Serge Lang was an iconic figure in mathematics, both for his own important work and for the indelible impact he left on the field of mathematics, on his students, and on his colleagues. Over the course of his career, Lang traversed a tremendous amount of mathematical ground. As he moved from subject to subject, he found analogies that led to important questions in such areas as number theory, arithmetic geometry, and the theory of negatively curved spaces. Lang's conjectures will keep many mathematicians occupied far into the future. In the spirit of Lang's vast contribution to mathematics, this memorial volume contains articles by prominent mathematicians in a variety of areas of the field, namely Number Theory, Analysis, and Geometry, representing Lang's own breadth of interest and impact. A special introduction by John Tate includes a brief and fascinating account of the Serge Lang's life. This volume's group of 6 editors are also highly prominent mathematicians and were close to Serge Lang, both academically and personally. The volume is suitable to research mathematicians in the areas of Number Theory, Analysis, and Geometry.

This book is concerned with one of the most fundamental questions of mathematics: the relationship between algebraic formulas and geometric images.

At one of the first international mathematical congresses (in Paris in 1900), Hilbert stated a special case of this question in the form of his 16th problem (from his list of 23 problems left over from the nineteenth century as a legacy for the twentieth century).

In spite of the simplicity and importance of this problem (including its numerous applications), it remains unsolved to this day (although, as you will now see, many remarkable results have been discovered).

When we studied complex variables in the late 1960s, modem geometry on the complex fie1d and complex function theory were identified in teaching and research as several complex variables. A beginner in the field at that time would have the experience of jumping from the sheaf-theoretical methods employed in the theory of analytic spaces to the P.D.E. methods of the a- problem, with the c1ear understanding that the phenomena lying behind such different methods and problems were the same. A few years later, new important discoveries made c1ear that complex differential geometry was also in the same company. Looking at the historical development of the subject in the first half of the twentieth century shows this was not astonishing. The origin of the theory of functions of several complex variables was tardier than the familiar of analytic functions of one complex variable. The first comprehensive theory textbook by Behnke and Thullen, in the 1930s, expounded the foundations ofthe general theory as set up by Weierstrass, Cousin, Hartogs, and Poincare and c1early put in evidence that the difficulties were all but solved. In aseries of papers from 1936 to 1953, Oka introduced a brilliant collection of new ideas and systematically eliminated aU difficulties. Oka's work had in itse1f a fruitful seed and contained the premises for the opening of wider horizons.

This volume contains research papers and survey articles written by Beno Eckmann from 1941 to 1986. The aim of the compilation is to provide a general view of the breadth of Eckmann s mathematical work. His influence was particularly strong in the development of many subfields of topology and algebra, where he repeatedly pointed out close, and often surprising, connections between them and other areas. The surveys are exemplary in terms of how they make difficult mathematical ideas easily comprehensible and accessible even to non-specialists. The topics treated here can be classified into the following, not entirely unrelated areas: algebraic topology (homotopy and homology theory), algebra, group theory and differential geometry. Beno Eckmann was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Lausanne, 1942-48, and Principal of the Institute for Mathematical Research at the ETH Zurich, 1964-84, where he was therefore an emeritus professor."

Since the volume may be of interest to a broad variety of people, it is arranged in parts that require different levels of mathematical background. Part I is written in a simple form and can be assessed by any computer-literate person interested in the application of visualization methods in decision making. This part will be of interest to specialists and students in various fields related to decision making including environmental studies, management, business, engineering, etc. In Part II computational methods are introduced in a relatively simple form. This part will be of interest to specialists and students in the field of applied optimization, operations research and computer science. Part III is written for specialists and students in applied mathematics interested in the theoretical basis of modern optimization. Due to this structure, the parts can be read independently. For example, students interested in environmental applications could restrict themselves to Part I and the Epilogue. In contrast, those who are interested in computational methods can skip Part I and read Part II only. Finally, specialists, who are interested in the theory of approximation of multi-dimensional convex sets or in estimation of disturbances of polyhedral sets, can read the corresponding chapters of Part III.

