Spinning Tops A Course on Integrable Systems [Paperback]

Graduate text looking at interaction of algebraic geometry and classical mechanics.A modern view of the role played by algebraic geometry in classical mechanics has been established in recent years by many mathematicians. This book presents some of these modern techniques, which fall within the orbit of finite dimensional integrable systems. The main body of the text presents a rich assortment of methods and ideas from algebraic geometry prompted by classical mechanics.The book is based on courses for graduate students given by the author at Strasbourg University but the wealth of original ideas will make it appeal to researchers in the area as well.A modern view of the role played by algebraic geometry in classical mechanics has been established in recent years by many mathematicians. This book presents some of these modern techniques, which fall within the orbit of finite dimensional integrable systems. The main body of the text presents a rich assortment of methods and ideas from algebraic geometry prompted by classical mechanics.The book is based on courses for graduate students given by the author at Strasbourg University but the wealth of original ideas will make it appeal to researchers in the area as well.Since the time of Lagrange and Euler, it has been well known that an understanding of algebraic curves can illuminate the picture of rigid bodies provided by classical mechanics. Many mathematicians have established a modern view of the role played by algebraic geometry in recent years. This book presents some of these modern techniques, which fall within the orbit of finite dimensional integrable systems. The main body of the text presents a rich assortment of methods and ideas from algebraic geometry prompted by classical mechanics, while in appendices the author describes general, abstract theory. She gives the methods a topological application, for the first time in book form, to the study of Liouville tori and their bifurcations.Introduction; 1. The rilÓ