Nigel Hitchin is one of the world's foremost figures in the fields of differential and algebraic geometry and their relations with mathematical physics, and he has been Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford since 1997. Geometry and Physics: A Festschrift in honour of Nigel Hitchin contain the proceedings of the conferences held in September 2016 in Aarhus, Oxford, and Madrid to mark Nigel Hitchin's 70th birthday, and to honour his far-reaching contributions to geometry and mathematical physics. These texts contain 29 articles by contributors to the conference and other distinguished mathematicians working in related areas, including three Fields Medallists. The articles cover a broad range of topics in differential, algebraic and symplectic geometry, and also in mathematical physics. These volumes will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in geometry and mathematical physics.

This book provides an accessible introduction to algebraic topology, a field at the intersection of topology, geometry and algebra, together with its applications. Moreover, it covers several related topics that are in fact important in the overall scheme of algebraic topology. Comprising eighteen chapters and two appendices, the book integrates various concepts of algebraic topology, supported by examples, exercises, applications and historical notes. Primarily intended as a textbook, the book offers a valuable resource for undergraduate, postgraduate and advanced mathematics students alike. Focusing more on the geometric than on algebraic aspects of the subject, as well as its natural development, the book conveys the basic language of modern algebraic topology by exploring homotopy, homology and cohomology theories, and examines a variety of spaces: spheres, projective spaces, classical groups and their quotient spaces, function spaces, polyhedra, topological groups, Lie groups and cell complexes, etc. The book studies a variety of maps, which are continuous functions between spaces. It also reveals the importance of algebraic topology in contemporary mathematics, theoretical physics, computer science, chemistry, economics, and the biological and medical sciences, and encourages students to engage in further study.

This book contains all research papers published by the distinguished Brazilian mathematician Elon Lima. It includes the papers from his PhD thesis on homotopy theory, which are hard to find elsewhere. Elon Lima wrote more than 40 books in the field of topology and dynamical systems. He was a profound mathematician with a genuine vocation to teach and write mathematics.

In many areas of mathematics some "higher operations" are arising. These havebecome so important that several research projects refer to such expressions. Higher operationsform new types of algebras. The key to understanding and comparing them, to creating invariants of their action is operad theory. This is a point of view that is 40 years old in algebraic topology, but the new trend is its appearance in several other areas, such as algebraic geometry, mathematical physics, differential geometry, and combinatorics. The present volume is the first comprehensive and systematic approach to algebraic operads. An operad is an algebraic device that serves to study all kinds of algebras (associative, commutative, Lie, Poisson, A-infinity, etc.) from a conceptual point of view. The book presents this topic with an emphasis on Koszul duality theory. After a modern treatment of Koszul duality for associative algebras, the theory is extended to operads. Applications to homotopy algebra are given, for instance the Homotopy Transfer Theorem. Although the necessary notions of algebra are recalled, readers are expected to be familiar with elementary homological algebra. Each chapter ends with a helpful summary and exercises. A full chapter is devoted to examples, and numerous figures are included.

After a low-level chapter on Algebra, accessible to (advanced) undergraduate students, the level increases gradually through the book. However, the authors have done their best to make it suitable for graduate students: three appendicesreview the basic results needed in order to understand the various chapters. Since higher algebra is becoming essential in several research areas like deformation theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, differential geometry, algebraic combinatorics, and mathematical physics, the book can also be used as a reference work by researchers.

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This book presents Maslov's canonical operator method for finding asymptotic solutions of pseudo differential equations. The classical WKB method, so named in honor of its authors: Wentzel, Kramers and Brillouin, was created for finding quasi classical approximations in quantum mechanics. The simplicity, obviousness and "physicalness" of this method quickly made it popular: specialists in mathematical physics accepted it unequivocally as one of the weapons in their arsenal. The number of publications which are connected with the WKB method in one way or another can probably no longer be counted. The alternative name of the WKB method in diffraction problem- the ray method or the method of geometric optics - indicates that the approximations in the WKB method are constructed by means of rays. More precisely, the first approximation of the WKB method is constructed by means of rays (isolating the singular part), after which the usual methods of the (regular) theory of perturbations are applied. However, the ray method is not applicable at the points of space where the rays focus or form a caustic. Mathematically this fact expresses itself in the fact that the amplitude of the waves at such points become infinite.

Among the many differences between classical and p-adic objects, those related to differential equations occupy a special place. For example, a closed p-adic analytic one-form defined on a simply-connected domain does not necessarily have a primitive in the class of analytic functions. In the early 1980s, Robert Coleman discovered a way to construct primitives of analytic one-forms on certain smooth p-adic analytic curves in a bigger class of functions. Since then, there have been several attempts to generalize his ideas to smooth p-adic analytic spaces of higher dimension, but the spaces considered were invariably associated with algebraic varieties.

