Geometrical methods in mathematical physics

Abstract

We give detailed exposition of modern differential geometry from global coordinate independent point of view as well as local coordinate description suited for actual computations. In introduction, we consider Euclidean spaces and different structures on it; rotational, Lorentz, and Poincare groups; special relativity. The main body of the manuscript includes manifolds, tensor fields, differential forms, integration, Riemannian and Lorentzian metrics, connection on vector and frame fiber bundles, affine geometry, Lie groups, transformation groups, homotopy and fundamental group, coverings, principal and associated fiber bundles, connections on fiber bundles, Killing vector fields, geodesics and extremals, symplectic and Poisson manifolds, Clifford algebras, principle of least action, canonical formalism for constrained systems. Applications of differential geometry in quantum theory (adiabatic theorem, Berry phase, Aharonov-Bohm effect), general relativity and geometric theory of defects are described. We give introduction to general relativity and its Hamiltonian formulation; describe scalar, spinor, electromagnetic and Yang-Mills fields. Riemannian and Lorentzian surfaces with one Killing vector field are discussed in detail, and their global structure is described using conformal block method. We also classified all global vacuum solutions of the Einstein equations, which have the form of warped product metrics of two surfaces. The manuscript is not a textbook, and intended for efficient reader.