The long-standing Kervaire invariant problem in homotopy theory arose from geometric and differential topology in the 1960s and was quickly recognised as one of the most important problems in the field. In 2009 the authors of this book announced a solution to the problem, which was published to wide acclaim in a landmark Annals of Mathematics paper. The proof is long and involved, using many sophisticated tools of modern (equivariant) stable homotopy theory that are unfamiliar to non-experts. This book presents the proof together with a full development of all the background material to make it accessible to a graduate student with an elementary algebraic topology knowledge. There are explicit examples of constructions used in solving the problem. Also featuring a motivating history of the problem and numerous conceptual and expository improvements on the proof, this is the definitive account of the resolution of the Kervaire invariant problem.

This introduction to some basic ideas in algebraic topology is devoted to the foundations and applications of homology theory. After the essentials of singular homology and some important applications are given, successive topics covered include attaching spaces, finite CW complexes, cohomology products, manifolds, Poincare duality, and fixed point theory. This second edition includes a chapter on covering spaces and many new exercises.

Knot theory is a rapidly developing field of research with many applications not only for mathematics. The present volume, written by a well-known specialist, gives a complete survey of knot theory from its very beginnings to today's most recent research results. The topics include Alexander polynomials, Jones type polynomials, and Vassiliev invariants. With its appendix containing many useful tables and an extended list of references with over 3,500 entries it is an indispensable book for everyone concerned with knot theory. The book can serve as an introduction to the field for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Also researchers working in outside areas such as theoretical physics or molecular biology will benefit from this thorough study which is complemented by many exercises and examples.

A powerful introduction to one of the most active areas of theoretical and applied mathematics

This distinctive introduction to one of the most far-reaching and beautiful areas of mathematics focuses on Banach spaces as the milieu in which most of the fundamental concepts are presented. While occasionally using the more general topological vector space and locally convex space setting, it emphasizes the development of the reader’s mathematical maturity and the ability to both understand and "do" mathematics. In so doing, Functional Analysis provides a strong springboard for further exploration on the wide range of topics the book presents, including:

• Weak topologies and applications
• Operators on Banach spaces
• Bases in Banach spaces
• Sequences, series, and geometry in Banach spaces

Stressing the general techniques underlying the proofs, Functional Analysis also features many exercises for immediate clarification of points under discussion. This thoughtful, well-organized synthesis of the work of those mathematicians who created the discipline of functional analysis as we know it today also provides a rich source of research topics and reference material.

This book gives an intuitive and hands-on introduction to Topological Data Analysis (TDA). Covering a wide range of topics at levels of sophistication varying from elementary (matrix algebra) to esoteric (Grothendieck spectral sequence), it offers a mirror of data science aimed at a general mathematical audience. The required algebraic background is developed in detail. The first third of the book reviews several core areas of mathematics, beginning with basic linear algebra and applications to data fitting and web search algorithms, followed by quick primers on algebra and topology. The middle third introduces algebraic topology, along with applications to sensor networks and voter ranking. The last third covers key contemporary tools in TDA: persistent and multiparameter persistent homology. Also included is a user's guide to derived functors and spectral sequences (useful but somewhat technical tools which have recently found applications in TDA), and an appendix illustrating a number of software packages used in the field. Based on a course given as part of a masters degree in statistics, the book is appropriate for graduate students.

This monograph is a comprehensive account of formal matrices, examining homological properties of modules over formal matrix rings and summarising the interplay between Morita contexts and K theory. While various special types of formal matrix rings have been studied for a long time from several points of view and appear in various textbooks, for instance to examine equivalences of module categories and to illustrate rings with one-sided non-symmetric properties, this particular class of rings has, so far, not been treated systematically. Exploring formal matrix rings of order 2 and introducing the notion of the determinant of a formal matrix over a commutative ring, this monograph further covers the Grothendieck and Whitehead groups of rings. Graduate students and researchers interested in ring theory, module theory and operator algebras will find this book particularly valuable. Containing numerous examples, Formal Matrices is a largely self-contained and accessible introduction to the topic, assuming a solid understanding of basic algebra.

