III. Latin American School of Mathematics

An application of differential forms for the study of some local and global aspects of the differential geometry of surfaces. Differential forms are introduced in a simple way that will make them attractive to "users" of mathematics. A brief and elementary introduction to differentiable manifolds is given so that the main theorem, namely Stokes' theorem, can be presented in its natural setting. The applications consist in developing the method of moving frames expounded by E. Cartan to study the local differential geometry of immersed surfaces in R3 as well as the intrinsic geometry of surfaces. This is then collated in the last chapter to present Chern's proof of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for compact surfaces.

This volume of selected academic papers demonstrates the significance of the contribution to mathematics made by Manfredo P. do Carmo. Twice a Guggenheim Fellow and the winner of many prestigious national and international awards, the professor at the institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics in Rio de Janeiro is well known as the author of influential textbooks such as Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces. The area of differential geometry is the main focus of this selection, though it also contains do Carmo's own commentaries on his life as a scientist as well as assessment of the impact of his researches and a complete list of his publications. Aspects covered in the featured papers include relations between curvature and topology, convexity and rigidity, minimal surfaces, and conformal immersions, among others. Offering more than just a retrospective focus, the volume deals with subjects of current interest to researchers, including a paper co-authored with Frank Warner on the convexity of hypersurfaces in space forms. It also presents the basic stability results for minimal surfaces in the Euclidean space obtained by the author and his collaborators. Edited by do Carmo's first student, now a celebrated academic in her own right, this collection pays tribute to one of the most distinguished mathematicians.

This text has been adopted at: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia University of Connecticut, Storrs Duke University, Durham, NC California Institute of Technology, Pasadena University of Washington, Seattle Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA University of Chicago, IL University of Michigan, Ann Arbor "In the reviewer's opinion, this is a superb book which makes learning a real pleasure." Revue Romaine de Mathematiques Pures et Appliquees "This main-stream presentation of differential geometry serves well for a course on Riemannian geometry, and it is complemented by many annotated exercises." Monatshefte F. Mathematik "This is one of the best (if even not just the best) book for those who want to get a good, smooth and quick, but yet thorough introduction to modern Riemannian geometry." Publicationes Mathematicae Contents: Differential Manifolds * Riemannian Metrics * Affine Connections; Riemannian Connections * Geodesics; Convex Neighborhoods * Curvature * Jacobi Fields * Isometric Immersions * Complete Manifolds; Hopf-Rinow and Hadamard Theorems * Spaces of Constant Curvature * Variations of Energy * The Rauch Comparison Theorem * The Morse Index Theorem * The Fundamental Group of Manifolds of Negative Curvature * The Sphere Theorem * Index Series: Mathematics: Theory and Applications