The Many Faces of Maxwell, Dirac and Einstein Equations: A Clifford Bundle Approach

ISBN-13: 9783642090387 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 445 str.

Waldyr A. Rodrigues; Edmundo C. De Oliveira

Opis

Maxwell, Dirac and Einstein s equations are certainly among the most imp- tant equations of XXth century Physics and it is our intention in this book to 1 investigate some of the many faces of these equations and their relationship and to discuss some foundational issues involving some of the theories where they appear. To do that, let us brie?y recall some facts. Maxwell equations which date back to the XIXth century encodes all cl- sical electromagnetism, i. e. they describe the electromagnetic ?elds generated by charge distributions in arbitrary motion. Of course, when Maxwell f- mulated his theory the arena where physical phenomena were supposed to occur was a Newtonian spacetime, a structure containing a manifold which is 3 di?eomorphic to RxR, the ?rst factor describing Newtonian absolute time 2 25] and the second factor the Euclidean space of our immediate perception . In his original approach Maxwell presented his equations as a system of eight linear ?rstorderpartialdi?erentialequations involvingthe components of the electricandmagnetic?elds 17]generatedbychargeandcurrentsdistributions 3 with prescribed motions in vacuum . It was only after Heaviside 12], Hertz and Gibbs that those equations were presented using vector calculus, which by the way, is the form they appear until today in elementary textbooks on Electrodynamics and Engineering Sciences. In the vector calculus formalism Maxwell equations are encoded in four equations involving the well known divergentandrotationaloperators."

Recenzje

"The main intention of the present book is to familiarise the reader with the algebra and calculus within the Clifford bundle formalism ... . The text is written in a very readable manner and is complemented with plenty of worked-out exercises which are in the style of extended examples. ... From my personal point of view, the authors elegantly succeed in their ambitions and, in my opinion, their book could also serve as a textbook for graduate students in physics or mathematics." (Alberto Molgado, Mathematical Reviews, 2008 k)

Spis treści

Multiform and Extensor Calculus.- The Hidden Geometrical Nature of Spinors.- Some Differential Geometry.- Some Issues in Relativistic Spacetime Theories.- Clifford and Dirac-Hestenes Spinor Fields.- Lagrangian Formalism in Minkowski Spacetime.- Conservation Laws on Riemann-Cartan and Lorentzian Spacetimes.- The DHE on a RCST and the Meaning of Active Local Lorentz Invariance.- Gravitational Theory in Minkowski Spacetime.- On the Many Faces of Einstein’s Equations.- Maxwell, Dirac and Seiberg-Witten Equations.- Superparticles and Superfields.

Blurb

This book is a thoughtful exposition of the algebra and calculus of differential forms, the Clifford and Spin-Clifford bundles formalisms with emphasis in calculation procedures, and vistas to a formulation of some important concepts of differential geometry necessary for a deep understanding of spacetime physics. The formalism discloses the hidden geometrical nature of spinor fields. Maxwell, Dirac and Einstein fields, which were originally considered objects of a very different mathematical nature, are shown to have representatives as objects of the same mathematical nature, i.e. as sections of an appropriate Clifford bundle. This approach reveals unity in the diversity and also the many faces of the equations satisfied by those fields. Moreover, it suggests relationships which are hidden in the standard formalisms and new paths for research. Some foundational issues of relativistic field theories, in particular the one concerning the conditions for the existence of the conservation laws of energy-momentum and angular momentum in spacetime theories and many misconceptions concerning this issue is analyzed in details.

The book will be useful as reference book for researchers and advanced students of theoretical physics and mathematics. Calculation procedures are illustrated by many exercises solved in detail, using the "tricks of the trade". Furthermore the readers will appreciate the comprehensive list of mathematical symbols as well as a list of acronyms and abbreviations.