Department Syllabus
MAT 240A: Differential Geometry

When taught: Fall, every year
Suggested text ($): M. do Carmo, Riemannian Geometry ISBN-10: 0817634908 ($55)
Units/lectures: 4 units; lecture/term paper or discussion
Prerequisite: Course 201A and 239; 250AB highly recommended; intended primarily for 2nd-year graduate students.

Catalog description

Riemannian metrics, connections, geodesics, Gauss lemma, convex neighborhoods, curvature tensor, Ricci and scalar curvature, connections and curvature on vector bundles.

Suggested schedule

Prepared in 2008 by: Michael Kapovich
Posted: July 2009

LecturesSections Topics/Comments
First 4 chapters of do Carmo's bookRiemannian metrics, connections, geodesics, Gauss lemma, convex neighborhoods, curvature tensor, Ricci and scalar curvature.
Examples of Riemannian metrics and computation of connection and curvature: sphere, compact Lie groups, hyperbolic space.
Also cover: connections and curvature on vector bundles using, for instance, Kobayashi and Nomizu.
Supplementary topics: G-structures, pseudo-Riemannian metrics, Einstein metrics, holonomy.
Supplementary ReadingP. Petersen, Riemannian Geometry

J. Jost, Riemannian Geometry and Geometric Analysis

S. Kobayashi, Transformation Groups in Differential Geometry. Classics in Mathematics

S. Kobayashi and K. Nomizu, Foundations of Differential Geometry