The theory of function spaces endowed with the topology of point wise convergence, or Cp-theory, exists at the intersection of three important areas of mathematics: topological algebra, functional analysis, and general topology. Cp-theory has an important role in the classification and unification of heterogeneous results from each of these areas of research. Through over 500 carefully selected problems and exercises, this volume provides a self-contained introduction to Cp-theory and general topology. By systematically introducing each of the major topics in Cp-theory, this volume is designed to bring a dedicated reader from basic topological principles to the frontiers of modern research. Key features include: - A unique problem-based introduction to the theory of function spaces. - Detailed solutions to each of the presented problems and exercises. - A comprehensive bibliography reflecting the state-of-the-art in modern Cp-theory. - Numerous open problems and directions for further research. This volume can be used as a textbook for courses in both Cp-theory and general topology as well as a reference guide for specialists studying Cp-theory and related topics. This book also provides numerous topics for PhD specialization as well as a large variety of material suitable for graduate research.

This volume consists of eighteen peer-reviewed papers related to lectures on pseudo-differential operators presented at the meeting of the ISAAC Group in Pseudo-Differential Operators (IGPDO) held at Imperial College London on July 13-18, 2009. Featured in this volume are the analysis, applications and computations of pseudo-differential operators in mathematics, physics and signal analysis. This volume is a useful complement to the volumes "Advances in Pseudo-Differential Operators", "Pseudo-Differential Operators and Related Topics", "Modern Trends in Pseudo-Differential Operators", "New Developments in Pseudo-Differential Operators" and "Pseudo-Differential Operators: Complex Analysis and Partial Differential Equations" published in the same series in, respectively, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

Approaches to the recovery of three-dimensional information on a biological object, which are often formulated or implemented initially in an intuitive way, are concisely described here based on physical models of the object and the image-formation process. Both three-dimensional electron microscopy and X-ray tomography can be captured in the same mathematical framework, leading to closely-related computational approaches, but the methodologies differ in detail and hence pose different challenges. The editors of this volume, Gabor T. Herman and Joachim Frank, are experts in the respective methodologies and present research at the forefront of biological imaging and structural biology. Computational Methods for Three-Dimensional Microscopy Reconstruction will serve as a useful resource for scholars interested in the development of computational methods for structural biology and cell biology, particularly in the area of 3D imaging and modeling.

This monograph is concerned with the fitting of linear relationships in the context of the linear statistical model. As alternatives to the familiar least squared residuals procedure, it investigates the relationships between the least absolute residuals, the minimax absolute residual and the least median of squared residuals procedures. It is intended for graduate students and research workers in statistics with some command of matrix analysis and linear programming techniques.

This volume presents a complete and self-contained description of new results in the theory of manifolds of nonpositive curvature. It is based on lectures delivered by M. Gromov at the College de France in Paris. Therefore this book may also serve as an introduction to the subject of nonpositively curved manifolds. The latest progress in this area is reflected in the article of W. Ballmann describing the structure of manifolds of higher rank.

This book provides an introduction to symplectic field theory, a new and important subject which is currently being developed. The starting point of this theory are compactness results for holomorphic curves established in the last decade. The author presents a systematic introduction providing a lot of background material, much of which is scattered throughout the literature. Since the content grew out of lectures given by the author, the main aim is to provide an entry point into symplectic field theory for non-specialists and for graduate students. Extensions of certain compactness results, which are believed to be true by the specialists but have not yet been published in the literature in detail, top off the scope of this monograph.

