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/.
Michael T. Vaughn is Professor of Physics at Northeastern University in Boston and well known in particle theory for his contributions to quantum field theory especially in the derivation of two loop renormalization group equations for the Yukowa and scalar quartic couplings in Yang-Mills gauge theories and in softly broken supersymmetric theories. Professor Vaughn has taught graduate courses in mathematical physics at the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University and Texas A&M University as well as at Northeastern.
1. Infinite Sequences and Series2. Finite-Dimensional Vector Spaces3. Geometry in Physics4. Functions of a Complex Variable5. Differential Equations6. Hilbert Spaces7. Linear Operators on Hilbert Space8. Partial Differential Equations9. Discrete Groups10. Lie Groups and Lie Algebras
"This book can serve not only as a useful reference but also as an excellent text … .Well written and highly recommended." (Zentralblatt MATH, 1132, 2008) "…an excellent resource for practicing professionals as well as researchers and faculty…" (CHOICE, December 2007)