The Geometry and Physics of Knots

Lezioni Lincee

by Michael Francis Atiyah

Deals with an area of research that lies at the crossroads of mathematics and physics. The material presented here rests primarily on the pioneering work of Vaughan Jones and Edward Witten relating polynomial invariants of knots to a topological quantum field theory in 2+1 dimensions. Professor Atiyah presents an introduction to Witten's ideas from the mathematical point of view. The book will be essential reading for all geometers and gauge theorists as an exposition of new and interesting ideas in a rapidly developing area.

Genres: Mathematics, Physics

108 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 1990

About the author

Sir Michael Francis was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry.

Reviews

[Jon Paprocki · Rating 5 out of 5]

lol, shortest math textbook ever weighing in at 72 pages! That's ok, it was a quick overview of the dawn of the discovery of the relationships between topological quantum field theory, knots, low dimensional topology, and sympletic geometry. Neat if you're looking for a snapshot to help build a picture of how the subject developed chronologically. Aimed mostly at mathematicians. Theorems and proofs are absent (but references are given), so it's mostly about ideas and motivations.