This volume contains original research articles, survey articles and lecture notes related to the Computations with Modular Forms 2011 Summer School and Conference, held at the University of Heidelberg. A key theme of the Conference and Summer School was the interplay between theory, algorithms and experiment. The 14 papers offer readers both, instructional courses on the latest algorithms for computing modular and automorphic forms, as well as original research articles reporting on the latest developments in the field. The three Summer School lectures provide an introduction to modern algorithms together with some theoretical background for computations of and with modular forms, including computing cohomology of arithmetic groups, algebraic automorphic forms, and overconvergent modular symbols. The 11 Conference papers cover a wide range of themes related to computations with modular forms, including lattice methods for algebraic modular forms on classical groups, a generalization of the Maeda conjecture, an efficient algorithm for special values of p-adic Rankin triple product L-functions, arithmetic aspects and experimental data of Bianchi groups, a theoretical study of the real Jacobian of modular curves, results on computing weight one modular forms, and more.

The Jacobian of a smooth projective curve is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable and beautiful objects in algebraic geometry. This work is an attempt to develop an analogous theory for smooth projective surfaces - a theory of the nonabelian Jacobian of smooth projective surfaces. Just like its classical counterpart, our nonabelian Jacobian relates to vector bundles (of rank 2) on a surface as well as its Hilbert scheme of points. But it also comes equipped with the variation of Hodge-like structures, which produces a sheaf of reductive Lie algebras naturally attached to our Jacobian. This constitutes a nonabelian analogue of the (abelian) Lie algebra structure of the classical Jacobian. This feature naturally relates geometry of surfaces with the representation theory of reductive Lie algebras/groups. This work's main focus is on providing an in-depth study of various aspects of this relation. It presents a substantial body of evidence that the sheaf of Lie algebras on the nonabelian Jacobian is an efficient tool for using the representation theory to systematically address various algebro-geometric problems. It also shows how to construct new invariants of representation theoretic origin on smooth projective surfaces.

Stochastic geometry, based on current developments in geometry, probability and measure theory, makes possible modeling of two- and three-dimensional random objects with interactions as they appear in the microstructure of materials, biological tissues, macroscopically in soil, geological sediments etc. In combination with spatial statistics it is used for the solution of practical problems such as the description of spatial arrangements and the estimation of object characteristics. A related field is stereology, which makes possible inference on the structures, based on lower-dimensional observations. Unfolding problems for particle systems and extremes of particle characteristics are studied. The reader can learn about current developments in stochastic geometry with mathematical rigor on one hand and find applications to real microstructure analysis in natural and material sciences on the other hand.

This volume is the collection of papers dedicated to Yozo Matsushima on his 60th birthday, which took place on February 11, 1980. A conference in Geometry in honor of Professor Matsushima was held at the University of Notre Dame on May 14 and 15, 1980. Some of the papers in this volume were delivered on this occasion. 0 00 0\ - 15 S. Kobayashi, University 27 R. Ogawa, Loyola 42 P. Ryan, Indiana 1 W. Stoll 2 W. Kaup, University of of California at Berkeley University (Chicago) University at South Bend Tubing en 16 B. Y. Chen, 28 A. Howard 43 M. Kuga, SUNY at 3 G. Shimura, Michigan State University 29 D. Blair, Stony Brook Princeton University 17 G. Ludden, Michigan State University 44 W. Higgins 30 B. Smyth 4 A. Borel, Institute for Michigan State University 45 J. Curry Advanced Study 18 S. Harris, 31 A. Pradhan 46 D. Norris 32 R. Escobales, 5 Y. Matsushima University of Missouri 47 J. Spellecy Canisius College 6 Mrs. Matsushima 19 J. Beem, 48 M. Clancy 7 K. Nomizu, University of Missouri 33 L. Smiley 49 J. Rabinowitz, University 20 D. Collins, 34 C. H. Sung Brown University of Illinois at Chicago Valparaiso University 35 M. Markowitz 8 J. -1. Hano, 50 R. Richardson, Australian Washington University 36 A. Sommese 21 I. Satake, University of National University California at Berkeley 37 A. Vitter, 9 J. Carrell, University of 51 D. Lieberman, 22 H.

