Robert L Bryant (EDT) Integral geometry

Annotation

The topic of integral geometry is not as well known as its counterpart, differential geometry. However, research in integral geometry has indicated that this field may yield as equally deep insights as differential geometry has into the global and local nature of manifolds and the functions on them. In 1984, an AMS-IMS-SIAM joint summer research conference on integral geometry was held at Bowdoin College. This volume consists of papers presented there. The papers range from purely expository to quite technical and represent a good survey of contemporary work in integral geometry. Three major areas are covered: the classical problems of computing geometric invariants by statistical averaging procedures; the circle of ideas concerning the Radon transform, going back to the seminal work of Funck and Radon around 1916-1917; and integral-geometric transforms which are now being used in the study of field equations in mathematical physics. Some of these areas also involve group-representation theoretic problems.