Writing Small Omegas

Writing Small Omegas: Elie Cartan's Contributions to the Theory of Continuous Groups 1894-1926 provides a general account of Lie's theory of finite continuous groups, critically examining Cartan's doctoral attempts to rigorously classify simple Lie algebras, including the use of many unpublished letters. It evaluates pioneering attempts to generalize Lie's classical ideas to the infinite-dimensional case in the works of Lie, Engel, Medolaghi and Vessiot. Within this context, Cartan's groundbreaking contributions in continuous group theory, particularly in his characteristic and unique recourse to exterior differential calculus, are introduced and discussed at length.

The work concludes by discussing Cartan's contributions to the structural theory of infinite continuous groups, his method of moving frames, and the genesis of his geometrical theory of Lie groups.

Autorentext
Alberto Cogliati, currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics 'F. Enriques' of the Università degli Studi di Milano. He received his PhD in March 2012 discussing Cartan's structural approach to the theory of continuous groups of transformations. His main research interest is the history of 19th-20th mathematics, especially differential geometry, the history of Lie groups and the theory of connections.

Klappentext

Writing Small Omegas: Elie Cartan's Contributions to the Theory of Continuous Groups 1894-1926 provides a general account of Lie's theory of finite continuous groups, critically examining Cartan's doctoral attempts to rigorously classify simple Lie algebras, including the use of many unpublished letters. It evaluates pioneering attempts to generalize Lie's classical ideas to the infinite-dimensional case in the works of Lie, Engel, Medolaghi and Vessiot. Within this context, Cartan's groundbreaking contributions in continuous group theory, particularly in his characteristic and unique recourse to exterior differential calculus, are introduced and discussed at length. The work concludes by discussing Cartan's contributions to the structural theory of infinite continuous groups, his method of moving frames, and the genesis of his geometrical theory of Lie groups.--

Inhalt

1. Lie on the backstage2. Cartan's doctoral dissertation3. Infinite Continuous Groups 1883-19024. Exterior Differential Systems5. Cartan's Theory (1902-1909)6. The method of moving frames7. The geometry of continuous groups8. Conclusion