ManifoldIn mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an -dimensional manifold, or -manifold for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a neighborhood that is homeomorphic to an open subset of -dimensional Euclidean space. One-dimensional manifolds include lines and circles, but not lemniscates. Two-dimensional manifolds are also called surfaces. Examples include the plane, the sphere, and the torus, and also the Klein bottle and real projective plane.
Differentiable manifoldIn mathematics, a differentiable manifold (also differential manifold) is a type of manifold that is locally similar enough to a vector space to allow one to apply calculus. Any manifold can be described by a collection of charts (atlas). One may then apply ideas from calculus while working within the individual charts, since each chart lies within a vector space to which the usual rules of calculus apply. If the charts are suitably compatible (namely, the transition from one chart to another is differentiable), then computations done in one chart are valid in any other differentiable chart.
Complex manifoldIn differential geometry and complex geometry, a complex manifold is a manifold with an atlas of charts to the open unit disc in , such that the transition maps are holomorphic. The term complex manifold is variously used to mean a complex manifold in the sense above (which can be specified as an integrable complex manifold), and an almost complex manifold. Since holomorphic functions are much more rigid than smooth functions, the theories of smooth and complex manifolds have very different flavors: compact complex manifolds are much closer to algebraic varieties than to differentiable manifolds.
Connection (mathematics)In geometry, the notion of a connection makes precise the idea of transporting local geometric objects, such as tangent vectors or tensors in the tangent space, along a curve or family of curves in a parallel and consistent manner. There are various kinds of connections in modern geometry, depending on what sort of data one wants to transport. For instance, an affine connection, the most elementary type of connection, gives a means for parallel transport of tangent vectors on a manifold from one point to another along a curve.
Hyperkähler manifoldIn differential geometry, a hyperkähler manifold is a Riemannian manifold endowed with three integrable almost complex structures that are Kähler with respect to the Riemannian metric and satisfy the quaternionic relations . In particular, it is a hypercomplex manifold. All hyperkähler manifolds are Ricci-flat and are thus Calabi–Yau manifolds. Hyperkähler manifolds were defined by Eugenio Calabi in 1979. Equivalently, a hyperkähler manifold is a Riemannian manifold of dimension whose holonomy group is contained in the compact symplectic group Sp(n).
Haken manifoldIn mathematics, a Haken manifold is a compact, P2-irreducible 3-manifold that is sufficiently large, meaning that it contains a properly embedded two-sided incompressible surface. Sometimes one considers only orientable Haken manifolds, in which case a Haken manifold is a compact, orientable, irreducible 3-manifold that contains an orientable, incompressible surface. A 3-manifold finitely covered by a Haken manifold is said to be virtually Haken.
Connection (principal bundle)In mathematics, and especially differential geometry and gauge theory, a connection is a device that defines a notion of parallel transport on the bundle; that is, a way to "connect" or identify fibers over nearby points. A principal G-connection on a principal G-bundle P over a smooth manifold M is a particular type of connection which is compatible with the action of the group G. A principal connection can be viewed as a special case of the notion of an Ehresmann connection, and is sometimes called a principal Ehresmann connection.
Kähler manifoldIn mathematics and especially differential geometry, a Kähler manifold is a manifold with three mutually compatible structures: a complex structure, a Riemannian structure, and a symplectic structure. The concept was first studied by Jan Arnoldus Schouten and David van Dantzig in 1930, and then introduced by Erich Kähler in 1933. The terminology has been fixed by André Weil.
Pseudo-Riemannian manifoldIn differential geometry, a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, also called a semi-Riemannian manifold, is a differentiable manifold with a metric tensor that is everywhere nondegenerate. This is a generalization of a Riemannian manifold in which the requirement of positive-definiteness is relaxed. Every tangent space of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold is a pseudo-Euclidean vector space. A special case used in general relativity is a four-dimensional Lorentzian manifold for modeling spacetime, where tangent vectors can be classified as timelike, null, and spacelike.
DefinitionA definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definitions (which try to list the objects that a term describes). Another important category of definitions is the class of ostensive definitions, which convey the meaning of a term by pointing out examples. A term may have many different senses and multiple meanings, and thus require multiple definitions.
