Concept
Riemannian manifold
Related concepts (28)
Finsler manifold
In mathematics, particularly differential geometry, a Finsler manifold is a differentiable manifold M where a (possibly asymmetric) Minkowski functional F(x, −) is provided on each tangent space TxM, that enables one to define the length of any smooth curve γ : [a, b] → M as Finsler manifolds are more general than Riemannian manifolds since the tangent norms need not be induced by inner products. Every Finsler manifold becomes an intrinsic quasimetric space when the distance between two points is defined as the infimum length of the curves that join them.
Banach manifold
In mathematics, a Banach manifold is a manifold modeled on Banach spaces. Thus it is a topological space in which each point has a neighbourhood homeomorphic to an open set in a Banach space (a more involved and formal definition is given below). Banach manifolds are one possibility of extending manifolds to infinite dimensions. A further generalisation is to Fréchet manifolds, replacing Banach spaces by Fréchet spaces. On the other hand, a Hilbert manifold is a special case of a Banach manifold in which the manifold is locally modeled on Hilbert spaces.
Fréchet manifold
In mathematics, in particular in nonlinear analysis, a Fréchet manifold is a topological space modeled on a Fréchet space in much the same way as a manifold is modeled on a Euclidean space. More precisely, a Fréchet manifold consists of a Hausdorff space with an atlas of coordinate charts over Fréchet spaces whose transitions are smooth mappings.
Principal curvature
In differential geometry, the two principal curvatures at a given point of a surface are the maximum and minimum values of the curvature as expressed by the eigenvalues of the shape operator at that point. They measure how the surface bends by different amounts in different directions at that point. At each point p of a differentiable surface in 3-dimensional Euclidean space one may choose a unit normal vector. A normal plane at p is one that contains the normal vector, and will therefore also contain a unique direction tangent to the surface and cut the surface in a plane curve, called normal section.
Hilbert manifold
In mathematics, a Hilbert manifold is a manifold modeled on Hilbert spaces. Thus it is a separable Hausdorff space in which each point has a neighbourhood homeomorphic to an infinite dimensional Hilbert space. The concept of a Hilbert manifold provides a possibility of extending the theory of manifolds to infinite-dimensional setting. Analogously to the finite-dimensional situation, one can define a differentiable Hilbert manifold by considering a maximal atlas in which the transition maps are differentiable.
Gauss map
In differential geometry, the Gauss map (named after Carl F. Gauss) maps a surface in Euclidean space R3 to the unit sphere S2. Namely, given a surface X lying in R3, the Gauss map is a continuous map N: X → S2 such that N(p) is a unit vector orthogonal to X at p, namely a normal vector to X at p. The Gauss map can be defined (globally) if and only if the surface is orientable, in which case its degree is half the Euler characteristic. The Gauss map can always be defined locally (i.e. on a small piece of the surface).
Submanifold
In mathematics, a submanifold of a manifold M is a subset S which itself has the structure of a manifold, and for which the inclusion map S → M satisfies certain properties. There are different types of submanifolds depending on exactly which properties are required. Different authors often have different definitions. In the following we assume all manifolds are differentiable manifolds of class Cr for a fixed r ≥ 1, and all morphisms are differentiable of class Cr.
Intrinsic metric
In the mathematical study of metric spaces, one can consider the arclength of paths in the space. If two points are at a given distance from each other, it is natural to expect that one should be able to get from the first point to the second along a path whose arclength is equal to (or very close to) that distance. The distance between two points of a metric space relative to the intrinsic metric is defined as the infimum of the lengths of all paths from the first point to the second.