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Casimir Invariant
In mathematics, a Casimir element (also known as a Casimir invariant or Casimir operator) is a distinguished element of the center of the universal enveloping algebra of a Lie algebra. A prototypical example is the squared angular momentum operator, which is a Casimir element of the three-dimensional rotation group. The Casimir element is named after Hendrik Casimir, who identified them in his description of rigid body dynamics in 1931. Definition The most commonly-used Casimir invariant is the quadratic invariant. It is the simplest to define, and so is given first. However, one may also have Casimir invariants of higher order, which correspond to homogeneous symmetric polynomials of higher order. Quadratic Casimir element Suppose that \mathfrak is an n-dimensional Lie algebra. Let ''B'' be a nondegenerate bilinear form on \mathfrak that is invariant under the adjoint action of \mathfrak on itself, meaning that B(\operatorname_XY, Z) + B(Y, \operatorname_X Z) = 0 for all ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplacian Operator
In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a scalar function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols \nabla\cdot\nabla, \nabla^2 (where \nabla is the nabla operator), or \Delta. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by the sum of second partial derivatives of the function with respect to each independent variable. In other coordinate systems, such as cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form. Informally, the Laplacian of a function at a point measures by how much the average value of over small spheres or balls centered at deviates from . The Laplace operator is named after the French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749–1827), who first applied the operator to the study of celestial mechanics: the Laplacian of the gravitational potential due to a given mass density distribution is a constant multiple of that density d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semisimple Lie Algebra
In mathematics, a Lie algebra is semisimple if it is a direct sum of simple Lie algebras. (A simple Lie algebra is a non-abelian Lie algebra without any non-zero proper ideals). Throughout the article, unless otherwise stated, a Lie algebra is a finite-dimensional Lie algebra over a field of characteristic 0. For such a Lie algebra \mathfrak g, if nonzero, the following conditions are equivalent: *\mathfrak g is semisimple; *the Killing form, κ(x,y) = tr(ad(''x'')ad(''y'')), is non-degenerate; *\mathfrak g has no non-zero abelian ideals; *\mathfrak g has no non-zero solvable ideals; * the radical (maximal solvable ideal) of \mathfrak g is zero. Significance The significance of semisimplicity comes firstly from the Levi decomposition, which states that every finite dimensional Lie algebra is the semidirect product of a solvable ideal (its radical) and a semisimple algebra. In particular, there is no nonzero Lie algebra that is both solvable and semisimple. Semisimple Lie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giulio Racah
Giulio (Yoel) Racah ( he, ג'וליו (יואל) רקח; February 9, 1909 – August 28, 1965) was an Italian–Israeli physicist and mathematician. He was Acting President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1961 to 1962. The crater Racah on the Moon is named after him. Biography Giulio (Yoel) Racah was born in Florence, Italy. He earned his BA from the University of Florence in 1930, and continued his studies at Rome with Enrico Fermi. In 1939, due to application of Anti-Jewish laws in Italy, Racah emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Racah served as deputy commander of the Israeli forces defending Mount Scopus. Racah died at the age of 56, apparently asphyxiated by gas from a faulty heater while visiting Florence. Academic and scientific career In 1937 Racah was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of Pisa. In 1939, after his move to Palestine, he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Hebrew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplace–Beltrami Operator
In differential geometry, the Laplace–Beltrami operator is a generalization of the Laplace operator to functions defined on submanifolds in Euclidean space and, even more generally, on Riemannian and pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. It is named after Pierre-Simon Laplace and Eugenio Beltrami. For any twice- differentiable real-valued function ''f'' defined on Euclidean space R''n'', the Laplace operator (also known as the ''Laplacian'') takes ''f'' to the divergence of its gradient vector field, which is the sum of the ''n'' pure second derivatives of ''f'' with respect to each vector of an orthonormal basis for R''n''. Like the Laplacian, the Laplace–Beltrami operator is defined as the divergence of the gradient, and is a linear operator taking functions into functions. The operator can be extended to operate on tensors as the divergence of the covariant derivative. Alternatively, the operator can be generalized to operate on differential forms using the divergence and exter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riemannian Manifold
In differential geometry, a Riemannian manifold or Riemannian space , so called after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann, is a real, smooth manifold ''M'' equipped with a positive-definite inner product ''g''''p'' on the tangent space ''T''''p''''M'' at each point ''p''. The family ''g''''p'' of inner products is called a Riemannian metric (or Riemannian metric tensor). Riemannian geometry is the study of Riemannian manifolds. A common convention is to take ''g'' to be smooth, which means that for any smooth coordinate chart on ''M'', the ''n''2 functions :g\left(\frac,\frac\right):U\to\mathbb are smooth functions. These functions are commonly designated as g_. With further restrictions on the g_, one could also consider Lipschitz Riemannian metrics or measurable Riemannian metrics, among many other possibilities. A Riemannian metric (tensor) makes it possible to define several geometric notions on a Riemannian manifold, such as angle at an intersection, lengt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Structure Constants
