Groups, Representations and Physics - Hardcover

Reseña del editor

Illustrating the interplay between physics and mathematics, this book provides a grounding in the theory of groups, and particularly of group representations. This edition includes a chapter on the Cartan-Dynkin treatment of Lie algebras.

Reseña del editor

This is the second edition of an established textbook widely adopted for course use. For this new edition Dr Jones has taken the opportunity to make corrections and to enhance the book's usefulness and widen its appeal. In particular, a chapter on the Cartan-Dynkin treatment of Lie algebras has been added. This treatment, a generalization of the method of raising and lowering operators used for the rotation group, leads to a systematic classification of Lie algebras and enables one to enumerate and construct their irreducible representations.

Illustrating the fascinating interplay between physics and mathematics, this book provides a solid grounding in the theory of groups, and particularly of group representations. The book will give the reader a firm grasp of the basics to enable further study as necessary.

The approach taken allows the physics student to recognize the power and elegance of the abstract, axiomatic method. However, the formal mathematical definitions and proofs are always illustrated by concrete examples, and chapters developing the formalism are closely followed by chapters dealing with the physical applications. Problems are given after each chapter, with worked solutions at the end of the book.

Intended for third year physics undergraduates specializing in theoretical physics but also of interest to mathematics undergraduates and first year postgraduates.