Algebraic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses the techniques of abstract algebra to study the integers, rational numbers, and their generalizations. Number-theoretic questions are expressed in terms of properties of algebraic objects such as algebraic number fields and their rings of integers, finite fields, and function fields. These properties, such as whether a ring admits unique factorization, the behavior of ideals, and the Galois groups of fields, can resolve questions of primary importance in number theory, like the existence of solutions to Diophantine equations.
In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols ∇·∇, ∇2, or Δ. The Laplacian Δf(p) of a function f at a point p, is the rate at which the average value of f over spheres centered at p deviates from f(p) as the radius of the sphere grows. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by the sum of second partial derivatives of the function with respect to each independent variable. In other coordinate systems such as cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form.
In mathematics, a modular form is a (complex) analytic function on the upper half-plane satisfying a certain kind of functional equation with respect to the group action of the modular group, and also satisfying a growth condition. The theory of modular forms therefore belongs to complex analysis but the main importance of the theory has traditionally been in its connections with number theory. Modular forms appear in other areas, such as algebraic topology, sphere packing, and string theory.
In mathematics, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture describes the set of rational solutions to equations defining an elliptic curve. It is an open problem in the field of number theory and is widely recognized as one of the most challenging mathematical problems. The conjecture was chosen as one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems listed by the Clay Mathematics Institute, which has offered a $1,000,000 prize for the first correct proof. It is named after mathematicians Bryan Birch and Peter Swinnerton-Dyer who developed the conjecture during the first half of the 1960s with the help of machine computation. As of 2018, only special cases of the conjecture have been proved.
In mathematics, Weierstrass's elliptic functions are elliptic functions that take a particularly simple form; they are named for Karl Weierstrass. This class of functions are also referred to as p-functions and generally written using the symbol ℘. The ℘ functions constitute branched double coverings of the Riemann sphere by the torus, ramified at four points. They can be used to parametrize elliptic curves over the complex numbers, thus establishing an equivalence to complex tori. Genus one solutions of differential equations can be written in terms of Weierstrass elliptic functions. Notably, the simplest periodic solutions of the Korteweg–de Vries equation are often written in terms of Weierstrass p-functions.
In mathematics, theta functions are special functions of several complex variables. They are important in many areas, including the theories of Abelian varieties and moduli spaces, and of quadratic forms. They have also been applied to soliton theory. When generalized to a Grassmann algebra, they also appear in quantum field theory.
In mathematics, Felix Klein's j-invariant or j function, regarded as a function of a complex variable τ, is a modular function of weight zero for SL(2, Z) defined on the upper half-plane of complex numbers. It is the unique such function which is holomorphic away from a simple pole at the cusp such that
In analytical mechanics, specifically the study of the rigid body dynamics of multibody systems, the term generalized coordinates refers to the parameters that describe the configuration of the system relative to some reference configuration. These parameters must uniquely define the configuration of the system relative to the reference configuration. This is done assuming that this can be done with a single chart. The generalized velocities are the time derivatives of the generalized coordinates of the system.
In mathematics, the Hamilton–Jacobi equation (HJE) is a necessary condition describing extremal geometry in generalizations of problems from the calculus of variations, and is a special case of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. It is named for William Rowan Hamilton and Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi.
Kronecker's Jugendtraum or Hilbert's twelfth problem, of the 23 mathematical Hilbert problems, is the extension of the Kronecker–Weber theorem on abelian extensions of the rational numbers, to any base number field. That is, it asks for analogues of the roots of unity, as complex numbers that are particular values of the exponential function; the requirement is that such numbers should generate a whole family of further number fields that are analogues of the cyclotomic fields and their subfields.
The Artin reciprocity law, which was established by Emil Artin in a series of papers, is a general theorem in number theory that forms a central part of global class field theory. The term "reciprocity law" refers to a long line of more concrete number theoretic statements which it generalized, from the quadratic reciprocity law and the reciprocity laws of Eisenstein and Kummer to Hilbert's product formula for the norm symbol. Artin's result provided a partial solution to Hilbert's ninth problem.
A modular elliptic curve is an elliptic curve E that admits a parametrisation X0(N) → E by a modular curve. This is not the same as a modular curve that happens to be an elliptic curve, and which could be called an elliptic modular curve. The modularity theorem, also known as the Taniyama–Shimura conjecture, asserts that every elliptic curve defined over the rational numbers is modular.
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is a proof by British mathematician Andrew Wiles of a special case of the modularity theorem for elliptic curves. Together with Ribet's theorem, it provides a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. Both Fermat's Last Theorem and the modularity theorem were almost universally considered inaccessible to proof by contemporaneous mathematicians, meaning that they were believed to be impossible to prove using current knowledge.
Lagrangian mechanics is a reformulation of classical mechanics, introduced by the Italian-French mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1788.
In mathematics, the elliptic modular lambda function λ(τ) is a highly symmetric holomorphic function on the complex upper half-plane. It is invariant under the fractional linear action of the congruence group Γ(2), and generates the function field of the corresponding quotient, i.e., it is a Hauptmodul for the modular curve X(2). Over any point τ, its value can be described as a cross ratio of the branch points of a ramified double cover of the projective line by the elliptic curve , where the map is defined as the quotient by the [−1] involution.
In algebra and number theory, a distribution is a function on a system of finite sets into an abelian group which is analogous to an integral: it is thus the algebraic analogue of a distribution in the sense of generalised function.
In mathematics, the conductor of an elliptic curve over the field of rational numbers, or more generally a local or global field, is an integral ideal analogous to the Artin conductor of a Galois representation. It is given as a product of prime ideals, together with associated exponents, which encode the ramification in the field extensions generated by the points of finite order in the group law of the elliptic curve. The primes involved in the conductor are precisely the primes of bad reduction of the curve: this is the Néron–Ogg–Shafarevich criterion.
In mathematics, a weak Maass form is a smooth function f on the upper half plane, transforming like a modular form under the action of the modular group, being an eigenfunction of the corresponding hyperbolic Laplace operator, and having at most linear exponential growth at the cusps. If the eigenvalue of f under the Laplacian is zero, then f is called a harmonic weak Maass form, or briefly a harmonic Maass form.
