Configuration space (physics)In classical mechanics, the parameters that define the configuration of a system are called generalized coordinates, and the space defined by these coordinates is called the configuration space of the physical system. It is often the case that these parameters satisfy mathematical constraints, such that the set of actual configurations of the system is a manifold in the space of generalized coordinates. This manifold is called the configuration manifold of the system. Notice that this is a notion of "unrestricted" configuration space, i.
Gerstenhaber algebraIn mathematics and theoretical physics, a Gerstenhaber algebra (sometimes called an antibracket algebra or braid algebra) is an algebraic structure discovered by Murray Gerstenhaber (1963) that combines the structures of a supercommutative ring and a graded Lie superalgebra. It is used in the Batalin–Vilkovisky formalism. It appears also in the generalization of Hamiltonian formalism known as the De Donder–Weyl theory as the algebra of generalized Poisson brackets defined on differential forms.
CommutatorIn mathematics, the commutator gives an indication of the extent to which a certain binary operation fails to be commutative. There are different definitions used in group theory and ring theory. The commutator of two elements, g and h, of a group G, is the element [g, h] = g−1h−1gh. This element is equal to the group's identity if and only if g and h commute (from the definition gh = hg [g, h] , being [g, h] equal to the identity if and only if gh = hg).
