Occasioned by the international conference "Rings and Factorizations" held in February 2018 at University of Graz, Austria, this volume represents a wide range of research trends in the theory of commutative and non-commutative rings and their modules, including multiplicative ideal theory, Dedekind and Krull rings and their generalizations, rings of integer valued-polynomials, topological aspects of ring theory, factorization theory in rings and semigroups and direct-sum decompositions of modules. The volume will be of interest to researchers seeking to extend or utilize work in these areas as well as graduate students wishing to find entryways into active areas of current research in algebra. A novel aspect of the volume is an emphasis on how diverse types of algebraic structures and contexts (rings, modules, semigroups, categories) may be treated with overlapping and reinforcing approaches.

This monograph studies generating sets of almost simple classical groups, by bounding the spread of these groups. Guralnick and Kantor resolved a 1962 question of Steinberg by proving that in a finite simple group, every nontrivial element belongs to a generating pair. Groups with this property are said to be 3/2-generated. Breuer, Guralnick and Kantor conjectured that a finite group is 3/2-generated if and only if every proper quotient is cyclic. We prove a strong version of this conjecture for almost simple classical groups, by bounding the spread of these groups. This involves analysing the automorphisms, fixed point ratios and subgroup structure of almost simple classical groups, so the first half of this monograph is dedicated to these general topics. In particular, we give a general exposition of Shintani descent. This monograph will interest researchers in group generation, but the opening chapters also serve as a general introduction to the almost simple classical groups.

The falling cat is an interesting theme to pursue, in which geometry, mechanics, and control are in action together. As is well known, cats can almost always land on their feet when tossed into the air in an upside-down attitude. If cats are not given a non-vanishing angular momentum at an initial instant, they cannot rotate during their motion, and the motion they can make in the air is vibration only. However, cats accomplish a half turn without rotation when landing on their feet. In order to solve this apparent mystery, one needs to thoroughly understand rotations and vibrations. The connection theory in differential geometry can provide rigorous definitions of rotation and vibration for many-body systems. Deformable bodies of cats are not easy to treat mechanically. A feasible way to approach the question of the falling cat is to start with many-body systems and then proceed to rigid bodies and, further, to jointed rigid bodies, which can approximate the body of a cat. In this book, the connection theory is applied first to a many-body system to show that vibrational motions of the many-body system can result in rotations without performing rotational motions and then to the cat model consisting of jointed rigid bodies. On the basis of this geometric setting, mechanics of many-body systems and of jointed rigid bodies must be set up. In order to take into account the fact that cats can deform their bodies, three torque inputs which may give a twist to the cat model are applied as control inputs under the condition of the vanishing angular momentum. Then, a control is designed according to the port-controlled Hamiltonian method for the model cat to perform a half turn and to halt the motion upon landing. The book also gives a brief review of control systems through simple examples to explain the role of control inputs.

This textbook explores advanced topics in differential geometry, chosen for their particular relevance to modern geometry processing. Analytic and algebraic perspectives augment core topics, with the authors taking care to motivate each new concept. Whether working toward theoretical or applied questions, readers will appreciate this accessible exploration of the mathematical concepts behind many modern applications. Beginning with an in-depth study of tensors and differential forms, the authors go on to explore a selection of topics that showcase these tools. An analytic theme unites the early chapters, which cover distributions, integration on manifolds and Lie groups, spherical harmonics, and operators on Riemannian manifolds. An exploration of bundles follows, from definitions to connections and curvature in vector bundles, culminating in a glimpse of Pontrjagin and Chern classes. The final chapter on Clifford algebras and Clifford groups draws the book to an algebraic conclusion, which can be seen as a generalized viewpoint of the quaternions. Differential Geometry and Lie Groups: A Second Course captures the mathematical theory needed for advanced study in differential geometry with a view to furthering geometry processing capabilities. Suited to classroom use or independent study, the text will appeal to students and professionals alike. A first course in differential geometry is assumed; the authors' companion volume Differential Geometry and Lie Groups: A Computational Perspective provides the ideal preparation.

This proceedings volume gathers selected, peer-reviewed works presented at the Polynomial Rings and Affine Algebraic Geometry Conference, which was held at Tokyo Metropolitan University on February 12-16, 2018. Readers will find some of the latest research conducted by an international group of experts on affine and projective algebraic geometry. The topics covered include group actions and linearization, automorphism groups and their structure as infinite-dimensional varieties, invariant theory, the Cancellation Problem, the Embedding Problem, Mathieu spaces and the Jacobian Conjecture, the Dolgachev-Weisfeiler Conjecture, classification of curves and surfaces, real forms of complex varieties, and questions of rationality, unirationality, and birationality. These papers will be of interest to all researchers and graduate students working in the fields of affine and projective algebraic geometry, as well as on certain aspects of commutative algebra, Lie theory, symplectic geometry and Stein manifolds.

