Syllabi of the New First Year Ph.D. Courses
(Math dept., Columbia University)
MODERN GEOMETRY I: Local Structures
- Manifold Theory
- Point Set Topology
- Homeomorphism and Homotopy
- Compact, Connected, Hausdorff Spaces
- Topological, Differentiable, Complex Manifolds
- Physical Examples from Classical Mechanics
- Differential Forms, Tensors, and Curvature
- Differential Forms
- Parallel Transport and Affine Connections
- Riemann, Ricci, Scalar Curvature Tensors
- Riemannian and Pseudo-Riemannian Metrics
- Integration on curved manifolds
- Physical Examples: Electromagnetic Theory in Curved Spacetime, General
Relativity
- Homology and Cohomology
- Chains, Cycles, Boundary Operator
- Physical Examples: Hamiltonian Mechanics, Dirac Monopoles,
Electromagnetic Duality in Arbitrary Dimensions
MODERN GEOMETRY II: Global Structures
- Lie Groups and Lie Algebras
- Review of the Classical Lie Groups and their Algebras
- Differential Geometric Aspects of Group Manifolds
- Basic Representation Theory
- Physical Examples: Lie Groups in Particle Theory; The Structure of the
Standard Model; The Eight-fold Way; Particle Mass Relations and Sum Rules
- Fiber Bundles
- The Classical Groups
- Vector Bundles
- Principal Bundles
- Aspects of Bundle Classification, Characteristic Classes
- Physical Examples: Dirac and `t Hooft-Polyakov Magnetic Monopoles,
Instantons
- Aspects of Anomalies and aspects of Index Theory
- Homotopy Theory and Defects in Quantum Field Theory
- Fundamental Group, Higher Homotopy Groups
- Further Application to Bundle classification
- Physical Examples: Monopoles, Strings, Domain Walls, Textures
- Quantum Mechanics on Topologically Nontrivial Spacetimes
- Geometry and String Theory
- General Relativity in Arbitrary Dimensions
- Mathematical Aspects of Kaluza-Klein Theory
- Kähler Manifolds
- Harmonic Analysis
- Calabi-Yau Manifolds and Low Energy String Theory
- Mirror Symmetry
COMPLEX ANALYSIS,
RIEMANN SURFACES AND MODULAR FORMS I & II
- Holomorphic Functions
- Holomorphic functions, Cauchy-Riemann equations
- Conformal mappings
- Cauchy integral formula, residues
- Analytic Continuation
- Gamma and zeta functions
- Hypergeometric functions and monodromy
- Braid group representations
- Correlation functions in conformal field theory
- Riemann Surfaces
- The Riemann surface y2=x(x-1)(x-l)
- Holomorphic and meromorphic differentials
- Homology, fundamental group, surface classification
- Weierstrass elliptic functions
- Theta functions
- The moduli space of tori
- Introduction to Riemann surfaces of arbitrary genera
- Fields of meromorphic functions, field extensions, Galois theory
- Theta Functions and Modular Forms
- Modular transformations and modular forms
- Eisenstein series, Dedekind eta-function, Kronecker limit formula
- Hecke operators
- Poisson summation, theta-functions of lattices
- Exact formulas for heat kernels
- Selected Topics, chosen from
- Integrable models, spectral curves, and solitons
- Modular forms and infinite-dimensional algebras
- Geometry of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces
- Solvable models in statistical mechanics or conformal field theory
- Introduction to L-functions
ANALYSIS AND PROBABILITY I
- Measure Theory
- Construction of the integral, limits and integration
- Lp spaces of functions
- Construction of measures, Lebesgue-Stieltjes product measures
- Examples: ergodicity, Liouville measure, Hausdorff measure
- Elements of Probability
- The coin-tossing or random walk model
- Independent events and independent random variables
- The Khintchin weak law and the Kolmogorov strong law of large numbers
- Notions of convergence of random variables
- The Central Limit Theorem
- Elements of Fourier Analysis
- Fourier transforms of measures, Fourier-Lévy Inversion Formula
- Convergence of distributions and characteristic functions
- Proof of the Central Limit and Lindeberg Theorems
- Fourier transforms on Euclidean spaces
- Fourier series, the Poisson summation formula
- Spectral decompositions of the Laplacian
- The heat equation and heat kernel
- Brownian Motion
- Brownian motion as a Gaussian process
- Brownian motion as scaling limit of random walks
- Brownian motion as random Fourier series
- Brownian motion and the heat equation
- Elementary properties of Brownian paths
ANALYSIS II: Partial Differential Equations and Functional Analysis
- First Order Partial Differential Equations
- Cauchy's Theorem for first order real partial differential
equations
- Completely integrable first order equations
- Implicit Function Theorems
