This invaluable book is an introduction to knot and link invariants as generalized amplitudes for a quasi-physical process. The demands of knot theory, coupled with a quantum-statistical framework, create a context that naturally and powerfully includes an extraordinary range of interrelated topics in topology and mathematical physics. The author takes a primarily combinatorial...(展开全部)

This volume provides an introduction to knot and link invariants as generalized amplitudes for a quasi-physical process. The demands of knot theory, coupled with a quantum-statistical framework, create a context that naturally includes a range of interrelated topics in topology and mathematical physics. The author takes a primarily combinatorial stance toward knot theory and it...(展开全部)

This invaluable book is an introduction to knot and link invariants as generalized amplitudes for a quasi-physical process. The demands of knot theory, coupled with a quantum-statistical framework, create a context that naturally and powerfully includes an extraordinary range of interrelated topics in topology and mathematical physics. The author takes a primarily combinatorial...(展开全部)

This book is an introductory explication on the theme of knot and link invariants as generalized amplitudes (vacuum-vacuum amplitudes) for a quasi-physical process. The demands of the knot theory, coupled with a quantum statistical frame work create a context that naturally and powerfully includes an extraordinary range of interelated topics in topology and mathematical physics...(展开全部)

These notes arise from lectures presented in Florence under the auspices of the Accadamia dei Lincee and deal with an area that lies at the crossroads of mathematics and physics. The material presented here rests primarily on the pioneering work of Vaughan Jones and Edward Witten relating polynomial invariants of knots to a topological quantum field theory in 2+1 dimensions. Pr...(展开全部)

These notes arise from lectures presented in Florence under the auspices of the Accadamia dei Lincee and deal with an area that lies at the crossroads of mathematics and physics. The material presented here rests primarily on the pioneering work of Vaughan Jones and Edward Witten relating polynomial invariants of knots to a topological quantum field theory in 2+1 dimensions. Pr...(展开全部)

Rolfsen's beautiful book on knots and links can be read by anyone, from beginner to expert, who wants to learn about knot theory. Beginners find an inviting introduction to the elements of topology, emphasizing the tools needed for understanding knots, the fundamental group and van Kampen's theorem, for example, which are then applied to concrete problems, such as computing kno...(展开全部)

This is an introduction to the basic tools of mathematics needed to understand the relation between knot theory and quantum gravity. The book begins with a rapid course on manifolds and differential forms, emphasizing how these provide a proper language for formulating Maxwell's equations on arbitrary spacetimes. The authors then introduce vector bundles, connections and curvat...(展开全部)

This is an introduction to the basic tools of mathematics needed to understand the relation between knot theory and quantum gravity. The book begins with a rapid course on manifolds and differential forms, emphasizing how these provide a proper language for formulating Maxwell's equations on arbitrary spacetimes. The authors then introduce vector bundles, connections and curvat...(展开全部)

Since its birth in Poincaré's seminal 1894 "Analysis Situs", topology has become a cornerstone of mathematics. As with all beautiful mathematical concepts, topology inevitably — resonating with that Wignerian principle of the effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences — finds its prominent role in physics. From Chern–Simons theory to topological quantum field theory, ...(展开全部)