This book aims to show that every smooth p-adic analytic space is provided with a sheaf of functions that includes all analytic ones and satisfies a uniqueness property. It also contains local primitives of all closed one-forms with coefficients in the sheaf that, in the case considered by Coleman, coincide with those he constructed. In consequence, one constructs a parallel transport of local solutions of a unipotent differential equation and an integral of a closed one-form along a path so that both depend nontrivially on the homotopy class of the path.

Both the author's previous results on geometric properties of smooth p-adic analytic spaces and the theory of isocrystals are further developed in this book, which is aimed at graduate students and mathematicians working in the areas of non-Archimedean analytic geometry, number theory, and algebraic geometry.

Auf der Grundlage einer Einfuhrung in die kommutative Algebra, algebraische
Geometrie und komplexe Analysis werden zunachst Kurvensingularitaten
untersucht. Daran schliessen Ergebnisse an, die zum ersten Mal in einem
Lehrbuch aufgenommen wurden, das Verhalten von Invarianten in Familien,
Standardbasen fur konvergente Potenzreihenringe, Approximationssatze,
Grauerts Satz uber die Existenz der versellen Deformation.
Das Buch richtet sich an Studenten hoherer Semester, Doktoranden und
Dozenten. Es ist auf der Grundlage mehrerer Vorlesungen und Seminaren an
den Universitaten in Kaiserslautern und Saarbrucken entstanden.
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This book presents many of the main developments of the past two decades in the study of real submanifolds in complex space, providing crucial background material for researchers and advanced graduate students. The techniques in this area borrow from real and complex analysis and partial differential equations, as well as from differential, algebraic, and analytical geometry. In turn, these latter areas have been enriched over the years by the study of problems in several complex variables addressed here. The authors, M. Salah Baouendi, Peter Ebenfelt, and Linda Preiss Rothschild, include extensive preliminary material to make the book accessible to nonspecialists.

One of the most important topics that the authors address here is the holomorphic extension of functions and mappings that satisfy the tangential Cauchy-Riemann equations on real submanifolds. They present the main results in this area with a novel and self-contained approach. The book also devotes considerable attention to the study of holomorphic mappings between real submanifolds, and proves finite determination of such mappings by their jets under some optimal assumptions. The authors also give a thorough comparison of the various nondegeneracy conditions for manifolds and mappings and present new geometric interpretations of these conditions. Throughout the book, Cauchy-Riemann vector fields and their orbits play a central role and are presented in a setting that is both general and elementary.

This text focuses on developing an intimate acquaintance with the geometric meaning of curvature and thereby introduces and demonstrates all the main technical tools needed for a more advanced course on Riemannian manifolds. It covers proving the four most fundamental theorems relating curvature and topology: the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, the Cartan-Hadamard Theorem, Bonnet 's Theorem, and a special case of the Cartan-Ambrose-Hicks Theorem.

Foliated spaces look locally like products, but their global structure is generally not a product, and tangential differential operators are correspondingly more complex. In the 1980s, Alain Connes founded what is now known as noncommutative geometry and topology. One of the first results was his generalization of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem to compute the analytic index associated with a tangential (pseudo) - differential operator and an invariant transverse measure on a foliated manifold, in terms of topological data on the manifold and the operator. This second edition presents a complete proof of this beautiful result, generalized to foliated spaces (not just manifolds). It includes the necessary background from analysis, geometry, and topology. The present edition has improved exposition, an updated bibliography, an index, and additional material covering developments and applications since the first edition came out, including the confirmation of the Gap Labeling Conjecture of Jean Bellissard.

Even the simplest singularities of planar curves, e.g. where the curve crosses itself, or where it forms a cusp, are best understood in terms of complex numbers. The full treatment uses techniques from algebra, algebraic geometry, complex analysis and topology and makes an attractive chapter of mathematics, which can be used as an introduction to any of these topics, or to singularity theory in higher dimensions. This book is designed as an introduction for graduate students and draws on the author's experience of teaching MSc courses; moreover, by synthesising different perspectives, he gives a novel view of the subject, and a number of new results.

