This book describes work, largely that of the author, on the characterization of closed 4-manifolds in terms of familiar invariants such as Euler characteristic, fundamental group, and Stiefel-Whitney classes. Using techniques from homological group theory, the theory of 3-manifolds and topological surgery, infrasolvmanifolds are characterized up to homeomorphism, and surface bundles are characterized up to simple homotopy equivalence. Non-orientable cases are also considered wherever possible, and in the final chapter the results obtained earlier are applied to 2-knots and complex analytic surfaces. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in low-dimensional topology.

The geometric and algebraic aspects of two-dimensional homotopy theory are both important areas of current research. Basic work on two-dimensional homotopy theory dates back to Reidemeister and Whitehead. The contributors to this book consider the current state of research beginning with introductory chapters on low-dimensional topology and covering crossmodules, Peiffer-Reid identities, and concretely discussing P2 theory. The chapters have been skillfully woven together to form a coherent picture, and the geometric nature of the subject is illustrated by over 100 diagrams. The final chapters round off neatly with a look at the present status of the conjectures of Zeeman, Whitehead and Andrews-Curtis.

The aim of these notes is to link algorithmic problems arising in knot theory with statistical physics and classical combinatorics. Apart from the theory of computational complexity needed to deal with enumeration problems, introductions are given to several of the topics, such as combinatorial knot theory, randomized approximation models, percolation, and random cluster models.

This book is mainly devoted to the combinatorics of quadratic holomorphic dynamics. The conceptual kernel is a self-contained abstract counterpart of connected quadratic Julia sets which is built on Thurston's concept of a quadratic invariant lamination and on symbolic descriptions of the angle-doubling map. The theory obtained is illustrated in the complex plane. It is used to give rigorous proofs of some well-known and some partially new statements on the structure of the Mandelbrot set. The text is intended for graduate students and researchers. Some elementary knowledge in topology and in functions of one complex variable is assumed.

Infinite dimensional manifolds, Lie groups and algebras arise naturally in many areas of mathematics and physics. Having been used mainly as a tool for the study of finite dimensional objects, the emphasis has changed and they are now frequently studied for their own independent interest. On the one hand this is a collection of closely related articles on infinite dimensional Kahler manifolds and associated group actions which grew out of a DMV-Seminar on the same subject. On the other hand it covers significantly more ground than was possible during the seminar in Oberwolfach and is in a certain sense intended as a systematic approach which ranges from the foundations of the subject to recent developments. It should be accessible to doctoral students and as well researchers coming from a wide range of areas. The initial chapters are devoted to a rather selfcontained introduction to group actions on complex and symplectic manifolds and to Borel-Weil theory in finite dimensions. These are followed by a treatment of the basics of infinite dimensional Lie groups, their actions and their representations. Finally, a number of more specialized and advanced topics are discussed, e.g., Borel-Weil theory for loop groups, aspects of the Virasoro algebra, (gauge) group actions and determinant bundles, and second quantization and the geometry of the infinite dimensional Grassmann manifold.

In the large and thriving field of compact transformation groups an important role has long been played by cohomological methods. This book aims to give a contemporary account of such methods, in particular the applications of ordinary cohomology theory and rational homotopy theory with principal emphasis on actions of tori and elementary abelian p-groups on finite-dimensional spaces. For example, spectral sequences are not used in Chapter 1, where the approach is by means of cochain complexes; and much of the basic theory of cochain complexes needed for this chapter is outlined in an appendix. For simplicity, emphasis is put on G-CW-complexes; the refinements needed to treat more general finite-dimensional (or finitistic) G-spaces are often discussed separately. Subsequent chapters give systematic treatments of the Localization Theorem, applications of rational homotopy theory, equivariant Tate cohomology and actions on Poincaré duality spaces. Many shorter and more specialized topics are included also. Chapter 2 contains a summary of the main definitions and results from Sullivan's version of rational homotopy theory which are used in the book.

Computational engineering is the treatment of engineering tasks with computers. It is based on computational mathematics, which is presented here in a comprehensive handbook. Engineers and scientists who deal with engineering tasks have to handle large amounts of information, which must be created and structured in a systematic manner. This demands a high level of abstraction and therefore knowledge of the mathematical foundations. From the existing rich repertoire of mathematical theories and methods, the fundamentals of engineering computation are selected and presented in a coherent fashion. They are brought into a suitable order for specific engineering purposes, and their significance for typical applications is shown. The relevant definitions, notations and theories are presented in a durable form which is independent of the fast development of information and communication technology.

