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Differential geometry finds applications throughout mathematics and the natural sciences. Most prominently the language of differential geometry was used by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity, and subsequently by physicists in the development of quantum field theory and the standard model of particle physics.
Vector field; Tensor field; Differential form; Exterior derivative; Lie derivative; pullback (differential geometry) pushforward (differential) jet (mathematics) Contact (mathematics) jet bundle; Frobenius theorem (differential topology) Integral curve
The differential geometry of surfaces is concerned with a mathematical understanding of such phenomena. The study of this field, which was initiated in its modern form in the 1700s, has led to the development of higher-dimensional and abstract geometry, such as Riemannian geometry and general relativity. [original research?]
In the study of mathematics, and especially of differential geometry, fundamental vector fields are instruments that describe the infinitesimal behaviour of a smooth Lie group action on a smooth manifold. Such vector fields find important applications in the study of Lie theory, symplectic geometry, and the study of Hamiltonian group actions.
Because the exterior derivative d has the property that d 2 = 0, it can be used as the differential (coboundary) to define de Rham cohomology on a manifold. The k -th de Rham cohomology (group) is the vector space of closed k -forms modulo the exact k -forms; as noted in the previous section, the Poincaré lemma states that these vector spaces ...
Differential forms are part of the field of differential geometry, influenced by linear algebra. Although the notion of a differential is quite old, the initial attempt at an algebraic organization of differential forms is usually credited to Élie Cartan with reference to his 1899 paper. [1]
In mathematics, the Riemannian connection on a surface or Riemannian 2-manifold refers to several intrinsic geometric structures discovered by Tullio Levi-Civita, Élie Cartan and Hermann Weyl in the early part of the twentieth century: parallel transport, covariant derivative and connection form.
A basic result of differential geometry states that normal coordinates at a point always exist on a manifold with a symmetric affine connection. In such coordinates the covariant derivative reduces to a partial derivative (at p only), and the geodesics through p are locally linear functions of t (the affine parameter).