This book focuses on the Symmetric Informationally Complete quantum measurements (SICs) in dimensions 2 and 3, along with one set of SICs in dimension 8. These objects stand out in ways that have earned them the moniker of "sporadic SICs". By some standards, they are more approachable than the other known SICs, while by others they are simply atypical. The author forays into quantum information theory using them as examples, and the author explores their connections with other exceptional objects like the Leech lattice and integral octonions. The sporadic SICs take readers from the classification of finite simple groups to Bell's theorem and the discovery that "hidden variables" cannot explain away quantum uncertainty. While no one department teaches every subject to which the sporadic SICs pertain, the topic is approachable without too much background knowledge. The book includes exercises suitable for an elective at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level.

This book gives a friendly introduction to Fourier analysis on finite groups, both commutative and noncommutative. Aimed at students in mathematics, engineering and the physical sciences, it examines the theory of finite groups in a manner both accessible to the beginner and suitable for graduate research. With applications in chemistry, error-correcting codes, data analysis, graph theory, number theory and probability, the book presents a concrete approach to abstract group theory through applied examples, pictures and computer experiments. The author divides the book into two parts. In the first part, she parallels the development of Fourier analysis on the real line and the circle, and then moves on to analog of higher dimensional Euclidean space. The second part emphasizes matrix groups such as the Heisenberg group of upper triangular 2x2 matrices with 1's down the diagonal and entries in a finite field. The book concludes with an introduction to zeta functions on finite graphs via the trace formula.

This is a clear, accessible and up to date exposition of modular representation theory of finite groups from a character-theoretic viewpoint. After a short review of the necessary background material, the early chapters introduce Brauer characters and blocks and develop their basic properties. The next three chapters study and prove Brauer's first, second and third main theorems in turn. The author then applies these results to prove a major application of finite groups, the Glauberman Z*-theorem. Later chapters examine Brauer characters in more detail. Navarro also explores the relationship between blocks and normal subgroups and discusses the modular characters and blocks in p-solvable groups. Finally, he studies the character theory of groups with a Sylow p-subgroup of order p. Each chapter concludes with a set of problems. The book is aimed at graduate students with some previous knowledge of ordinary character theory, and researchers studying the representation theory of finite groups.

This book provides a detailed but concise account of the theory of structure of finite p-groups admitting p-automorphisms with few fixed points. The relevant preliminary material on Lie rings is introduced and the main theorems of the book on the solubility of finite p-groups are then presented. The proofs involve notions such as viewing automorphisms as linear transformations, associated Lie rings, powerful p-groups, and the correspondences of A. I. Mal'cev and M. Lazard given by the Baker-Hausdorff formula. Many exercises are included. This book is suitable for graduate students and researchers working in the fields of group theory and Lie rings.

The principle aim of this unique text is to illuminate the beauty of the subject both with abstractions like proofs and mathematical text, and with visuals, such as abundant illustrations and diagrams. With few mathematical prerequisites, geometry is presented through the lens of linear fractional transformations. The exposition is motivational and the well-placed examples and exercises give students ample opportunity to pause and digest the material. The subject builds from the fundamentals of Euclidean geometry, to inversive geometry, and, finally, to hyperbolic geometry at the end. Throughout, the author aims to express the underlying philosophy behind the definitions and mathematical reasoning. This text may be used as primary for an undergraduate geometry course or a freshman seminar in geometry, or as supplemental to instructors in their undergraduate courses in complex analysis, algebra, and number theory. There are elective courses that bring together seemingly disparate topics and this text would be a welcome accompaniment.

This book gathers together selected contributions presented at the 3rd Moroccan Andalusian Meeting on Algebras and their Applications, held in Chefchaouen, Morocco, April 12-14, 2018, and which reflects the mathematical collaboration between south European and north African countries, mainly France, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal. The book is divided in three parts and features contributions from the following fields: algebraic and analytic methods in associative and non-associative structures; homological and categorical methods in algebra; and history of mathematics. Covering topics such as rings and algebras, representation theory, number theory, operator algebras, category theory, group theory and information theory, it opens up new avenues of study for graduate students and young researchers. The findings presented also appeal to anyone interested in the fields of algebra and mathematical analysis.

This book provides an understandable review of SU(3) representations, SU(3) Wigner-Racah algebra and the SU(3) SO(3) integrity basis operators, which are often considered to be difficult and are avoided by most nuclear physicists. Explaining group algebras that apply to specific physical systems and discussing their physical applications, the book is a useful resource for researchers in nuclear physics. At the same time it helps experimentalists to interpret data on rotational nuclei by using SU(3) symmetry that appears in a variety of nuclear models, such as the shell model, pseudo-SU(3) model, proxy-SU(3) model, symplectic Sp(6, R) model, various interacting boson models, various interacting boson-fermion models, and cluster models. In addition to presenting the results from all these models, the book also describes a variety of statistical results that follow from the SU(3) symmetry.