This book is devoted to geometric problems of foliation theory, in particular those related to extrinsic geometry, modern branch of Riemannian Geometry. The concept of mixed curvature is central to the discussion, and a version of the deep problem of the Ricci curvature for the case of mixed curvature of foliations is examined. The book is divided into five chapters that deal with integral and variation formulas and curvature and dynamics of foliations. Different approaches and methods (local and global, regular and singular) in solving the problems are described using integral and variation formulas, extrinsic geometric flows, generalizations of the Ricci and scalar curvatures, pseudo-Riemannian and metric-affine geometries, and 'computable' Finsler metrics. The book presents the state of the art in geometric and analytical theory of foliations as a continuation of the authors' life-long work in extrinsic geometry. It is designed for newcomers to the field as well as experienced geometers working in Riemannian geometry, foliation theory, differential topology, and a wide range of researchers in differential equations and their applications. It may also be a useful supplement to postgraduate level work and can inspire new interesting topics to explore.

This collection of peer-reviewed workshop papers provides comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge research into topological approaches to data analysis and visualization. It encompasses the full range of new algorithms and insights, including fast homology computation, comparative analysis of simplification techniques, and key applications in materials and medical science. The book also addresses core research challenges such as the representation of large and complex datasets, and integrating numerical methods with robust combinatorial algorithms. In keeping with the focus of the TopoInVis 2017 Workshop, the contributions reflect the latest advances in finding experimental solutions to open problems in the sector. They provide an essential snapshot of state-of-the-art research, helping researchers to keep abreast of the latest developments and providing a basis for future work. Gathering papers by some of the world's leading experts on topological techniques, the book represents a valuable contribution to a field of growing importance, with applications in disciplines ranging from engineering to medicine.

An infinite-dimensional manifold is a topological manifold modeled on some infinite-dimensional homogeneous space called a model space. In this book, the following spaces are considered model spaces: Hilbert space (or non-separable Hilbert spaces), the Hilbert cube, dense subspaces of Hilbert spaces being universal spaces for absolute Borel spaces, the direct limit of Euclidean spaces, and the direct limit of Hilbert cubes (which is homeomorphic to the dual of a separable infinite-dimensional Banach space with bounded weak-star topology). This book is designed for graduate students to acquire knowledge of fundamental results on infinite-dimensional manifolds and their characterizations. To read and understand this book, some background is required even for senior graduate students in topology, but that background knowledge is minimized and is listed in the first chapter so that references can easily be found. Almost all necessary background information is found in Geometric Aspects of General Topology, the author's first book. Many kinds of hyperspaces and function spaces are investigated in various branches of mathematics, which are mostly infinite-dimensional. Among them, many examples of infinite-dimensional manifolds have been found. For researchers studying such objects, this book will be very helpful. As outstanding applications of Hilbert cube manifolds, the book contains proofs of the topological invariance of Whitehead torsion and Borsuk's conjecture on the homotopy type of compact ANRs. This is also the first book that presents combinatorial -manifolds, the infinite-dimensional version of combinatorial n-manifolds, and proofs of two remarkable results, that is, any triangulation of each manifold modeled on the direct limit of Euclidean spaces is a combinatorial -manifold and the Hauptvermutung for them is true.

This volume brings together lectures from a conference on spectral theory and geometry held under the auspices of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh. The contributions by world experts include expanded versions of many of the original lectures. Together, they survey the core material and go beyond to reach deeper results. For graduate students and experts alike, this book will be a highly useful resource.

This book gives an introduction to fiber spaces and differential operators on smooth manifolds. Over the last 20 years, the authors developed an algebraic approach to the subject and they explain in this book why differential calculus on manifolds can be considered as an aspect of commutative algebra. This new approach is based on the fundamental notion of observable which is used by physicists and will further the understanding of the mathematics underlying quantum field theory.

This book is a collection of selected research papers, some of which were presented at the International Conference on Differential Geometry, Algebra and Analysis (ICDGAA 2016), held at the Department of Mathematics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, from 15-17 November 2016. It covers a wide range of topics-geometry of submanifolds, geometry of statistical submanifolds, ring theory, module theory, optimization theory, and approximation theory-which exhibit new ideas and methodologies for current research in differential geometry, algebra and analysis. Providing new results with rigorous proofs, this book is, therefore, of much interest to readers who wish to learn new techniques in these areas of mathematics.

This book contains a clear exposition of two contemporary topics in modern differential geometry: distance geometric analysis on manifolds, in particular, comparison theory for distance functions in spaces which have well defined bounds on their curvature the application of the Lichnerowicz formula for Dirac operators to the study of Gromov's invariants to measure the K-theoretic size of a Riemannian manifold. It is intended for both graduate students and researchers.

