A transfinite graph or electrical network of the first rank is obtained conceptually by connecting conventionally infinite graphs and networks together at their infinite extremities. This process can be repeated to obtain a hierarchy of transfiniteness whose ranks increase through the countable ordinals. This idea, which is of recent origin, has enriched the theories of graphs and networks with radically new constructs and research problems. The book provides a more accessible introduction to the subject that, though sacrificing some generality, captures the essential ideas of transfiniteness for graphs and networks. Thus, for example, some results concerning discrete potentials and random walks on transfinite networks can now be presented more concisely. Conversely, the simplifications enable the development of many new results that were previously unavailable. Topics and features: *A simplified exposition provides an introduction to transfiniteness for graphs and networks.*Various results for conventional graphs are extended transfinitely. *Minty's powerful analysis of monotone electrical networks is also extended transfinitely.*Maximum principles for node voltages in linear transfinite networks are established. *A concise treatment of random walks on transfinite networks is developed. *Conventional theory is expanded with radically new constructs. Mathematicians, operations researchers and electrical engineers, in particular, graph theorists, electrical circuit theorists, and probabalists will find an accessible exposition of an advanced subject.

"What good is a newborn baby?" Michael Faraday's reputed response when asked, "What good is magnetic induction?" But, it must be admitted that a newborn baby may die in infancy. What about this one- the idea of transfiniteness for graphs, electrical networks, and random walks? At least its bloodline is robust. Those subjects, along with Cantor's transfinite numbers, comprise its ancestry. There seems to be general agreement that the theory of graphs was born when Leonhard Euler published his solution to the "Konigsberg bridge prob lem" in 1736 [8]. Similarly, the year of birth for electrical network theory might well be taken to be 184 7, when Gustav Kirchhoff published his volt age and current laws [ 14]. Ever since those dates until just a few years ago, all infinite undirected graphs and networks had an inviolate property: Two branches either were connected through a finite path or were not connected at all. The idea of two branches being connected only through transfinite paths, that is, only through paths having infinitely many branches was never invoked, or so it appears from a perusal of various surveys of infinite graphs [17], [20], [29], [32]. Our objective herein is to explore this idea and some of its ramifications. It should be noted however that directed graphs having transfinite paths have appeared in set theory [6, Section 4.

"What good is a newborn baby?" Michael Faraday's reputed response when asked, "What good is magnetic induction?" But, it must be admitted that a newborn baby may die in infancy. What about this one- the idea of transfiniteness for graphs, electrical networks, and random walks? At least its bloodline is robust. Those subjects, along with Cantor's transfinite numbers, comprise its ancestry. There seems to be general agreement that the theory of graphs was born when Leonhard Euler published his solution to the "Konigsberg bridge prob lem" in 1736 [8]. Similarly, the year of birth for electrical network theory might well be taken to be 184 7, when Gustav Kirchhoff published his volt age and current laws [ 14]. Ever since those dates until just a few years ago, all infinite undirected graphs and networks had an inviolate property: Two branches either were connected through a finite path or were not connected at all. The idea of two branches being connected only through transfinite paths, that is, only through paths having infinitely many branches was never invoked, or so it appears from a perusal of various surveys of infinite graphs [17], [20], [29], [32]. Our objective herein is to explore this idea and some of its ramifications. It should be noted however that directed graphs having transfinite paths have appeared in set theory [6, Section 4.

This volume provides a relatively accessible introduction to its subject that captures the essential ideas of transfiniteness for graphs and networks.

Over the past two decades a general mathematical theory of infinite electrical networks has been developed. This is the first book to present the salient features of this theory in a coherent exposition. Using the basic tools of functional analysis and graph theory, the author presents the fundamental developments of the past two decades and discusses applications to other areas of mathematics. The first half of the book presents existence and uniqueness theorems for both infinite-power and finite-power voltage-current regimes, and the second half discusses methods for solving problems in infinite cascades and grids. A notable feature is the recent invention of transfinite networks, roughly analogous to Cantor's extension of the natural numbers to the transfinite ordinals. The last chapter is a survey of applications to exterior problems of partial differential equations, random walks on infinite graphs, and networks of operators on Hilbert spaces. The jump in complexity from finite electrical networks to infinite ones is comparable to the jump in complexity from finite-dimensional to infinite-dimensional spaces. Many of the questions that are conventionally asked about finite networks are presently unanswerable for infinite networks, while questions that are meaningless for finite networks crop up for infinite ones and lead to surprising results, such as the occasional collapse of Kirchoff's laws in infinite regimes. Some central concepts have no counterpart in the finite case, as for example the extremities of an infinite network, the perceptibility of infinity, and the connections at infinity.

This self-contained book examines results on transfinite graphs and networks achieved through a continuing research effort during the past several years. These new results, covering the mathematical theory of electrical circuits, are different from those presented in two previously published books by the author, Transfiniteness for Graphs, Electrical Networks, and Random Walks and Pristine Transfinite Graphs and Permissive Electrical Networks.

Two initial chapters present the preliminary theory summarizing all essential ideas needed for the book and will relieve the reader from any need to consult those prior books. Subsequent chapters are devoted entirely to novel results and cover:

* Connectedness ideas---considerably more complicated for transfinite graphs as compared to those of finite or conventionally infinite graphs----and their relationship to hypergraphs

* Distance ideas---which play an important role in the theory of finite graphs---and their extension to transfinite graphs with more complications, such as the replacement of natural-number distances by ordinal-number distances

* Nontransitivity of path-based connectedness alleviated by replacing paths with walks, leading to a more powerful theory for transfinite graphs and networks

Additional features include:

* The use of nonstandard analysis in novel ways that leads to several entirely new results concerning hyperreal operating points for transfinite networks and hyperreal transients on transfinite transmission lines; this use of hyperreals encompasses for the first time transfinite networks and transmission lines containing inductances and capacitances, in addition to resistances

* A useful appendix with concepts from nonstandard analysis used in the book

* May serve as a reference text or as a graduate-level textbook in courses or seminars

Graphs and Networks: Transfinite and Nonstandard will appeal to a diverse readership, including graduate students, electrical engineers, mathematicians, and physicists working on infinite electrical networks. Moreover, the growing and presently substantial number of mathematicians working in nonstandard analysis may well be attracted by the novel application of the analysis employed in the work.

ISBN 0-8176-4292-7

This text presents the salient features of the general theory of infinite electrical networks in a coherent exposition. Using the basic tools of functional analysis and graph theory, the author presents the fundamental developments of the past two decades and discusses applications to other areas of mathematics. The jump in complexity from finite electrical networks to infinite ones is comparable to the jump in complexity from finite-dimensional to infinite-dimensional spaces. Many of the questions that are conventionally asked about finite networks are presently unanswerable for infinite networks, while questions that are meaningless for finite networks crop up for infinite ones and lead to surprising results, such as the occasional collapse of Kirchhoff's laws in infinite regimes. Some central concepts have no counterpart in the finite case, as for example the extremities of an infinite network, the perceptibility of infinity, and the connections at infinity.