2 00 9 On p - Adic Mathematical Physics

A brief review of some selected topics in p-adic mathematical physics is presented. 1 Numbers: Rational, Real, p-Adic We present a brief review of some selected topics in p-adic mathematical physics. More details can be found in the references below and the other references are mainly contained therein. We hope that this brief introduction to some aspects of p-adic mathematical physics could be helpful for the readers of the first issue of the journal p-Adic Numbers, Ultrametric Analysis and Applications. The notion of numbers is basic not only in mathematics but also in physics and entire science. Most of modern science is based on mathematical analysis over real and complex numbers. However, it is turned out that for exploring complex hierarchical systems it is sometimes more fruitful to use analysis over p-adic numbers and ultrametric spaces. p-Adic numbers (see, e.g. [1]), introduced by Hensel, are widely used in mathematics: in number theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, algebraic and arithmetical dynamics, and cryptography. The following view how to do science with numbers has been put forward by Volovich in [2, 3]. Suppose we have a physical or any other system and we