The second volume of the Geometry of Algebraic Curves is devoted to the foundations of the theory of moduli of algebraic curves. Its authors are research mathematicians who have actively participated in the development of the Geometry of Algebraic Curves. The subject is an extremely fertile and active one, both within the mathematical community and at the interface with the theoretical physics community. The approach is unique in its blending of algebro-geometric, complex analytic and topological/combinatorial methods. It treats important topics such as Teichmuller theory, the cellular decomposition of moduli and its consequences and the Witten conjecture. The careful and comprehensive presentation of the material is of value to students who wish to learn the subject and to experts as a reference source. The first volume appeared 1985 as vol. 267 of the same series.

This book aims to provide a friendly introduction to non-commutative geometry. It studies index theory from a classical differential geometry perspective up to the point where classical differential geometry methods become insufficient. It then presents non-commutative geometry as a natural continuation of classical differential geometry. It thereby aims to provide a natural link between classical differential geometry and non-commutative geometry. The book shows that the index formula is a topological statement, and ends with non-commutative topology.

Collecting together the lecture notes of the CIME Summer School held in Cetraro in July 2018, the aim of the book is to introduce a vast range of techniques which are useful in the investigation of complex manifolds. The school consisted of four courses, focusing on both the construction of non-Kahler manifolds and the understanding of a possible classification of complex non-Kahler manifolds. In particular, the courses by Alberto Verjovsky and Andrei Teleman introduced tools in the theory of foliations and analytic techniques for the classification of compact complex surfaces and compact Kahler manifolds, respectively. The courses by Sebastien Picard and Slawomir Dinew focused on analytic techniques in Hermitian geometry, more precisely, on special Hermitian metrics and geometric flows, and on pluripotential theory in complex non-Kahler geometry.

This book introduces the reader to the most important concepts and problems in the field of (2)-invariants. After some foundational material on group von Neumann algebras, (2)-Betti numbers are defined and their use is illustrated by several examples. The text continues with Atiyah's question on possible values of (2)-Betti numbers and the relation to Kaplansky's zero divisor conjecture. The general definition of (2)-Betti numbers allows for applications in group theory. A whole chapter is dedicated to Luck's approximation theorem and its generalizations. The final chapter deals with (2)-torsion, twisted variants and the conjectures relating them to torsion growth in homology. The text provides a self-contained treatment that constructs the required specialized concepts from scratch. It comes with numerous exercises and examples, so that both graduate students and researchers will find it useful for self-study or as a basis for an advanced lecture course.

Written by leading experts in the field, this monograph provides homotopy theoretic foundations for surgery theory on higher-dimensional manifolds. Presenting classical ideas in a modern framework, the authors carefully highlight how their results relate to (and generalize) existing results in the literature. The central result of the book expresses algebraic surgery theory in terms of the geometric Hopf invariant, a construction in stable homotopy theory which captures the double points of immersions. Many illustrative examples and applications of the abstract results are included in the book, making it of wide interest to topologists. Serving as a valuable reference, this work is aimed at graduate students and researchers interested in understanding how the algebraic and geometric topology fit together in the surgery theory of manifolds. It is the only book providing such a wide-ranging historical approach to the Hopf invariant, double points and surgery theory, with many results old and new.

This book provides a detailed introduction to the coarse quasi-isometry of leaves of a foliated space and describes the cases where the generic leaves have the same quasi-isometric invariants. Every leaf of a compact foliated space has an induced coarse quasi-isometry type, represented by the coarse metric defined by the length of plaque chains given by any finite foliated atlas. When there are dense leaves either all dense leaves without holonomy are uniformly coarsely quasi-isometric to each other, or else every leaf is coarsely quasi-isometric to just meagerly many other leaves. Moreover, if all leaves are dense, the first alternative is characterized by a condition on the leaves called coarse quasi-symmetry. Similar results are proved for more specific coarse invariants, like growth type, asymptotic dimension, and amenability. The Higson corona of the leaves is also studied. All the results are richly illustrated with examples. The book is primarily aimed at researchers on foliated spaces. More generally, specialists in geometric analysis, topological dynamics, or metric geometry may also benefit from it.

This proceedings book brings selected works from two conferences, the 2nd Brazil-Mexico Meeting on Singularity and the 3rd Northeastern Brazilian Meeting on Singularities, that were hold in Salvador, in July 2015. All contributions were carefully peer-reviewed and revised, and cover topics like Equisingularity, Topology and Geometry of Singularities, Topological Classification of Singularities of Mappings, and more. They were written by mathematicians from several countries, including Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Japan and the USA, on relevant topics on Theory of Singularity, such as studies on deformations, Milnor fibration, foliations, Catastrophe theory, and myriad applications. Open problems are also introduced, making this volume a must-read both for graduate students and active researchers in this field.