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Introductory Clifford analysis. (English) Zbl 1330.30008

Alpay, Daniel (ed.), Operator theory. With 51 figures and 2 tables. In 2 volumes. Basel: Springer (ISBN 978-3-0348-0666-4/print; 978-3-0348-0667-1/ebook; 978-3-0348-0668-8/print+ebook; 978-3-0348-0692-3/online (updated continuously)). Springer Reference, 1339-1367 (2015).
Summary: In this chapter, an introduction is given to Clifford analysis and the underlying Clifford algebras. The functions under consideration are defined on Euclidean space and take values in the universal real or complex Clifford algebra, the structure and properties of which are also recalled in detail. The function theory is centered around the notion of a monogenic function, which is a null solution of a generalized Cauchy-Riemann operator, which is rotation invariant and factorizes the Laplace operator. In this way, Clifford analysis may be considered as both a generalization to higher dimension of the theory of holomorphic functions in the complex plane and a refinement of classical harmonic analysis. A notion of monogenicity may also be associated with the vectorial part of the Cauchy-Riemann operator, which is called the Dirac operator; some attention is paid to the intimate relation between both notions. Since a product of monogenic functions is, in general, no longer monogenic, it is crucial to possess some tools for generating monogenic functions: such tools are provided by Fueter’s theorem on one hand and the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya extension theorem on the other hand. A corner stone in this function theory is the Cauchy integral formula for representation of a monogenic function in the interior of its domain of monogenicity. Starting from this representation formula and related integral formulae, it is possible to consider integral transforms such as Cauchy, Hilbert, and Radon transforms, which are important both within the theoretical framework and in view of possible applications.
For the entire collection see [Zbl 1325.47001].

MSC:

30-02 Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to functions of a complex variable
30G35 Functions of hypercomplex variables and generalized variables
47-02 Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to operator theory
47F05 General theory of partial differential operators
47G10 Integral operators