This volume contains original research articles by many of the world's leading researchers in algebraic and Lie groups. Its inclination is algebraic and geometric, although analytical aspects are included. The central theme reflects the interests of R. W. Richardson, viz. connections between representation theory and the structure and geometry of algebraic groups. Particular topics addressed include Kazhdan-Lusztig theory, quantum groups, spherical varieties, symmetric varieties, cohomology of varieties, purity, Schubert geometry, invariant theory and symmetry breaking. The theory of canonical bases and their geometric context is a theme of several of the contributions as is the orbit theory of algebraic group actions on affine varieties. All workers on algebraic and Lie groups will find that this book contains a wealth of interesting material.

This book presents a complete classification of the transitive permutation representations of rank at most five of the sporadic simple groups and their automorphism groups, together with a comprehensive study of the vertex-transitive graphs associated with these representations. Included is a list of all vertex-transitive, distance-regular graphs on which a sporadic almost simple group acts with rank at most five. In this list are some new, interesting distance-regular graphs of diameter two, which are not distance-transitive. For most of the representations a presentation of the sporadic group is given, with words in the given generators which generate a point stabiliser: this gives readers sufficient information to reconstruct and study the representations and graphs. Practical computational techniques appropriate for analysing finite vertex-transitive graphs are described carefully, making the book an excellent starting point for learning about groups and the graphs on which they act.

The book consists of articles based on the XXXVII Bialowieza Workshop on Geometric Methods in Physics, 2018. The series of Bialowieza workshops, attended by a community of experts at the crossroads of mathematics and physics, is a major annual event in the field. This edition of the workshop featured a special session dedicated to Professor Daniel Sternheimer on the occasion of his 80th birthday. The previously unpublished papers present cutting-edge current research, typically grounded in geometry and analysis, with applications to classical and quantum physics. For the past seven years, the Bialowieza Workshops have been complemented by a School on Geometry and Physics comprising a series of advanced lectures for graduate students and early-career researchers. The book also includes abstracts of the five lecture series that were given at the seventh school.

The last few decades have been among the most dynamic within recent British cultural history. Artists across all genres and media have developed and re-fashioned their practice against a radically changing social and cultural landscape - both national and global. This book takes a fresh look at some of the themes, ideas and directions which have informed British art since the later 1980s through to the first decade of the new millennium. In addition to discussing some iconic images and examples, it also looks more broadly at the contexts in which a new 'post-conceptual' generation of artists, those typically born since the late 1950s and 1960s have approached and developed aspects of their professional practice. Contemporary British Art is an ideal introduction to the field. To guide the reader, the book is organised around genres or related practices - painting; sculpture and installation; and film, video and performance. The first chapter explores aspects of the contemporary art market and some of the contexts within which art is made, supported and exhibited. The chapters that discuss various genres of art practice also mention books that may be useful to support further reading. Extensively illustrated with a wide range of work (both known, and less well-known) from artists such as Chris Ofili, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst, Banksy, Anthony Gormley, Jack Vettriano, Sam Taylor-Wood, Steve McQueen and Tracey Emin, and many more.

This book collects and coherently presents the research that has been undertaken since the author's previous book Module Theory (1998). In addition to some of the key results since 1995, it also discusses the development of much of the supporting material. In the twenty years following the publication of the Camps-Dicks theorem, the work of Facchini, Herbera, Shamsuddin, Puninski, Prihoda and others has established the study of serial modules and modules with semilocal endomorphism rings as one of the promising directions for module-theoretic research. Providing readers with insights into the directions in which the research in this field is moving, as well as a better understanding of how it interacts with other research areas, the book appeals to undergraduates and graduate students as well as researchers interested in algebra.

This book is the second edition, whose original mission was to offer a new approach for students wishing to better understand the mathematical tenets that underlie the study of physics. This mission is retained in this book. The structure of the book is one that keeps pedagogical principles in mind at every level. Not only are the chapters sequenced in such a way as to guide the reader down a clear path that stretches throughout the book, but all individual sections and subsections are also laid out so that the material they address becomes progressively more complex along with the reader's ability to comprehend it. This book not only improves upon the first in many details, but it also fills in some gaps that were left open by this and other books on similar topics. The 350 problems presented here are accompanied by answers which now include a greater amount of detail and additional guidance for arriving at the solutions. In this way, the mathematical underpinnings of the relevant physics topics are made as easy to absorb as possible.

In this well-written introduction to commutative algebra, the author shows the link between commutative ring theory and algebraic geometry. In addition to standard material, the book contrasts the methods and ideology of modern abstract algebra with concrete applications in algebraic geometry and number theory. Professor Reid begins with a discussion of modules and Noetherian rings before moving on to finite extensions and the Noether normalization. Sections on the nullstellensatz and rings of fractions precede sections on primary decomposition and normal integral domains. This book is ideal for anyone seeking a primer on commutative algebra.