In mathematics, the structure constants or structure coefficients of an algebra over a field are used to explicitly specify the product of two basis vectors in the algebra as a linear combination. Given the structure constants, the resulting product is bilinear and can be uniquely extended to all vectors in the vector space, thus uniquely determining the product for the algebra. Structure constants are used whenever an explicit form for the algebra must be given. Thus, they are frequently used when discussing Lie algebras in physics, as the basis vectors indicate specific directions in physical space, or correspond to specific particles. Recall that Lie algebras are algebras over a field, with the bilinear product being given by the Lie bracket or commutator. Definition Given a set of basis vectors \ for the underlying vector space of the algebra, the structure constants or structure coefficients c_^ express the multiplication \cdot of pairs of vectors as a linear combination ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PBW Theorem
PBW may refer to: * Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Stock Exchange * Peanut Butter Wolf, American hip hop record producer * Proton beam writing, a lithography process * Play by Web, Play-by-post role-playing game * Prosopography of the Byzantine World The Prosopography of the Byzantine World (PBW) is a project to create a prosopographical database of individuals named in textual sources in the Byzantine Empire and surrounding areas in the period from 642 to 1265. The project is a collaboration b ..., a prosopographical database project * Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem, a result in mathematics {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynomial Algebra
In mathematics, especially in the field of algebra, a polynomial ring or polynomial algebra is a ring (which is also a commutative algebra) formed from the set of polynomials in one or more indeterminates (traditionally also called variables) with coefficients in another ring, often a field. Often, the term "polynomial ring" refers implicitly to the special case of a polynomial ring in one indeterminate over a field. The importance of such polynomial rings relies on the high number of properties that they have in common with the ring of the integers. Polynomial rings occur and are often fundamental in many parts of mathematics such as number theory, commutative algebra, and algebraic geometry. In ring theory, many classes of rings, such as unique factorization domains, regular rings, group rings, rings of formal power series, Ore polynomials, graded rings, have been introduced for generalizing some properties of polynomial rings. A closely related notion is that of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Space Basis
In mathematics, a set of vectors in a vector space is called a basis if every element of may be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of . The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to . The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of is a linear combination of elements of . In other words, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set. A vector space can have several bases; however all the bases have the same number of elements, called the ''dimension'' of the vector space. This article deals mainly with finite-dimensional vector spaces. However, many of the principles are also valid for infinite-dimensional vector spaces. Definition A basis of a vector space over a field (such as the real numbers or the complex numbers ) is a linearly independent subset of that spans . This me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adjoint Representation Of A Lie Algebra
In mathematics, the adjoint representation (or adjoint action) of a Lie group ''G'' is a way of representing the elements of the group as linear transformations of the group's Lie algebra, considered as a vector space. For example, if ''G'' is GL(n, \mathbb), the Lie group of real ''n''-by-''n'' invertible matrices, then the adjoint representation is the group homomorphism that sends an invertible ''n''-by-''n'' matrix g to an endomorphism of the vector space of all linear transformations of \mathbb^n defined by: x \mapsto g x g^ . For any Lie group, this natural representation is obtained by linearizing (i.e. taking the differential of) the action of ''G'' on itself by conjugation. The adjoint representation can be defined for linear algebraic groups over arbitrary fields. Definition Let ''G'' be a Lie group, and let :\Psi: G \to \operatorname(G) be the mapping , with Aut(''G'') the automorphism group of ''G'' and given by the inner automorphism (conjugation) :\Psi_g( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symmetric Algebra
In mathematics, the symmetric algebra (also denoted on a vector space over a field is a commutative algebra over that contains , and is, in some sense, minimal for this property. Here, "minimal" means that satisfies the following universal property: for every linear map from to a commutative algebra , there is a unique algebra homomorphism such that , where is the inclusion map of in . If is a basis of , the symmetric algebra can be identified, through a canonical isomorphism, to the polynomial ring , where the elements of are considered as indeterminates. Therefore, the symmetric algebra over can be viewed as a "coordinate free" polynomial ring over . The symmetric algebra can be built as the quotient of the tensor algebra by the two-sided ideal generated by the elements of the form . All these definitions and properties extend naturally to the case where is a module (not necessarily a free one) over a commutative ring. Construction From tensor algebra I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
