Tau Functions and their Applications
Published on 4. February 2021
Book
Hardback
548 pages
978-1-108-49268-3 (ISBN)
Description
Tau functions are a central tool in the modern theory of integrable systems. This volume provides a thorough introduction, starting from the basics and extending to recent research results. It covers a wide range of applications, including generating functions for solutions of integrable hierarchies, correlation functions in the spectral theory of random matrices and combinatorial generating functions for enumerative geometrical and topological invariants. A self-contained summary of more advanced topics needed to understand the material is provided, as are solutions and hints for the various exercises and problems that are included throughout the text to enrich the subject matter and engage the reader. Building on knowledge of standard topics in undergraduate mathematics and basic concepts and methods of classical and quantum mechanics, this monograph is ideal for graduate students and researchers who wish to become acquainted with the full range of applications of the theory of tau functions.
Reviews / Votes
'This book is a magnificent handbook on the applications of the ? -functions.' Dimitar A. Kolev, zbMATHMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 17 Line drawings, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1066 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-49268-3 (9781108492683)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
John Harnad is Director of the Mathematical Physics Laboratory at the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, and Professor of Mathematics at Concordia University in Montréal. Over his career he has made numerous contributions to a variety of fields of mathematical physics, including: gauge field theory, integrable systems, random matrices, isomonodromic deformations and generating functions for graphical enumeration. He was the recipient of the 2006 Canadian Association of Physicists Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics.
Content
Preface; List of symbols; 1. Examples; 2. KP flows and the Sato-Segal-Wilson Grassmannian; 3. The KP hierarchy and its standard reductions; 4. Infinite dimensional Grassmannians; 5. Fermionic representation of tau functions and Baker functions; 6. Finite dimensional reductions of the infinite Grassmannian and their associated tau functions; 7. Other related integrable hierarchies; 8. Convolution symmetries; 9. Isomonodromic deformations; 10. Integrable integral operators and dual isomonodromic deformations; 11. Random matrix models I. Partition functions and correlators; 12. Random matrix models II. Level spacings; 13. Generating functions for characters, intersection indices and Brezin-Hikami matrix models; 14. Generating functions for weighted Hurwitz numbers: enumeration of branched coverings; Appendix A. Integer partitions; Appendix B. Determinantal and Pfaffian identities; Appendix C. Grassmann manifolds and flag manifolds; Appendix D. Symmetric functions; Appendix E. Finite dimensional fermions: Clifford and Grassmann algebras, spinors, isotropic Grassmannians; Appendix F. Riemann surfaces, holomorphic differentials and theta functions; Appendix G. Orthogonal polynomials; Appendix H. Solutions of selected exercises; References; Alphabetical Index.