Capturing Adriano Garsia's unique perspective on essential topics in algebraic combinatorics, this book consists of selected, classic notes on a number of topics based on lectures held at the University of California, San Diego over the past few decades. The topics presented share a common theme of describing interesting interplays between algebraic topics such as representation theory and elegant structures which are sometimes thought of as being outside the purview of classical combinatorics. The lectures reflect Garsia's inimitable narrative style and his exceptional expository ability. The preface presents the historical viewpoint as well as Garsia's personal insights into the subject matter. The lectures then start with a clear treatment of Alfred Young's construction of the irreducible representations of the symmetric group, seminormal representations and Morphy elements. This is followed by an elegant application of SL(2) representations to algebraic combinatorics. The last two lectures are on heaps, continued fractions and orthogonal polynomials with applications, and finally there is an exposition on the theory of finite fields. The book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in the field.

This book provides an introduction to the ergodic theory and topological dynamics of actions of countable groups. It is organized around the theme of probabilistic and combinatorial independence, and highlights the complementary roles of the asymptotic and the perturbative in its comprehensive treatment of the core concepts of weak mixing, compactness, entropy, and amenability. The more advanced material includes Popa's cocycle superrigidity, the Furstenberg-Zimmer structure theorem, and sofic entropy. The structure of the book is designed to be flexible enough to serve a variety of readers. The discussion of dynamics is developed from scratch assuming some rudimentary functional analysis, measure theory, and topology, and parts of the text can be used as an introductory course. Researchers in ergodic theory and related areas will also find the book valuable as a reference.

This is the first book on elliptic quantum groups, i.e., quantum groups associated to elliptic solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation. Based on research by the author and his collaborators, the book presents a comprehensive survey on the subject including a brief history of formulations and applications, a detailed formulation of the elliptic quantum group in the Drinfeld realization, explicit construction of both finite and infinite-dimensional representations, and a construction of the vertex operators as intertwining operators of these representations. The vertex operators are important objects in representation theory of quantum groups. In this book, they are used to derive the elliptic q-KZ equations and their elliptic hypergeometric integral solutions. In particular, the so-called elliptic weight functions appear in such solutions. The author's recent study showed that these elliptic weight functions are identified with Okounkov's elliptic stable envelopes for certain equivariant elliptic cohomology and play an important role to construct geometric representations of elliptic quantum groups. Okounkov's geometric approach to quantum integrable systems is a rapidly growing topic in mathematical physics related to the Bethe ansatz, the Alday-Gaiotto-Tachikawa correspondence between 4D SUSY gauge theories and the CFT's, and the Nekrasov-Shatashvili correspondences between quantum integrable systems and quantum cohomology. To invite the reader to such topics is one of the aims of this book.

This book is the result of a meeting on Topology and Functional Analysis, and is dedicated to Professor Manuel Lopez-Pellicer's mathematical research. Covering topics in descriptive topology and functional analysis, including topological groups and Banach space theory, fuzzy topology, differentiability and renorming, tensor products of Banach spaces and aspects of Cp-theory, this volume is particularly useful to young researchers wanting to learn about the latest developments in these areas.

This book provides a comprehensive study of turnpike phenomenon arising in optimal control theory. The focus is on individual (non-generic) turnpike results which are both mathematically significant and have numerous applications in engineering and economic theory. All results obtained in the book are new. New approaches, techniques, and methods are rigorously presented and utilize research from finite-dimensional variational problems and discrete-time optimal control problems to find the necessary conditions for the turnpike phenomenon in infinite dimensional spaces. The semigroup approach is employed in the discussion as well as PDE descriptions of continuous-time dynamics. The main results on sufficient and necessary conditions for the turnpike property are completely proved and the numerous illustrative examples support the material for the broad spectrum of experts. Mathematicians interested in the calculus of variations, optimal control and in applied functional analysis will find this book a useful guide to the turnpike phenomenon in infinite dimensional spaces. Experts in economic and engineering modeling as well as graduate students will also benefit from the developed techniques and obtained results.

This monograph is the first comprehensive treatment of multiplicity-free induced representations of finite groups as a generalization of finite Gelfand pairs. Up to now, researchers have been somehow reluctant to face such a problem in a general situation, and only partial results were obtained in the one-dimensional case. Here, for the first time, new interesting and important results are proved. In particular, after developing a general theory (including the study of the associated Hecke algebras and the harmonic analysis of the corresponding spherical functions), two completely new highly nontrivial and significant examples (in the setting of linear groups over finite fields) are examined in full detail. The readership ranges from graduate students to experienced researchers in Representation Theory and Harmonic Analysis.