Conservative vector fieldIn vector calculus, a conservative vector field is a vector field that is the gradient of some function. A conservative vector field has the property that its line integral is path independent; the choice of any path between two points does not change the value of the line integral. Path independence of the line integral is equivalent to the vector field under the line integral being conservative. A conservative vector field is also irrotational; in three dimensions, this means that it has vanishing curl.
4-manifoldIn mathematics, a 4-manifold is a 4-dimensional topological manifold. A smooth 4-manifold is a 4-manifold with a smooth structure. In dimension four, in marked contrast with lower dimensions, topological and smooth manifolds are quite different. There exist some topological 4-manifolds which admit no smooth structure, and even if there exists a smooth structure, it need not be unique (i.e. there are smooth 4-manifolds which are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic).
3-manifoldIn mathematics, a 3-manifold is a topological space that locally looks like a three-dimensional Euclidean space. A 3-manifold can be thought of as a possible shape of the universe. Just as a sphere looks like a plane to a small enough observer, all 3-manifolds look like our universe does to a small enough observer. This is made more precise in the definition below. A topological space is a 3-manifold if it is a second-countable Hausdorff space and if every point in has a neighbourhood that is homeomorphic to Euclidean 3-space.
Complex lamellar vector fieldIn vector calculus, a complex lamellar vector field is a vector field which is orthogonal to a family of surfaces. In the broader context of differential geometry, complex lamellar vector fields are more often called hypersurface-orthogonal vector fields. They can be characterized in a number of different ways, many of which involve the curl. A lamellar vector field is a special case given by vector fields with zero curl. The adjective "lamellar" derives from the noun "lamella", which means a thin layer.
Lexical definitionThe lexical definition of a term, also known as the dictionary definition, is the definition closely matching the meaning of the term in common usage. As its other name implies, this is the sort of definition one is likely to find in the dictionary. A lexical definition is usually the type expected from a request for definition, and it is generally expected that such a definition will be stated as simply as possible in order to convey information to the widest audience.
Lie bracket of vector fieldsIn the mathematical field of differential topology, the Lie bracket of vector fields, also known as the Jacobi–Lie bracket or the commutator of vector fields, is an operator that assigns to any two vector fields X and Y on a smooth manifold M a third vector field denoted [X, Y]. Conceptually, the Lie bracket [X, Y] is the derivative of Y along the flow generated by X, and is sometimes denoted ("Lie derivative of Y along X"). This generalizes to the Lie derivative of any tensor field along the flow generated by X.
Product ruleIn calculus, the product rule (or Leibniz rule or Leibniz product rule) is a formula used to find the derivatives of products of two or more functions. For two functions, it may be stated in Lagrange's notation as or in Leibniz's notation as The rule may be extended or generalized to products of three or more functions, to a rule for higher-order derivatives of a product, and to other contexts. Discovery of this rule is credited to Gottfried Leibniz, who demonstrated it using differentials. (However, J. M.
Circular definitionA circular definition is a type of definition that uses the term(s) being defined as part of the description or assumes that the term(s) being described are already known. There are several kinds of circular definition, and several ways of characterising the term: pragmatic, lexicographic and linguistic. Circular definitions are related to Circular reasoning in that they both involve a self-referential approach. Circular definitions may be unhelpful if the audience must either already know the meaning of the key term, or if the term to be defined is used in the definition itself.
Chain ruleIn calculus, the chain rule is a formula that expresses the derivative of the composition of two differentiable functions f and g in terms of the derivatives of f and g. More precisely, if is the function such that for every x, then the chain rule is, in Lagrange's notation, or, equivalently, The chain rule may also be expressed in Leibniz's notation. If a variable z depends on the variable y, which itself depends on the variable x (that is, y and z are dependent variables), then z depends on x as well, via the intermediate variable y.
Smooth structureIn mathematics, a smooth structure on a manifold allows for an unambiguous notion of smooth function. In particular, a smooth structure allows one to perform mathematical analysis on the manifold. A smooth structure on a manifold is a collection of smoothly equivalent smooth atlases. Here, a smooth atlas for a topological manifold is an atlas for such that each transition function is a smooth map, and two smooth atlases for are smoothly equivalent provided their union is again a smooth atlas for This gives a natural equivalence relation on the set of smooth atlases.
