and succinct introduction to one of the most important subjects in modern mathematics. Beginning with basic concepts such as diffeomorphisms and smooth manifolds, he goes on to examine tangent spaces, oriented manifolds, and vector fields. Key concepts such as homotopy, the index number of a map, and the Pontryagin construction are discussed. The author presents proofs of Sard's theorem and the Hopf theorem.

This famous book was the first treatise on Lie groups in which a modern point of view was adopted systematically, namely, that a continuous group can be regarded as a global object. To develop this idea to its fullest extent, Chevalley incorporated a broad range of topics, such as the covering spaces of topological spaces, analytic manifolds, integration of complete systems of differential equations on a manifold, and the calculus of exterior differential forms. The book opens with a short description of the classical groups: unitary groups, orthogonal groups, symplectic groups, etc. These special groups are then used to illustrate the general properties of Lie groups, which are considered later. The general notion of a Lie group is defined and correlated with the algebraic notion of a Lie algebra; the subgroups, factor groups, and homomorphisms of Lie groups are studied by making use of the Lie algebra. The last chapter is concerned with the theory of compact groups, culminating in Peter-Weyl's theorem on the existence of representations.Given a compact group, it is shown how one can construct algebraically the corresponding Lie group with complex parameters which appears in the form of a certain algebraic variety (associated algebraic group). This construction is intimately related to the proof of the generalization given by Tannaka of Pontrjagin's duality theorem for Abelian groups. The continued importance of Lie groups in mathematics and theoretical physics make this an indispensable volume for researchers in both fields.

When this book was written, methods of algebraic topology had caused revolutions in the world of pure algebra. To clarify the advances that had been made, Cartan and Eilenberg tried to unify the fields and to construct the framework of a fully fledged theory. The invasion of algebra had occurred on three fronts through the construction of cohomology theories for groups, Lie algebras, and associative algebras. This book presents a single homology (and also cohomology) theory that embodies all three; a large number of results is thus established in a general framework. Subsequently, each of the three theories is singled out by a suitable specialization, and its specific properties are studied. The starting point is the notion of a module over a ring. The primary operations are the tensor product of two modules and the groups of all homomorphisms of one module into another. From these, "higher order" derived of operations are obtained, which enjoy all the properties usually attributed to homology theories. This leads in a natural way to the study of "functors" and of their "derived functors."This mathematical masterpiece will appeal to all mathematicians working in algebraic topology.

In this renowned volume, Hermann Weyl discusses the symmetric, full linear, orthogonal, and symplectic groups and determines their different invariants and representations. Using basic concepts from algebra, he examines the various properties of the groups. Analysis and topology are used wherever appropriate. The book also covers topics such as matrix algebras, semigroups, commutators, and spinors, which are of great importance in understanding the group-theoretic structure of quantum mechanics. Hermann Weyl was among the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century. He made fundamental contributions to most branches of mathematics, but he is best remembered as one of the major developers of group theory, a powerful formal method for analyzing abstract and physical systems in which symmetry is present. In The Classical Groups, his most important book, Weyl provided a detailed introduction to the development of group theory, and he did it in a way that motivated and entertained his readers. Departing from most theoretical mathematics books of the time, he introduced historical events and people as well as theorems and proofs.One learned not only about the theory of invariants but also when and where they were originated, and by whom. He once said of his writing, "My work always tried to unite the truth with the beautiful, but when I had to choose one or the other, I usually chose the beautiful." Weyl believed in the overall unity of mathematics and that it should be integrated into other fields. He had serious interest in modern physics, especially quantum mechanics, a field to which The Classical Groups has proved important, as it has to quantum chemistry and other fields. Among the five books Weyl published with Princeton, Algebraic Theory of Numbers inaugurated the Annals of Mathematics Studies book series, a crucial and enduring foundation of Princeton's mathematics list and the most distinguished book series in mathematics.

In his work on rings of operators in Hilbert space, John von Neumann discovered a new mathematical structure that resembled the lattice system Ln. In characterizing its properties, von Neumann founded the field of continuous geometry. This book, based on von Neumann's lecture notes, begins with the development of the axioms of continuous geometry, dimension theory, and--for the irreducible case--the function D(a). The properties of regular rings are then discussed, and a variety of results are presented for lattices that are continuous geometries, for which irreducibility is not assumed. For students and researchers interested in ring theory or projective geometries, this book is required reading.

In real-world problems related to finance, business, and management, mathematicians and economists frequently encounter optimization problems. In this classic book, George Dantzig looks at a wealth of examples and develops linear programming methods for their solutions. He begins by introducing the basic theory of linear inequalities and describes the powerful simplex method used to solve them. Treatments of the price concept, the transportation problem, and matrix methods are also given, and key mathematical concepts such as the properties of convex sets and linear vector spaces are covered. George Dantzig is properly acclaimed as the "father of linear programming." Linear programming is a mathematical technique used to optimize a situation. It can be used to minimize traffic congestion or to maximize the scheduling of airline flights. He formulated its basic theoretical model and discovered its underlying computational algorithm, the "simplex method," in a pathbreaking memorandum published by the United States Air Force in early 1948.Linear Programming and Extensions provides an extraordinary account of the subsequent development of his subject, including research in mathematical theory, computation, economic analysis, and applications to industrial problems. Dantzig first achieved success as a statistics graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. One day he arrived for a class after it had begun, and assumed the two problems on the board were assigned for homework. When he handed in the solutions, he apologized to his professor, Jerzy Neyman, for their being late but explained that he had found the problems harder than usual. About six weeks later, Neyman excitedly told Dantzig, "I've just written an introduction to one of your papers. Read it so I can send it out right away for publication." Dantzig had no idea what he was talking about. He later learned that the "homework" problems had in fact been two famous unsolved problems in statistics.