- Basic examples of linear and non-linear partial differential
equations
- The functional analytic framework, Banach and Hilbert spaces
- Bounded linear operators, spectrum, invertibility
- Implicit function theorems in Banach spaces
- Sketch of subsequent applications to the basic examples
- Second Order Partial Differential Equations
- Qualitative description: elliptic, parabolic, hyperbolic
equations
- The Cauchy problem
- Maximum principles
- Sobolev and Schauder spaces
- A priori estimates and Green's functions
- Riesz-Schauder theory of compact operators
- Detailed treatment of basic examples
- The Laplace and heat equations on compact manifolds
- Applications to de Rham and Hodge theory
- Selected Topics, chosen from
- Riemann-Roch and index theorems
- Determinants of Laplacians, modular forms
- Integral representations, Hilbert transforms, singular integral
operators
- Subelliptic equations
- Nash-Moser implicit function theorems
- Non-linear equations from geometry or physics
PROBABILITY II: Probability and Random Processes
Prerequisite: ANALYSIS AND PROBABILITY
I. Can be taken concurrently with ANALYSIS II
- Rare Events
- Cramér's Theorem
- Introduction to the Theory of Large Deviations
- The Shannon-Breiman-McMillan Theorem
- Conditional Distributions and Expectations
- Absolute continuity and singularity of measures
- Radon-Nikodým theorem. Conditional distributions
- Conditional expectations as least-square projections
- Notion of conditional independence
- Introduction to Markov Chains. Harmonic functions
- Martingales
- Definitions, basic properties, examples, transforms
- Optional sampling and upcrossings theorems, convergence
- Burkholder-Gundy and Azuma inequalities
- Doob decomposition, square-integrable martingales
- Strong laws of large numbers and central limit theorems
- Applications
- Optimal stopping
- Branching processes and their limiting behavior. Urn schemes
- Stochastic approximation. Probabilistic analysis of algorithms
- Stochastic Integrals and Stochastic Differential Equations
- Detailed study of Brownian motion
- Martingales in continuous time
- Doob-Meyer decomposition, stopping times
- Integration with respect to continuous martingales, Itô's rule
- Girsanov's theorem and its applications
- Introduction to stochastic differential equations. Diffusion processes
- Elements of Potential Theory
- The Dirichlet problem. Poisson integral formula
- Solution in terms of Brownian motion
- Detailed study of the heat equation; Cauchy and boundary-value problems
- Feynman-Kac theorems, applications
GROUPS AND REPRESENTATIONS I
- Basic Notions
- Abstract groups, algebraic groups over a field, topological
groups, Lie groups
- Subgroups, normal subgroups, quotient groups
- Homomorphisms of groups - image, kernel, exact sequences
- Cyclic groups, abelian groups, nilpotent groups
- Conjugacy classes, left and right cosets of a subgroup
- Algebraic Examples
- Units of a ring, k* for k a field, roots of unity
in a commutative ring, R*, S1 in C*
- GL(n, R) as the group of units of n x n-matrices
over a commutative ring R
- The determinant and SL(n, R), O(n,
R), Sympl(2n, R) when there is (-1) in R
- Algebraic groups of the above types over a field, definition of linear
algebraic groups
- Group structure on an elliptic curve
- Group of p-adic integers, and its multiplicative group of units
- Geometric Examples and Symmetry
- Permutation groups
- Symmetries of regular plane figures and of Platonic solids
- The Lie groups SL(n, R), SO(n, R),
SO(p, q), Sympl(2n, R)
- Isometries of the line, the plane, and higher dimensional Euclidean
spaces
- Isometries of spheres and of Minkowski space. The Poincaré group
- Isometries of the hyperbolic plane, conformal isomorphisms of S2,
relation with SL(2, R) and SL(2, C)
- Clifford algebras and the spin groups
- The Heisenberg group
- Lie Algebras
- Definition, examples of the Lie algebra of an associative
algebra
- The Lie algebra of a Lie group. The universal enveloping algebra and the
Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem
- Representations
- Definition in the various categories of groups, representations
of a Lie algebra
- Infinitesimal generators for the action of a Lie group
- The infinitesimal representation associated to a linear representation
of a Lie group
- Turning actions into linear representations on the functions
- Classification of the (finite dimensional) representations of sl(2,
C), SU(2), and SO(3)
- Representations of the Heisenberg algebra
- Representations of Finite and Compact Lie Groups
- Complete reducibility, Schur's lemma, characters, orthogonality