In September 1997, the Working Week on Resolution of Singularities was held at Obergurgl in the Tyrolean Alps. Its objective was to manifest the state of the art in the field and to formulate major questions for future research. The four courses given during this week were written up by the speakers and make up part I of this volume. They are complemented in part II by fifteen selected contributions on specific topics and resolution theories. The volume is intended to provide a broad and accessible introduction to resolution of singularities leading the reader directly to concrete research problems.

Based on a lecture course, this text gives a rigorous introduction to nonlinear analysis, dynamical systems and bifurcation theory including catastrophe theory. Wherever appropriate it emphasizes a geometrical or coordinate-free approach allowing a clear focus on the essential mathematical structures. It brings out features common to different branches of the subject while giving ample references for more advanced or technical developments.

This book presents a definitive account of the applications of the algebraic L-theory to the surgery classification of topological manifolds. The central result is the identification of a manifold structure in the homotopy type of a Poincare duality space with a local quadratic structure in the chain homotopy type of the universal cover. The difference between the homotopy types of manifolds and Poincare duality spaces is identified with the fibre of the algebraic L-theory assembly map, which passes from local to global quadratic duality structures on chain complexes. The algebraic L-theory assembly map is used to give a purely algebraic formulation of the Novikov conjectures on the homotopy invariance of the higher signatures; any other formulation necessarily factors through this one. The book is designed as an introduction to the subject, accessible to graduate students in topology; no previous acquaintance with surgery theory is assumed, and every algebraic concept is justified by its occurrence in topology.

The book lays algebraic foundations for real geometry through a systematic investigation of partially ordered rings of semi-algebraic functions. Real spectra serve as primary geometric objects, the maps between them are determined by rings of functions associated with the spectra. The many different possible choices for these rings of functions are studied via reflections of partially ordered rings. Readers should feel comfortable using basic algebraic and categorical concepts. As motivational background some familiarity with real geometry will be helpful. The book aims at researchers and graduate students with an interest in real algebra and geometry, ordered algebraic structures, topology and rings of continuous functions.

The development of polynomial-elimination techniques from classical theory to modern algorithms has undergone a tortuous and rugged path. This can be observed L. van der Waerden's elimination of the "elimination theory" chapter from from B. his classic Modern Algebra in later editions, A. Weil's hope to eliminate "from algebraic geometry the last traces of elimination theory," and S. Abhyankar's sug gestion to "eliminate the eliminators of elimination theory. " The renaissance and recognition of polynomial elimination owe much to the advent and advance of mod ern computing technology, based on which effective algorithms are implemented and applied to diverse problems in science and engineering. In the last decade, both theorists and practitioners have more and more realized the significance and power of elimination methods and their underlying theories. Active and extensive research has contributed a great deal of new developments on algorithms and soft ware tools to the subject, that have been widely acknowledged. Their applications have taken place from pure and applied mathematics to geometric modeling and robotics, and to artificial neural networks. This book provides a systematic and uniform treatment of elimination algo rithms that compute various zero decompositions for systems of multivariate poly nomials. The central concepts are triangular sets and systems of different kinds, in terms of which the decompositions are represented. The prerequisites for the concepts and algorithms are results from basic algebra and some knowledge of algorithmic mathematics."

This updated and expanded second edition of an established text presents a detailed exposition of the modern theory of supermanifolds, including a rigorous account of the superanalogs of all the basic structures of ordinary manifold theory.

This is the first unified treatment in book form of the lower K-groups of Bass and the lower L-groups of the author. These groups arise as the Grothendieck groups of modules and quadratic forms which are components of the K- and L-groups of polynomial extensions. They are important in the topology of non-compact manifolds such as Euclidean spaces, being the value groups for Whitehead torsion, the Siebemann end obstruction and the Wall finiteness and surgery obstructions. Some of the applications to topology are included, such as the obstruction theories for splitting homotopy equivalences and for fibering compact manifolds over the circle. Only elementary algebraic constructions are used, which are always motivated by topology. The material is accessible to a wide mathematical audience, especially graduate students and research workers in topology and algebra.

J. Frank Adams had a profound influence on algebraic topology, and his works continue to shape its development. The International Symposium on Algebraic Topology held in Manchester during July 1990 was dedicated to his memory, and virtually all of the world's leading experts took part. This two volume work constitutes the proceedings of the symposium; the articles contained here range from overviews to reports of work still in progress, as well as a survey and complete bibliography of Adams' own work. These proceedings form an important compendium of current research in algebraic topology, and one that demonstrates the depth of Adams' many contributions to the subject. This second volume is oriented towards stable homotopy theory, the Steenrod algebra and the Adams spectral sequence. In the first volume the theme is mainly unstable homotopy theory, homological and categorical algebra.