A study of topology and geometry, beginning with a comprehensible account of the extraordinary and rather mysterious impact of mathematical physics, and especially gauge theory, on the study of the geometry and topology of manifolds. The focus of the book is the Yang-Mills-Higgs field and some considerable effort is expended to make clear its origin and significance in physics. Much of the mathematics developed here to study these fields is standard, but the treatment always keeps one eye on the physics and sacrifices generality in favor of clarity. The author brings readers up the level of physics and mathematics needed to conclude with a brief discussion of the Seiberg-Witten invariants. A large number of exercises are included to encourage active participation on the part of the reader.

The aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive account of higher dimensional Nevanlinna theory and its relations with Diophantine approximation theory for graduate students and interested researchers. This book with nine chapters systematically describes Nevanlinna theory of meromorphic maps between algebraic varieties or complex spaces, building up from the classical theory of meromorphic functions on the complex plane with full proofs in Chap. 1 to the current state of research. Chapter 2 presents the First Main Theorem for coherent ideal sheaves in a very general form. With the preparation of plurisubharmonic functions, how the theory to be generalized in a higher dimension is described. In Chap. 3 the Second Main Theorem for differentiably non-degenerate meromorphic maps by Griffiths and others is proved as a prototype of higher dimensional Nevanlinna theory. Establishing such a Second Main Theorem for entire curves in general complex algebraic varieties is a wide-open problem. In Chap. 4, the Cartan-Nochka Second Main Theorem in the linear projective case and the Logarithmic Bloch-Ochiai Theorem in the case of general algebraic varieties are proved. Then the theory of entire curves in semi-abelian varieties, including the Second Main Theorem of Noguchi-Winkelmann-Yamanoi, is dealt with in full details in Chap. 6. For that purpose Chap. 5 is devoted to the notion of semi-abelian varieties. The result leads to a number of applications. With these results, the Kobayashi hyperbolicity problems are discussed in Chap. 7. In the last two chapters Diophantine approximation theory is dealt with from the viewpoint of higher dimensional Nevanlinna theory, and the Lang-Vojta conjecture is confirmed in some cases. In Chap. 8 the theory over function fields is discussed. Finally, in Chap. 9, the theorems of Roth, Schmidt, Faltings, and Vojta over number fields are presented and formulated in view of Nevanlinna theory with results motivated by those in Chaps. 4, 6, and 7.

This book contains contributions from the Spanish Relativity Meeting, ERE 2012, held in" "Guimaraes, Portugal, September 2012. It features more than 70 papers on a range of topics in general relativity and gravitation, from mathematical cosmology, numerical relativity and black holes to string theory and quantum gravity.

Under the title "Progress in Mathematical Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology," ERE 2012 was attended by an exceptional international list of over a hundred participants from the five continents and over forty countries. ERE is organized every year by one of the Spanish or Portuguese groups working in this area and is supported by the Spanish Society of Gravitation and Relativity (SEGRE).

This book will be of interest to researchers in mathematics and physics.

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Honoring Andrei Agrachev's 60th birthday, this volume presents recent advances in the interaction between Geometric Control Theory and sub-Riemannian geometry. On the one hand, Geometric Control Theory used the differential geometric and Lie algebraic language for studying controllability, motion planning, stabilizability and optimality for control systems. The geometric approach turned out to be fruitful in applications to robotics, vision modeling, mathematical physics etc. On the other hand, Riemannian geometry and its generalizations, such as sub-Riemannian, Finslerian geometry etc., have been actively adopting methods developed in the scope of geometric control. Application of these methods has led to important results regarding geometry of sub-Riemannian spaces, regularity of sub-Riemannian distances, properties of the group of diffeomorphisms of sub-Riemannian manifolds, local geometry and equivalence of distributions and sub-Riemannian structures, regularity of the Hausdorff volume, etc.