This is a comprehensive introduction to the modular representation theory of finite groups, with an emphasis on block theory. The two volumes take into account classical results and concepts as well as some of the modern developments in the area. Volume 1 introduces the broader context, starting with general properties of finite group algebras over commutative rings, moving on to some basics in character theory and the structure theory of algebras over complete discrete valuation rings. In Volume 2, blocks of finite group algebras over complete p-local rings take centre stage, and many key results which have not appeared in a book before are treated in detail. In order to illustrate the wide range of techniques in block theory, the book concludes with chapters classifying the source algebras of blocks with cyclic and Klein four defect groups, and relating these classifications to the open conjectures that drive block theory.

Topology is a relatively young and very important branch of mathematics. It studies properties of objects that are preserved by deformations, twistings, and stretchings, but not tearing. This book deals with the topology of curves and surfaces as well as with the fundamental concepts of homotopy and homology, and does this in a lively and well-motivated way. There is hardly an area of mathematics that does not make use of topological results and concepts. The importance of topological methods for different areas of physics is also beyond doubt. They are used in field theory and general relativity, in the physics of low temperatures, and in modern quantum theory. The book is well suited not only as preparation for students who plan to take a course in algebraic topology but also for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduates interested in finding out what topology is all about. The book has more than 200 problems, many examples, and over 200 illustrations.

This book presents original peer-reviewed contributions from the London Mathematical Society (LMS) Midlands Regional Meeting and Workshop on 'Galois Covers, Grothendieck-Teichmuller Theory and Dessinsd'Enfants', which took place at the University of Leicester, UK, from 4 to 7 June, 2018. Within the theme of the workshop, the collected articles cover a broad range of topics and explore exciting new links between algebraic geometry, representation theory, group theory, number theory and algebraic topology. The book combines research and overview articles by prominent international researchers and provides a valuable resource for researchers and students alike.

This monograph provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory of complex normal surface singularities, with a special emphasis on connections to low-dimensional topology. In this way, it unites the analytic approach with the more recent topological one, combining their tools and methods. In the first chapters, the book sets out the foundations of the theory of normal surface singularities. This includes a comprehensive presentation of the properties of the link (as an oriented 3-manifold) and of the invariants associated with a resolution, combined with the structure and special properties of the line bundles defined on a resolution. A recurring theme is the comparison of analytic and topological invariants. For example, the Poincare series of the divisorial filtration is compared to a topological zeta function associated with the resolution graph, and the sheaf cohomologies of the line bundles are compared to the Seiberg-Witten invariants of the link. Equivariant Ehrhart theory is introduced to establish surgery-additivity formulae of these invariants, as well as for the regularization procedures of multivariable series. In addition to recent research, the book also provides expositions of more classical subjects such as the classification of plane and cuspidal curves, Milnor fibrations and smoothing invariants, the local divisor class group, and the Hilbert-Samuel function. It contains a large number of examples of key families of germs: rational, elliptic, weighted homogeneous, superisolated and splice-quotient. It provides concrete computations of the topological invariants of their links (Casson(-Walker) and Seiberg-Witten invariants, Turaev torsion) and of the analytic invariants (geometric genus, Hilbert function of the divisorial filtration, and the analytic semigroup associated with the resolution). The book culminates in a discussion of the topological and analytic lattice cohomologies (as categorifications of the Seiberg-Witten invariant and of the geometric genus respectively) and of the graded roots. Several open problems and conjectures are also formulated. Normal Surface Singularities provides researchers in algebraic and differential geometry, singularity theory, complex analysis, and low-dimensional topology with an invaluable reference on this rich topic, offering a unified presentation of the major results and approaches.

This unique and comprehensive volume provides an up-to-date account of the literature on the subject of determining the structure of rings over which cyclic modules or proper cyclic modules have a finiteness condition or a homological property. The finiteness conditions and homological properties are closely interrelated in the sense that either hypothesis induces the other in some form. This is the first book to bring all of this important material on the subject together. Over the last 25 years or more numerous mathematicians have investigated rings whose factor rings or factor modules have a finiteness condition or a homological property. They made important contributions leading to new directions and questions, which are listed at the end of each chapter for the benefit of future researchers. There is a wealth of material on the topic which is combined in this book, it contains more than 200 references and is not claimed to be exhaustive. This book will appeal to graduate students, researchers, and professionals in algebra with a knowledge of basic noncommutative ring theory, as well as module theory and homological algebra, equivalent to a one-year graduate course in the theory of rings and modules.

