Introduction to Mathematical Physics

Michael T. Vaughn3527406271, 9783527406272, 9783527618866

A comprehensive survey of all the mathematical methods that should be available to graduate students in physics. In addition to the usual topics of analysis, such as infinite series, functions of a complex variable and some differential equations as well as linear vector spaces, this book includes a more extensive discussion of group theory than can be found in other current textbooks. The main feature of this textbook is its extensive treatment of geometrical methods as applied to physics. With its introduction of differentiable manifolds and a discussion of vectors and forms on such manifolds as part of a first-year graduate course in mathematical methods, the text allows students to grasp at an early stage the contemporary literature on dynamical systems, solitons and related topological solutions to field equations, gauge theories, gravitational theory, and even string theory. Free solutions manual available for lecturers at www.wiley-vch.de/supplements/.