Quaternions, Clifford Algebras and Relativistic Physics PDF Download

Author: Patrick R. Girard
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3764377917
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
The use of Clifford algebras in mathematical physics and engineering has grown rapidly in recent years. Whereas other developments have privileged a geometric approach, this book uses an algebraic approach that can be introduced as a tensor product of quaternion algebras and provides a unified calculus for much of physics. It proposes a pedagogical introduction to this new calculus, based on quaternions, with applications mainly in special relativity, classical electromagnetism, and general relativity.

Author: David Hestenes
Publisher: Birkhäuser
ISBN: 331918413X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
This small book started a profound revolution in the development of mathematical physics, one which has reached many working physicists already, and which stands poised to bring about far-reaching change in the future. At its heart is the use of Clifford algebra to unify otherwise disparate mathematical languages, particularly those of spinors, quaternions, tensors and differential forms. It provides a unified approach covering all these areas and thus leads to a very efficient ‘toolkit’ for use in physical problems including quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, electromagnetism and relativity (both special and general) – only one mathematical system needs to be learned and understood, and one can use it at levels which extend right through to current research topics in each of these areas. These same techniques, in the form of the ‘Geometric Algebra’, can be applied in many areas of engineering, robotics and computer science, with no changes necessary – it is the same underlying mathematics, and enables physicists to understand topics in engineering, and engineers to understand topics in physics (including aspects in frontier areas), in a way which no other single mathematical system could hope to make possible. There is another aspect to Geometric Algebra, which is less tangible, and goes beyond questions of mathematical power and range. This is the remarkable insight it gives to physical problems, and the way it constantly suggests new features of the physics itself, not just the mathematics. Examples of this are peppered throughout ‘Space-Time Algebra’, despite its short length, and some of them are effectively still research topics for the future. From the Foreward by Anthony Lasenby

Author: J. B. Kuipers
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691211701
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
Ever since the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton introduced quaternions in the nineteenth century--a feat he celebrated by carving the founding equations into a stone bridge--mathematicians and engineers have been fascinated by these mathematical objects. Today, they are used in applications as various as describing the geometry of spacetime, guiding the Space Shuttle, and developing computer applications in virtual reality. In this book, J. B. Kuipers introduces quaternions for scientists and engineers who have not encountered them before and shows how they can be used in a variety of practical situations. The book is primarily an exposition of the quaternion, a 4-tuple, and its primary application in a rotation operator. But Kuipers also presents the more conventional and familiar 3 x 3 (9-element) matrix rotation operator. These parallel presentations allow the reader to judge which approaches are preferable for specific applications. The volume is divided into three main parts. The opening chapters present introductory material and establish the book's terminology and notation. The next part presents the mathematical properties of quaternions, including quaternion algebra and geometry. It includes more advanced special topics in spherical trigonometry, along with an introduction to quaternion calculus and perturbation theory, required in many situations involving dynamics and kinematics. In the final section, Kuipers discusses state-of-the-art applications. He presents a six degree-of-freedom electromagnetic position and orientation transducer and concludes by discussing the computer graphics necessary for the development of applications in virtual reality.

Author: Olaf Dössel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642038824
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 1211

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Book Description
Present Your Research to the World! The World Congress 2009 on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering – the triennial scientific meeting of the IUPESM - is the world’s leading forum for presenting the results of current scientific work in health-related physics and technologies to an international audience. With more than 2,800 presentations it will be the biggest conference in the fields of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in 2009! Medical physics, biomedical engineering and bioengineering have been driving forces of innovation and progress in medicine and healthcare over the past two decades. As new key technologies arise with significant potential to open new options in diagnostics and therapeutics, it is a multidisciplinary task to evaluate their benefit for medicine and healthcare with respect to the quality of performance and therapeutic output. Covering key aspects such as information and communication technologies, micro- and nanosystems, optics and biotechnology, the congress will serve as an inter- and multidisciplinary platform that brings together people from basic research, R&D, industry and medical application to discuss these issues. As a major event for science, medicine and technology the congress provides a comprehensive overview and in–depth, first-hand information on new developments, advanced technologies and current and future applications. With this Final Program we would like to give you an overview of the dimension of the congress and invite you to join us in Munich! Olaf Dössel Congress President Wolfgang C.

