scientific article; zbMATH DE number 193489

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The authors' basic philosophy is expressed as follows in the Introduction: ``It is very possible (and it is the belief of the authors) that a correct formalization of the physics of ``our universe should involve an infinite dimensional manifold... The fact that we do not see the extra dimensions (those of the so-called ``internal space) can be described, if not explained, by the fact that the metric of our multidimensional universe singles out some directions along which it is invariant or at least equivariant (in some sense).... One of the aims of the present book is to present the geometrical and analytical aspects of ``dimensional reduction and to discuss with more generality several situations which have been considered in the past. - Accordingly the book is concerned with Riemannian geometry on spaces that are subject to given group actions, and therefore in particular with group manifolds, homogeneous spaces, principal bundles, and non-principal bundles with group action. The opening chapters present a very concise survey of Riemannian geometry, Lie groups, and homogeneous spaces, with special emphasis on Riemannian metrics on a Lie group G that are G-invariant, that is, metrics that are invariant under the right (or left) action of G. This concept is extended and discussed in detail for principal bundles and non-principal bundles subject to group actions. This is followed by an analysis of the geometry of matter fields, the latter being considered as vector-valued functions or forms on a manifold, with special reference to covariant derivatives of tensors, spinors, and forms. The case when such matter fields are standard tensor or spinor fields is considered in detail and the so-called G-spin structures are obtained in a natural manner by a process of dimensional reduction. This formalism gives rise to techniques that are used in the dimensional reduction of Einstein- Yang-Mills systems, that is, manifolds that are endowed with a metric, a connection, and are subject to the action of a symmetry group. The final chapter presents a brief discussion of a speculative nature of metrics that are dimensionally reducible but not necessarily G-invariant. Despite its title this book should not be regarded as an introduction to Riemannian geometry and the theory of fibre bundles. In fact, the general presentation is very much that of a volume in a `Lecture Note' series rather than that of a systematic rigorous textbook. In view of the uneven style it is not possible to readily discern the extent of the prerequisites expected of the reader. Be that as it may, the initiated will certainly be able to glean much useful information from this volume.




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