J. Frank Adams had a profound influence on algebraic topology, and his works continue to shape its development. The International Symposium on Algebraic Topology held in Manchester during July 1990 was dedicated to his memory, and virtually all of the world's leading experts took part. This two volume work constitutes the proceedings of the symposium; the articles contained here range from overviews to reports of work still in progress, as well as a survey and complete bibliography of Adams' own work. These proceedings form an important compendium of current research in algebraic topology, and one that demonstrates the depth of Adams' many contributions to the subject. Here in the first volume the theme is mainly unstable homotopy theory, homological and categorical algebra. The second volume is oriented towards stable homotopy theory, the Steenrod algebra and the Adams spectral sequence.

This monograph deals with two aspects of the theory of elliptic genus: its topological aspect involving elliptic functions, and its representation theoretic aspect involving vertex operator super-algebras. For the second aspect, elliptic genera are shown to have the structure of modules over certain vertex operator super-algebras. The vertex operators corresponding to parallel tensor fields on closed Riemannian Spin K hler manifolds such as Riemannian tensors and K hler forms are shown to give rise to Virasoro algebras and affine Lie algebras. This monograph is chiefly intended for topologists and it includes accounts on topics outside of topology such as vertex operator algebras.

A substantially revised edition of the UTM volume, with a view to making the book far more accessible to undergraduates. It contains a larger number of detailed explanations and exercises, together with fully worked solutions to the essential problems and a new chapter on the historical aspects.

Using harmonic maps, non-linear PDE and techniques from algebraic geometry this book enables the reader to study the relation between fundamental groups and algebraic geometry invariants of algebraic varieties. The reader should have a basic knowledge of algebraic geometry and non-linear analysis. This book can form the basis for graduate level seminars in the area of topology of algebraic varieties. It also contains present new techniques for researchers working in this area.

This book is an introduction to the theory of shadowing of approximate trajectories in dynamical systems by exact ones. This is the first book completely devoted to the theory of shadowing. It shows the importance of shadowing theory for both the qualitative theory of dynamical systems and the theory of numerical methods. Shadowing Methods allow us to estimate differences between exact and approximate solutions on infinite time intervals and to understand the influence of error terms. The book is intended for specialists in dynamical systems, for researchers and graduate students in the theory of numerical methods.

This volume contains a re-edition of Max Koecher's famous Minnesota Notes. The main objects are homogeneous, but not necessarily convex, cones. They are described in terms of Jordan algebras. The central point is a correspondence between semisimple real Jordan algebras and so-called omega-domains. This leads to a construction of half-spaces which give an essential part of all bounded symmetric domains. The theory is presented in a concise manner, with only elementary prerequisites. The editors have added notes on each chapter containing an account of the relevant developments of the theory since these notes were first written.

This book describes the representations of Lie superalgebras that are yielded by a graded version of Hudson-Parthasarathy quantum stochastic calculus. Quantum stochastic calculus and grading theory are given concise introductions, extending readership to mathematicians and physicists with a basic knowledge of algebra and infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. The develpment of an explicit formula for the chaotic expansion of a polynomial of quantum stochastic integrals is particularly interesting. The book aims to provide a self-contained exposition of what is known about Z_2-graded quantum stochastic calculus and to provide a framework for future research into this new and fertile area.

This volume contains 19 articles written by speakers at the Advanced Study Institute on 'Modular representations and subgroup structure of al gebraic groups and related finite groups' held at the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge from 23rd June to 4th July 1997. We acknowledge with gratitude the financial support given by the NATO Science Committee to enable this ASI to take place. Generous financial support was also provided by the European Union. We are also pleased to acknowledge funds given by EPSRC to the Newton Institute which were used to support the meeting. It is a pleasure to thank the Director of the Isaac Newton Institute, Professor Keith Moffatt, and the staff of the Institute for their dedicated work which did so much to further the success of the meeting. The editors wish to thank Dr. Ross Lawther and Dr. Nick Inglis most warmly for their help in the production of this volume. Dr. Lawther in particular made an invaluable contribution in preparing the volume for submission to the publishers. Finally we wish to thank the distinguished speakers at the ASI who agreed to write articles for this volume based on their lectures at the meet ing. We hope that the volume will stimulate further significant advances in the theory of algebraic groups."

The book is devoted to the geometrical construction of the representations of Lusztig's small quantum groups at roots of unity. These representations are realized as some spaces of vanishing cycles of perverse sheaves over configuration spaces. As an application, the bundles of conformal blocks over the moduli spaces of curves are studied. The book is intended for specialists in group representations and algebraic geometry.