Author: Pertti Lounesto
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521005515
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This is the second edition of a popular work offering a unique introduction to Clifford algebras and spinors. The beginning chapters could be read by undergraduates; vectors, complex numbers and quaternions are introduced with an eye on Clifford algebras. The next chapters will also interest physicists, and include treatments of the quantum mechanics of the electron, electromagnetism and special relativity with a flavour of Clifford algebras. This edition has three new chapters, including material on conformal invariance and a history of Clifford algebras.

Author: Wolfgang Rindler
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198567316
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
This text brings the challenge and excitement of modern relativity and cosmology at rigorous mathematical level within reach of advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates.

Author: Jean-Daniel Boissonnat
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319228048
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Book Description
This volume constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Curves and Surfaces, held in Paris, France, in June 2014. The conference had the overall theme: "Representation and Approximation of Curves and Surfaces and Applications". The 32 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 39 submissions. The scope of the conference was on following topics: approximation theory, computer-aided geometric design, computer graphics and visualization, computational geometry and topology, geometry processing, image and signal processing, interpolation and smoothing, mesh generation, finite elements and splines, scattered data processing and learning theory, sparse and high-dimensional approximation, subdivision, wavelets and multi-resolution method.

Author: Eckhard Hitzer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3034806035
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Quaternion and Clifford Fourier and wavelet transformations generalize the classical theory to higher dimensions and are becoming increasingly important in diverse areas of mathematics, physics, computer science and engineering. This edited volume presents the state of the art in these hypercomplex transformations. The Clifford algebras unify Hamilton’s quaternions with Grassmann algebra. A Clifford algebra is a complete algebra of a vector space and all its subspaces including the measurement of volumes and dihedral angles between any pair of subspaces. Quaternion and Clifford algebras permit the systematic generalization of many known concepts. This book provides comprehensive insights into current developments and applications including their performance and evaluation. Mathematically, it indicates where further investigation is required. For instance, attention is drawn to the matrix isomorphisms for hypercomplex algebras, which will help readers to see that software implementations are within our grasp. It also contributes to a growing unification of ideas and notation across the expanding field of hypercomplex transforms and wavelets. The first chapter provides a historical background and an overview of the relevant literature, and shows how the contributions that follow relate to each other and to prior work. The book will be a valuable resource for graduate students as well as for scientists and engineers.

Author: Andrew J. Hanson
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080474772
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
Introduced 160 years ago as an attempt to generalize complex numbers to higher dimensions, quaternions are now recognized as one of the most important concepts in modern computer graphics. They offer a powerful way to represent rotations and compared to rotation matrices they use less memory, compose faster, and are naturally suited for efficient interpolation of rotations. Despite this, many practitioners have avoided quaternions because of the mathematics used to understand them, hoping that some day a more intuitive description will be available.The wait is over. Andrew Hanson's new book is a fresh perspective on quaternions. The first part of the book focuses on visualizing quaternions to provide the intuition necessary to use them, and includes many illustrative examples to motivate why they are important—a beautiful introduction to those wanting to explore quaternions unencumbered by their mathematical aspects. The second part covers the all-important advanced applications, including quaternion curves, surfaces, and volumes. Finally, for those wanting the full story of the mathematics behind quaternions, there is a gentle introduction to their four-dimensional nature and to Clifford Algebras, the all-encompassing framework for vectors and quaternions. - Richly illustrated introduction for the developer, scientist, engineer, or student in computer graphics, visualization, or entertainment computing. - Covers both non-mathematical and mathematical approaches to quaternions.

Author: Chris Doran
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139643142
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 647

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Book Description
Geometric algebra is a powerful mathematical language with applications across a range of subjects in physics and engineering. This book is a complete guide to the current state of the subject with early chapters providing a self-contained introduction to geometric algebra. Topics covered include new techniques for handling rotations in arbitrary dimensions, and the links between rotations, bivectors and the structure of the Lie groups. Following chapters extend the concept of a complex analytic function theory to arbitrary dimensions, with applications in quantum theory and electromagnetism. Later chapters cover advanced topics such as non-Euclidean geometry, quantum entanglement, and gauge theories. Applications such as black holes and cosmic strings are also explored. It can be used as a graduate text for courses on the physical applications of geometric algebra and is also suitable for researchers working in the fields of relativity and quantum theory.