In this, one of the first books to appear in English on the theory of numbers, the eminent mathematician Hermann Weyl explores fundamental concepts in arithmetic. The book begins with the definitions and properties of algebraic fields, which are relied upon throughout. The theory of divisibility is then discussed, from an axiomatic viewpoint, rather than by the use of ideals. There follows an introduction to p-adic numbers and their uses, which are so important in modern number theory, and the book culminates with an extensive examination of algebraic number fields. Weyl's own modest hope, that the work "will be of some use," has more than been fulfilled, for the book's clarity, succinctness, and importance rank it as a masterpiece of mathematical exposition.

PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics.

For centuries, astronomers have been interested in the motions of the planets and in methods to calculate their orbits. Since Newton, mathematicians have been fascinated by the related N-body problem. They seek to find solutions to the equations of motion for N masspoints interacting with an inverse-square-law force and to determine whether there are quasi-periodic orbits or not. Attempts to answer such questions have led to the techniques of nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory. In this book, a classic work of modern applied mathematics, Jurgen Moser presents a succinct account of two pillars of the theory: stable and chaotic behavior. He discusses cases in which N-body motions are stable, covering topics such as Hamiltonian systems, the (Moser) twist theorem, and aspects of Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theory. He then explores chaotic orbits, exemplified in a restricted three-body problem, and describes the existence and importance of homoclinic points. This book is indispensable for mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers interested in the dynamics of few- and many-body systems and in fundamental ideas and methods for their analysis.After thirty years, Moser's lectures are still one of the best entrees to the fascinating worlds of order and chaos in dynamics.

In this classic work, Anthony W. Knapp offers a survey of representation theory of semisimple Lie groups in a way that reflects the spirit of the subject and corresponds to the natural learning process. This book is a model of exposition and an invaluable resource for both graduate students and researchers. Although theorems are always stated precisely, many illustrative examples or classes of examples are given. To support this unique approach, the author includes for the reader a useful 300-item bibliography and an extensive section of notes.

This classic book is an introduction to dynamic programming, presented by the scientist who coined the term and developed the theory in its early stages. In Dynamic Programming, Richard E. Bellman introduces his groundbreaking theory and furnishes a new and versatile mathematical tool for the treatment of many complex problems, both within and outside of the discipline. The book is written at a moderate mathematical level, requiring only a basic foundation in mathematics, including calculus. The applications formulated and analyzed in such diverse fields as mathematical economics, logistics, scheduling theory, communication theory, and control processes are as relevant today as they were when Bellman first presented them. A new introduction by Stuart Dreyfus reviews Bellman's later work on dynamic programming and identifies important research areas that have profited from the application of Bellman's theory.

Quantum mechanics was still in its infancy in 1932 when the young John von Neumann, who would go on to become one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, published Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics--a revolutionary book that for the first time provided a rigorous mathematical framework for the new science. Robert Beyer's 1955 English translation, which von Neumann reviewed and approved, is cited more frequently today than ever before. But its many treasures and insights were too often obscured by the limitations of the way the text and equations were set on the page. In this new edition of this classic work, mathematical physicist Nicholas Wheeler has completely reset the book in TeX, making the text and equations far easier to read. He has also corrected a handful of typographic errors, revised some sentences for clarity and readability, provided an index for the first time, and added prefatory remarks drawn from the writings of Léon Van Hove and Freeman Dyson. The result brings new life to an essential work in theoretical physics and mathematics.

Quantum mechanics was still in its infancy in 1932 when the young John von Neumann, who would go on to become one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century, published Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics--a revolutionary book that for the first time provided a rigorous mathematical framework for the new science. Robert Beyer's 1955 English translation, which von Neumann reviewed and approved, is cited more frequently today than ever before. But its many treasures and insights were too often obscured by the limitations of the way the text and equations were set on the page. In this new edition of this classic work, mathematical physicist Nicholas Wheeler has completely reset the book in TeX, making the text and equations far easier to read. He has also corrected a handful of typographic errors, revised some sentences for clarity and readability, provided an index for the first time, and added prefatory remarks drawn from the writings of Léon Van Hove and Freeman Dyson. The result brings new life to an essential work in theoretical physics and mathematics.

A landmark work that belongs on the bookshelf of every researcher working with networksIn this classic book, first published in 1962, L. R. Ford, Jr., and D. R. Fulkerson set the foundation for the study of network flow problems. The models and algorithms introduced in Flows in Networks are used widely today in the fields of transportation systems, manufacturing, inventory planning, image processing, and Internet traffic. The techniques presented by Ford and Fulkerson spurred the development of powerful computational tools for solving and analyzing network flow models, and also furthered the understanding of linear programming. In addition, the book helped illuminate and unify results in combinatorial mathematics while emphasizing proofs based on computationally efficient construction. With an incisive foreword by Robert Bland and James Orlin, Flows in Networks is rich with insights that remain relevant to current research in engineering, management, and other sciences.

In the 1920s, when quantum mechanics was in its infancy, chemists and solid state physicists had little choice but to manipulate unwieldy equations to determine the properties of even the simplest molecules. When mathematicians turned their attention to the equations of quantum mechanics, they discovered that these could be expressed in terms of group theory, and from group theory it was a short step to operator methods. This important development lay largely dormant until this book was originally published in 1963. In this pathbreaking publication, Brian Judd made the operator techniques of mathematicians comprehensible to physicists and chemists. He extended the existing methods so that they could handle heavier, more complex molecules and calculate their energy levels, and from there, it was another short step to the mathematical analysis of spectra. This book provides a first-class introduction to continuous groups for physicists and chemists. Although first written from the perspective of atomic spectroscopy, its major topics and methods will appeal to anyone who has an interest in understanding particle theories of nuclear physics. Originally published in 1998.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.