Bundles, connections, metrics and curvature are the 'lingua franca' of modern differential geometry and theoretical physics. This book will supply a graduate student in mathematics or theoretical physics with the fundamentals of these objects.
Many of the tools used in differential topology are introduced and the basic results about differentiable manifolds, smooth maps, differential forms, vector fields, Lie groups, and Grassmanians are all presented here. Other material covered includes the basic theorems about geodesics and Jacobi fields, the classification theorem for flat connections, the definition of characteristic classes, and also an introduction to complex and Kahler geometry.
Differential Geometry uses many of the classical examples from, and applications of, the subjects it covers, in particular those where closed form expressions are available, to bring abstract ideas to life. Helpfully, proofs are offered for almost all assertions throughout. All of the introductory material is presented in full and this is the only such source with the classical examples presented in detail.

Gauss diagram invariants are isotopy invariants of oriented knots in- manifolds which are the product of a (not necessarily orientable) surface with an oriented line. The invariants are defined in a combinatorial way using knot diagrams, and they take values in free abelian groups generated by the first homology group of the surface or by the set of free homotopy classes of loops in the surface. There are three main results: 1. The construction of invariants of finite type for arbitrary knots in non orientable 3-manifolds. These invariants can distinguish homotopic knots with homeomorphic complements. 2. Specific invariants of degree 3 for knots in the solid torus. These invariants cannot be generalized for knots in handlebodies of higher genus, in contrast to invariants coming from the theory of skein modules. 2 3. We introduce a special class of knots called global knots, in F x lR and we construct new isotopy invariants, called T-invariants, for global knots. Some T-invariants (but not all !) are of finite type but they cannot be extracted from the generalized Kontsevich integral, which is consequently not the universal invariant of finite type for the restricted class of global knots. We prove that T-invariants separate all global knots of a certain type. 3 As a corollary we prove that certain links in 5 are not invertible without making any use of the link group! Introduction and announcement This work is an introduction into the world of Gauss diagram invariants.

This textbook offers readers a self-contained introduction to quantitative Tamarkin category theory. Functioning as a viable alternative to the standard algebraic analysis method, the categorical approach explored in this book makes microlocal sheaf theory accessible to a wide audience of readers interested in symplectic geometry. Much of this material has, until now, been scattered throughout the existing literature; this text finally collects that information into one convenient volume. After providing an overview of symplectic geometry, ranging from its background to modern developments, the author reviews the preliminaries with precision. This refresher ensures readers are prepared for the thorough exploration of the Tamarkin category that follows. A variety of applications appear throughout, such as sheaf quantization, sheaf interleaving distance, and sheaf barcodes from projectors. An appendix offers additional perspectives by highlighting further useful topics. Quantitative Tamarkin Theory is ideal for graduate students interested in symplectic geometry who seek an accessible alternative to the algebraic analysis method. A background in algebra and differential geometry is recommended. This book is part of the "Virtual Series on Symplectic Geometry" http://www.springer.com/series/16019

The aim of this book is to present an introduction to the theory of transformation groups which will be suitable for all those coming to the subject for the first time. The emphasis is on the study of topological groups and, in particular, the study of compact Lie groups acting on manifolds. Throughout, much care is taken to illustrate concepts and results with examples and applications. Numerous exercises are also included to further extend a reader's understanding and knowledge. Prerequisites are a familiarity with algebra and topology as might have been acquired from an undergraduate degree in Mathematics. The author begins by introducing the basic concepts of the subject such as fixed point sets, orbits, and induced transformation groups. Attention then turns to the study of differentiable manifolds and Lie groups with particular emphasis on fibre bundles and characteristic classes. The latter half of the book is devoted to surveying the main themes of the subject: structure and decomposition theorems, the existence and uniqueness theorems of principal orbits, transfer theorems, and the Lefschetz fixed point theorem.

