Differential geometry of singular spaces and reduction of symmetry (Q2842993)

Presently, the effort of generalizing the differentiability to functions which are not necessarily defined on open subsets of numeric spaces has given rise to several notions of differential spaces. It is not clear which one will prevail in time, a comparison among them would be very interesting. The author has chosen the approach first considered by \textit{R. Sikorski} in [An introduction to differential geometry. (Wstȩp do geometrii różniczkowej.) Warszawa: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (1972; Zbl 0255.53001)]. He starts by presenting differential structures and derivations, talks about stratified spaces and differential forms, thus making a very clear presentation of the subject. Next, he investigates symplectic reduction and analyses the commutation of quantization and reduction. Finally, further examples of reduction show also applications of this knowledge to other domains. A very comprehensive introduction states the goals of the book and presents the results in the frame of their historic development. Because of its several extremely well presented applications, the book is a very useful tool for researchers both in mathematics and engineering mathematics.