relations for characters of a finite group
- Dimension of the space of characters of a finite group
- The decomposition of the regular representation of a finite group
- Characters of a compact group - complete reducibility, Schur's lemma,
orthogonality of characters
- Peter-Weyl theorem (except the proof of the decomposibility of a Hilbert
space representation into finite dimensional sub representations)
- Example of L2(S1) and Fourier
analysis
- Example of L2(S2) as a module over
SO(3) and spherical harmonics
- Finite Groups and Counting Principles
- Orders of elements and subgroups
- Groups of order pn are nilpotent
- Subgroups of index 2 are normal
- The Sylow theorems
- Classification of groups of order pq for p, q
distinct primes. Groups of order 12
GROUPS AND REPRESENTATIONS II
- Lie Groups and Lie Algebras: the Exponential Mapping
- Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula
- A Lie group is determined by its Lie algebra up to covering
- Action of a Lie group is determined by its infinitesimal action
- Maximal Tori of a Compact Lie Group
- Existence and uniqueness up to conjugation
- Every element is contained in a maximal torus
- Regular elements
- The Weyl group
- Weyl group action on the maximal torus and on corresponding abelian Lie
algebra
- Decomposition of the adjoint representation root spaces. Weyl chambers
- Groups generated by reflection
- Positive roots, dominant root and alcove
- Dynkin diagrams
- The classical examples SU(n), SO(n),
Sympl(2n)
- Complex Semi-Simple Lie Groups and Lie Algebras
- Irreducible Representations of Compact Groups
- Weight spaces, dominant weights
- Examples for SU(n), Sympl(2n) and SO(n)
- Selected Topics, chosen from
- Borel-Weil-Bott theory
- Infinite-dimensional representations of SL(2, R)
- Kac-Moody algebras
- The Virasoro algebra
- Supersymmetry
ALGEBRAIC TOPOLOGY I
- Homology Theory
- Singular homology -- definition, simple computations
- Cellular homology -- definition
- Eilenberg-Steenrod Axioms for homology
- Computations: Sn, RPn, CPn,
Tn, S2^S3,
Grassmannians, X*Y
- Alexander duality -- Jordan curve theorem and higher dimensional
analogues
- Applications: Winding number, degree of maps, Brouwer fixed point
theorem
- Lefschetz fixed point theorem
- Homotopy Theory
- Homotopy of maps, of pointed maps
- The homotopy category and homotopy functors --examples
- p1(X, x0)
- Van Kampen's theorem
- Higher homotopy groups and the Hurewicz theorem
- p3(S2)
- Higher homotopy groups of the sphere
- Covering Spaces
- Definition of a covering projection
- Examples -- Coverings of S1, Sn
covering RPn, Spin(n) covering SO(n)
- Homotopy path lifting
- Classification of coverings of a reasonable space
- Homology with Local Coefficients
- Local coefficient systems
- Relation with covering spaces
- Obstruction theory
- The Alexander polynomial of a knot
ALGEBRAIC TOPOLOGY II
- Cohomology
- Cup products
- Pairings homology
- Cohomology and homology with coefficients
- Universal coefficient theorems
- Cech Cohomology
- Open coverings and Cech cochains
- The coboundary mapping
- Cech cohomology
- Comparison with singular cohomology
- Selected Topics
- Group Cohomology
- Sheaf Cohomology
- de Rham's theorem
- Morse functions and Poincaré duality for manifolds
- Thom Isomorphism Theorem and cohomology classes Poincaré dual to cycles
COMMUTATIVE ALGEBRA
- Basic notions for rings and modules
- Rings, ideals, modules
- Localization
- Primary decomposition
- Integrality
- Noetherian and Artinian Rings
- Noether normalization and Nullstellensatz
- Discrete valuation rings, Dedekind domains and curves
- Graded Modules and Completions
- Dimension theory, Hilbert functions, Regularity
- Sheaves and affine schemes
ALGEBRAIC GEOMETRY
- Varieties
- Projective Varieties
- Morphisms and Rational Maps
- Nonsingular Varieties
- Intersections of Varieties
- Schemes
- Basic properties of schemes
- Separated and proper morphisms
- Quasi-coherent sheaves
- Weil and Cartier divisors, line bundles and ampleness
- Differentials
- Sheaf cohomology
- Curves
- Residues and duality
- Riemann-Roch
- Branched coverings
- Projective embeddings
- Canonical curves and Clifford's Theorem
ALGEBRAIC NUMBER THEORY
- Local fields
- Global fields
- Valuations
- Weak approximation
- Chinese Remainder Theorem
- Ideal class groups
- Minkowski's theorem and Dirichlet's unit theorem
- Finiteness of class numbers
- Ramification, different and discriminants
- Quadratic symbols and quadratic reciprocity law
- Zeta functions and L-functions
- Chebotarev's density theorem
- Preview of class field theory