Foundations of Mechanics, Second Edition

Preface to the Second Edition. Since the first edition of this book appeared in 1967, there has been a great deal of activity in the field of symplectic geometry and Hamiltonian systems. In addition to the recent textbooks of Arnold, Arnold-Avez, Godbillon, Guillemin-Sternberg, Siegel-Moser, and Souriau, there have been many research articles published. Two good collections are "Symposia Mathematica," vol. XIV, and "Géométrie Symplectique el Physique Mathématique," CNRS, Colloque Internationaux, no. 237. There are also important survey articles, such as Weinstein [1977b]. The text and bibliography contain many of the important new references we are aware of. We have continued to find the classic works, especially Whittaker [1959], invaluable. The basic audience for the book remains the same: mathematicians, physicists, and engineers interested in geometrical methods in mechanics, assuming a background in calculus, linear algebra, some classical analysis, and point set topology. We include most of the basic results in manifold theory, as well as some key facts from point set topology and Lie group theory. Other things used without proof are clearly noted. We have updated the material on symmetry groups and qualitative theory, added new sections on the rigid body, topology and mechanics, and quantization, and other topics, and have made numerous corrections and additions. In fact, some of the results in this edition are new. We have made two major changes in notation: we now use f^* for pull-back (the first edition used f[sub]*), in accordance with standard usage, and have adopted the "Bourbaki" convention for wedge product. The latter eliminates many annoying factors of 2. A. N. Kolmogorov's address at the 1954 International Congress of Mathematicians marked an important historical point in the development of the theory, and is reproduced as an appendix. The work of Kolmogorov, Arnold, and Moser and its application to Laplace's question of stability of the solar system remains one of the goals of the exposition. For complete details of all tbe theorems needed in this direction, outside references will have to be consulted, such as Siegel-Moser [1971] and Moser [1973a]. We are pleased to acknowledge valuable assistance from Paul Chernoff, Wlodek Tulczyjew, Morris Hirsh, Alan Weinstein, and our invaluable assistant authors, Richard Cushman and Tudor Ratiu, who all contributed some of their original material for incorporation into the text. Also, we are grateful to Ethan Akin, Kentaro Mikami, Judy Arms, Harold Naparst, Michael Buchner, Ed Nelson, Robert Cahn, Sheldon Newhouse, Emil Chorosoff, George Oster, André Deprit, Jean-Paul Penot, Bob Devaney, Joel Robbin, Hans Duistermaat, Clark Robinson, John Guckenheimer, David Rod, Martin Gutzwiller, William Satzer, Richard Hansen, Dieter Schmidt, Morris Kirsch, Mike Shub, Michael Hoffman, Steve Smale, Andrei Iacob, Rich Spencer, Robert Jantzen, Mike Spivak, Therese Langer, Dan Sunday, Ken Meyer, Floris Takens, [and] Randy Wohl for contributions, remarks, and corrections which we have included in this edition. Further, we express our gratitude to Chris Shaw, who made exceptional efforts to transfom our sketches into the graphics which illustrate the text, to Peter Coha for his assistance in organizing the Museum and Bibliography, and to Ruthie Cephas, Jody Hilbun, Marnie McElhiney, Ruth (Bionic Fingers) Suzuki, and Ikuko Workman for their superb typing job. Theoretical mechanics is an ever-expanding subject. We will appreciate comments from readers regarding new results and shortcomings in this edition. RALPH ABRAHAM, JERROLD E. MARSDEN</p

Application of Statistical Fractional Methods for the Analysis of Time Series of Currency Exchange Rates

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Complexity, Language, and Life: Mathematical Approaches

In May 1984 the Swedish Council for Scientific Research convened a small group of investigators at the scientific research station at Abisko, Sweden, for the purpose of examining various conceptual and mathematical views of the evolution of complex systems. The stated theme of the meeting was deliberately kept vague, with only the purpose of discussing alternative mathematically based approaches to the modeling of evolving processes being given as a guideline to the participants. In order to limit the scope to some degree, it was decided to emphasize living rather than nonliving processes and to invite participants from a range of disciplinary specialities spanning the spectrum from pure and applied mathematics to geography and analytic philosophy. The results of the meeting were quite extraordinary; while there was no intent to focus the papers and discussion into predefined channels, an immediate self-organizing effect took place and the deliberations quickly oriented themselves into three main streams: conceptual and formal structures for characterizing system complexity; evolutionary processes in biology and ecology; the emergence of complexity through evolution in natural languages. The chapters presented in this volume are not the proceedings of the meeting. Following the meeting, the organizers felt that the ideas and spirit of the gathering should be preserved in some written form, so the participants were each requested to produce a chapter, explicating the views they presented at Abisko, written specifically for this volume. The results of this exercise are contained in this book