This book covers the modular invariant theory of finite groups, the case when the characteristic of the field divides the order of the group, a theory that is more complicated than the study of the classical non-modular case. Largely self-contained, the book develops the theory from its origins up to modern results. It explores many examples, illustrating the theory and its contrast with the better understood non-modular setting. It details techniques for the computation of invariants for many modular representations of finite groups, especially the case of the cyclic group of prime order. It includes detailed examples of many topics as well as a quick survey of the elements of algebraic geometry and commutative algebra as they apply to invariant theory. The book is aimed at both graduate students and researchers-an introduction to many important topics in modern algebra within a concrete setting for the former, an exploration of a fascinating subfield of algebraic geometry for the latter.

Serge Lang (1927-2005) was one of the top mathematicians of our time. He was born in Paris in 1927, and moved with his family to California, where he graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1943. He subsequently graduated from California Institute of Technology in 1946, and received a doctorate from Princeton University in 1951 before holding faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Columbia University (1955-1971). At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of Mathematics at Yale University. An excellent writer, Lang has made innumerable and invaluable contributions in diverse fields of mathematics. He was perhaps best known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential Algebra. He was also a member of the Bourbaki group. He was honored with the Cole Prize by the American Mathematical Society as well as with the Prix Carriere by the French Academy of Sciences. These five volumes collect the majority of his research papers, which range over a variety of topics.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery, DGCI 2013, held in Seville, Spain, in March 2013. The 34 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from 56 submissions and focus on geometric transforms, discrete and combinatorial tools for image segmentation and analysis, discrete and combinatorial topology, discrete shape representation, recognition and analysis, models for discrete geometry, morphological analysis and discrete tomography.

Elliptic cohomology is an extremely beautiful theory with both geometric and arithmetic aspects. The former is explained by the fact that the theory is a quotient of oriented cobordism localised away from 2, the latter by the fact that the coefficients coincide with a ring of modular forms. The aim of the book is to construct this cohomology theory, and evaluate it on classifying spaces BG of finite groups G. This class of spaces is important, since (using ideas borrowed from 'Monstrous Moonshine') it is possible to give a bundle-theoretic definition of EU-(BG). Concluding chapters also discuss variants, generalisations and potential applications.

The orbit method influenced the development of several areas of mathematics in the second half of the 20th century and remains a useful and powerful tool in such areas as Lie theory, representation theory, integrable systems, complex geometry, and mathematical physics. Among the distinguished names associated with the orbit method is that of A.A. Kirillov, whose pioneering paper on nilpotent orbits (1962), places him as the founder of orbit theory. The original research papers in this volume are written by prominent mathematicians and reflect recent achievements in orbit theory and other closely related areas such as harmonic analysis, classical representation theory, Lie superalgebras, Poisson geometry, and quantization. Contributors: A. Alekseev, J. Alev, V. Baranovksy, R. Brylinski, J. Dixmier, S. Evens, D.R. Farkas, V. Ginzburg, V. Gorbounov, P. Grozman, E. Gutkin, A. Joseph, D. Kazhdan, A.A. Kirillov, B. Kostant, D. Leites, F. Malikov, A. Melnikov, P.W. Michor, Y.A. Neretin, A. Okounkov, G. Olshanski, F. Petrov, A. Polishchuk, W. Rossmann, A. Sergeev, V. Schechtman, I. Shchepochkina. The work will be an invaluable reference for researchers in the above mentioned fields, as well as a useful text for graduate seminars and courses.

The first part of this book provides an elementary and self-contained exposition of classical Galois theory and its applications to the questions of solvability of algebraic equations in explicit form. The second part describes a surprising analogy between the fundamental theorem of Galois theory and classification of coverings over a topological space. The third part contains a geometric description of finite algebraic extensions of the field of meromorphic functions on a Riemann surface and provides an introduction to topological Galois theory developed by the author. All results are presented in the same elementary and self-contained manner as classical Galois theory. Due to this feature, the book will be useful and interesting to readers with very different background in mathematics, from undergraduate students to researchers.