Topological quantum field theoryIn gauge theory and mathematical physics, a topological quantum field theory (or topological field theory or TQFT) is a quantum field theory which computes topological invariants. Although TQFTs were invented by physicists, they are also of mathematical interest, being related to, among other things, knot theory and the theory of four-manifolds in algebraic topology, and to the theory of moduli spaces in algebraic geometry. Donaldson, Jones, Witten, and Kontsevich have all won Fields Medals for mathematical work related to topological field theory.
Names of large numbersTwo naming scales for large numbers have been used in English and other European languages since the early modern era: the long and short scales. Most English variants use the short scale today, but the long scale remains dominant in many non-English-speaking areas, including continental Europe and Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. These naming procedures are based on taking the number n occurring in 103n+3 (short scale) or 106n (long scale) and concatenating Latin roots for its units, tens, and hundreds place, together with the suffix -illion.
Content (measure theory)In mathematics, in particular in measure theory, a content is a real-valued function defined on a collection of subsets such that That is, a content is a generalization of a measure: while the latter must be countably additive, the former must only be finitely additive. In many important applications the is chosen to be a ring of sets or to be at least a semiring of sets in which case some additional properties can be deduced which are described below. For this reason some authors prefer to define contents only for the case of semirings or even rings.
Gaussian surfaceA Gaussian surface is a closed surface in three-dimensional space through which the flux of a vector field is calculated; usually the gravitational field, electric field, or magnetic field. It is an arbitrary closed surface S = ∂V (the boundary of a 3-dimensional region V) used in conjunction with Gauss's law for the corresponding field (Gauss's law, Gauss's law for magnetism, or Gauss's law for gravity) by performing a surface integral, in order to calculate the total amount of the source quantity enclosed; e.
GravitoelectromagnetismGravitoelectromagnetism, abbreviated GEM, refers to a set of formal analogies between the equations for electromagnetism and relativistic gravitation; specifically: between Maxwell's field equations and an approximation, valid under certain conditions, to the Einstein field equations for general relativity. Gravitomagnetism is a widely used term referring specifically to the kinetic effects of gravity, in analogy to the magnetic effects of moving electric charge.
Method of steepest descentIn mathematics, the method of steepest descent or saddle-point method is an extension of Laplace's method for approximating an integral, where one deforms a contour integral in the complex plane to pass near a stationary point (saddle point), in roughly the direction of steepest descent or stationary phase. The saddle-point approximation is used with integrals in the complex plane, whereas Laplace’s method is used with real integrals. The integral to be estimated is often of the form where C is a contour, and λ is large.
Fields MedalThe Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award honours the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields. The Fields Medal is regarded as one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive, and has been described as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics, although there are several major differences, including frequency of award, number of awards, age limits, monetary value, and award criteria.
Gaussian measureIn mathematics, Gaussian measure is a Borel measure on finite-dimensional Euclidean space Rn, closely related to the normal distribution in statistics. There is also a generalization to infinite-dimensional spaces. Gaussian measures are named after the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. One reason why Gaussian measures are so ubiquitous in probability theory is the central limit theorem. Loosely speaking, it states that if a random variable X is obtained by summing a large number N of independent random variables of order 1, then X is of order and its law is approximately Gaussian.
Identity componentIn mathematics, specifically group theory, the identity component of a group G refers to several closely related notions of the largest connected subgroup of G containing the identity element. In point set topology, the identity component of a topological group G is the connected component G0 of G that contains the identity element of the group. The identity path component of a topological group G is the path component of G that contains the identity element of the group.
Disintegration theoremIn mathematics, the disintegration theorem is a result in measure theory and probability theory. It rigorously defines the idea of a non-trivial "restriction" of a measure to a measure zero subset of the measure space in question. It is related to the existence of conditional probability measures. In a sense, "disintegration" is the opposite process to the construction of a product measure. Consider the unit square in the Euclidean plane , . Consider the probability measure defined on by the restriction of two-dimensional Lebesgue measure to .
