本书对四维流形几何学的现代研究提供了清晰且易于理解的描述，是该领域的经典。书中对四维流形拓扑发展的主线进行了透彻的讲解——特别是四维流形的新不变量的定义——并且还对几何和全局分析的相关主题进行了广泛的处理。本书源自第一作者菲尔兹奖得主西蒙·唐纳森（S.K. Donaldson）在牛津大学1985年和1986 年的两份课程讲义，这些课程讨论杨-米尔斯理论在四维流形拓扑学中的应用。物理学中的杨-米尔斯理论可能有助于阐明四维流形几何中的深层问题，这一想法自 1984 年以来一直为数学家和物理学家的工作注入活力，并激发了许多令人兴奋的不同领域专家间的互动。这些结果对几何、拓扑和数学物理产生了深远的影响，并成为数学研究的主要动力。这个想法在很大程度上就归功于唐纳森爵士。
全书的内容按两个目的组织起来。首要的目标是对这些新技术给出一个自足的综合处理，因为它们已经被应用于四维流形的研究中。第二个目标是把杨-米尔斯理论自身的一些发展，置于当代的微分和代数几何的框架中。不考虑拓扑上的应用，来自杨-米尔斯理论的想法自1970年代后期以来由众多数学家发展起来，已经指明了几何学的一个现代研究方向。本书作者尝试把这些想法中的一部分呈现出来，以期弥补教科书和研究论文间的差距。所有研究涉及该主题的数学和理论物理研究者都需要阅读本书。
★编辑推荐
（1）菲尔兹奖得主的经典名著
（2）四维流形几何学研究的两位开山人物所作的全面透彻的讲解
★媒体推荐/名人推荐/读者推荐
“The idea that Yang-Mills theory (physics) might serve to illuminate deep problems in the geometry of four-manifolds (topology) has served since about 1984 to energize the work of mathematicians and physicists alike, and has stimulated a good deal of excited interaction between specialists who had appeared for a while to have less and less to say to each other. The idea is due in large part to the principal author of this monograph. He writes here in fairly leisurely depth about the richly ramified mathematics of the situation, and for the benefit primarily of mathematicians. The beautifully produced book will, however, be of deep interest to sufficiently well-prepared physicists.”
——SciTech Book News
“Successfully gives a self-contained and comprehensive treatment… A model at filling the gap between general textbooks and research papers… If I were to be stranded on an island, wanted to understand the beauty and intricacies of the modern study of smooth 4-manifolds, and were allowed to take only one reference, the book under review would most certainly be my choice.”
——Choice
“A useful addition to physics libraries.”
——Physics Today
还没人写过短评呢