This book features a series of lectures that explores three different fields in which functor homology (short for homological algebra in functor categories) has recently played a significant role. For each of these applications, the functor viewpoint provides both essential insights and new methods for tackling difficult mathematical problems. In the lectures by Aurelien Djament, polynomial functors appear as coefficients in the homology of infinite families of classical groups, e.g. general linear groups or symplectic groups, and their stabilization. Djament's theorem states that this stable homology can be computed using only the homology with trivial coefficients and the manageable functor homology. The series includes an intriguing development of Scorichenko's unpublished results. The lectures by Wilberd van der Kallen lead to the solution of the general cohomological finite generation problem, extending Hilbert's fourteenth problem and its solution to the context of cohomology. The focus here is on the cohomology of algebraic groups, or rational cohomology, and the coefficients are Friedlander and Suslin's strict polynomial functors, a conceptual form of modules over the Schur algebra. Roman Mikhailov's lectures highlight topological invariants: homoto py and homology of topological spaces, through derived functors of polynomial functors. In this regard the functor framework makes better use of naturality, allowing it to reach calculations that remain beyond the grasp of classical algebraic topology. Lastly, Antoine Touze's introductory course on homological algebra makes the book accessible to graduate students new to the field. The links between functor homology and the three fields mentioned above offer compelling arguments for pushing the development of the functor viewpoint. The lectures in this book will provide readers with a feel for functors, and a valuable new perspective to apply to their favourite problems.

MATRIX is Australia's international, residential mathematical research institute. It facilitates new collaborations and mathematical advances through intensive residential research programs, each lasting 1-4 weeks. This book is a scientific record of the five programs held at MATRIX in its first year, 2016: - Higher Structures in Geometry and Physics - Winter of Disconnectedness - Approximation and Optimisation - Refining C*-Algebraic Invariants for Dynamics using KK-theory - Interactions between Topological Recursion, Modularity, Quantum Invariants and Low- dimensional Topology The MATRIX Scientific Committee selected these programs based on their scientific excellence and the participation rate of high-profile international participants. Each program included ample unstructured time to encourage collaborative research; some of the longer programs also included an embedded conference or lecture series. The articles are grouped into peer-reviewed contributions and other contributions. The peer-reviewed articles present original results or reviews on selected topics related to the MATRIX program; the remaining contributions are predominantly lecture notes based on talks or activities at MATRIX.

This monograph describes important techniques of stable homotopy theory, both classical and brand new, applying them to the long-standing unsolved problem of the existence of framed manifolds with odd Arf-Kervaire invariant. Opening with an account of the necessary algebraic topology background, it proceeds in a quasi-historical manner to draw from the author s contributions over several decades. A new technique entitled upper triangular technology is introduced which enables the author to relate Adams operations to Steenrod operations and thereby to recover most of the important classical Arf-Kervaire invariant results quite simply. The final chapter briefly relates the book to the contemporary motivic stable homotopy theory of Morel-Voevodsky.

Excerpt from a review:

This takes the reader on an unusual mathematical journey. The problem referred to in the title, its history and the author's relationship with it are lucidly described in the book. The book does not offer a solution, but a new and interesting way of looking at it. The stated purpose of the book is twofold: (1) To rescue the Kervaire invariant problem from oblivion. (2) To introduce the "upper triangular technology" to approach the problem.

This is very useful, since this method is not widely known. It is not an introduction to stable homotopy theory but rather a guide for experts along a path to a prescribed destination. In taking us there it assembles material from widely varying sources and offers a perspective that is not available anywhere else. This is a case where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. The manuscript is extremely well written. The author's style is engaging and even humorous at times. (Douglas Ravenel)"

The book is a collection of surveys and original research articles concentrating on new perspectives and research directions at the crossroads of algebraic geometry, topology, and singularity theory. The papers, written by leading researchers working on various topics of the above fields, are the outcome of the "Nemethi60: Geometry and Topology of Singularities" conference held at the Alfred Renyi Institute of Mathematics in Budapest, from May 27 to 31, 2019. Both the conference and this resulting volume are in honor of Professor Andras Nemethi, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, whose work plays a decisive and influential role in the interactions between the above fields. The book should serve as a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers to deepen the new perspectives, methods, and connections between geometry and topology regarding singularities.

This monograph presents a new model of mathematical structures called weak n-categories. These structures find their motivation in a wide range of fields, from algebraic topology to mathematical physics, algebraic geometry and mathematical logic. While strict n-categories are easily defined in terms associative and unital composition operations they are of limited use in applications, which often call for weakened variants of these laws. The author proposes a new approach to this weakening, whose generality arises not from a weakening of such laws but from the very geometric structure of its cells; a geometry dubbed weak globularity. The new model, called weakly globular n-fold categories, is one of the simplest known algebraic structures yielding a model of weak n-categories. The central result is the equivalence of this model to one of the existing models, due to Tamsamani and further studied by Simpson. This theory has intended applications to homotopy theory, mathematical physics and to long-standing open questions in category theory. As the theory is described in elementary terms and the book is largely self-contained, it is accessible to beginning graduate students and to mathematicians from a wide range of disciplines well beyond higher category theory. The new model makes a transparent connection between higher category theory and homotopy theory, rendering it particularly suitable for category theorists and algebraic topologists. Although the results are complex, readers are guided with an intuitive explanation before each concept is introduced, and with diagrams showing the interconnections between the main ideas and results.

Professor Atiyah is one of the greatest living mathematicians and is well known throughout the mathematical world. He is a recipient of the Fields Medal, the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize, and is still at the peak of his career. His huge number of published papers, focusing on the areas of algebraic geometry and topology, have here been collected into six volumes, divided thematically for easy reference by individuals interested in a particular subject.
This sixth volume in Michael Atiyah's collected works contains a selection of his publications since 1987, including his work on skyrmions, "Atiyah's axioms" for topological quantum field theories, monopoles, knots, K-theory, equivariant problems, point particles, and M-theory.

This book is dedicated to the structure and combinatorics of classical Hopf algebras. Its main focus is on commutative and cocommutative Hopf algebras, such as algebras of representative functions on groups and enveloping algebras of Lie algebras, as explored in the works of Borel, Cartier, Hopf and others in the 1940s and 50s.The modern and systematic treatment uses the approach of natural operations, illuminating the structure of Hopf algebras by means of their endomorphisms and their combinatorics. Emphasizing notions such as pseudo-coproducts, characteristic endomorphisms, descent algebras and Lie idempotents, the text also covers the important case of enveloping algebras of pre-Lie algebras. A wide range of applications are surveyed, highlighting the main ideas and fundamental results. Suitable as a textbook for masters or doctoral level programs, this book will be of interest to algebraists and anyone working in one of the fields of application of Hopf algebras.

Tamari lattices originated from weakenings or reinterpretations of the familar associativity law. This has been the subject of Dov Tamari's thesis at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1951 and the central theme of his subsequent mathematical work. Tamari lattices can be realized in terms of polytopes called associahedra, which in fact also appeared first in Tamari's thesis.

By now these beautiful structures have made their appearance in many different areas of pure and applied mathematics, such as algebra, combinatorics, computer science, category theory, geometry, topology, and also in physics. Their interdisciplinary nature provides much fascination and value.

On the occasion of Dov Tamari's centennial birthday, this book provides an introduction to topical research related to Tamari's work and ideas. Most of the articles collected in it are written in a way accessible to a wide audience of students and researchers in mathematics and mathematical physics and are accompanied by high quality illustrations.

The present monograph develops a unified theory of Steinberg groups, independent of matrix representations, based on the theory of Jordan pairs and the theory of 3-graded locally finite root systems. The development of this approach occurs over six chapters, progressing from groups with commutator relations and their Steinberg groups, then on to Jordan pairs, 3-graded locally finite root systems, and groups associated with Jordan pairs graded by root systems, before exploring the volume's main focus: the definition of the Steinberg group of a root graded Jordan pair by a small set of relations, and its central closedness. Several original concepts, such as the notions of Jordan graphs and Weyl elements, provide readers with the necessary tools from combinatorics and group theory. Steinberg Groups for Jordan Pairs is ideal for PhD students and researchers in the fields of elementary groups, Steinberg groups, Jordan algebras, and Jordan pairs. By adopting a unified approach, anybody interested in this area who seeks an alternative to case-by-case arguments and explicit matrix calculations will find this book essential.

Differential and complex geometry are two central areas of mathematics with a long and intertwined history. This book, the first to provide a unified historical perspective of both subjects, explores their origins and developments from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Providing a detailed examination of the seminal contributions to differential and complex geometry up to the twentieth-century embedding theorems, this monograph includes valuable excerpts from the original documents, including works of Descartes, Fermat, Newton, Euler, Huygens, Gauss, Riemann, Abel, and Nash. Suitable for beginning graduate students interested in differential, algebraic or complex geometry, this book will also appeal to more experienced readers.