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

Permutation Groups form one of the oldest parts of group theory. Through the ubiquity of group actions and the concrete representations which they afford, both finite and infinite permutation groups arise in many parts of mathematics and continue to be a lively topic of research in their own right. The book begins with the basic ideas, standard constructions and important examples in the theory of permutation groups.It then develops the combinatorial and group theoretic structure of primitive groups leading to the proof of the pivotal O'Nan-Scott Theorem which links finite primitive groups with finite simple groups. Special topics covered include the Mathieu groups, multiply transitive groups, and recent work on the subgroups of the infinite symmetric groups. This text can serve as an introduction to permutation groups in a course at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level, or for self- study. It includes many exercises and detailed references to the current literature.

Introduction In the last few years a few monographs dedicated to the theory of topolog ical rings have appeared [Warn27], [Warn26], [Wies 19], [Wies 20], [ArnGM]. Ring theory can be viewed as a particular case of Z-algebras. Many general results true for rings can be extended to algebras over commutative rings. In topological algebra the structure theory for two classes of topological algebras is well developed: Banach algebras; and locally compact rings. The theory of Banach algebras uses results of Banach spaces, and the theory of locally compact rings uses the theory of LCA groups. As far as the author knows, the first papers on the theory of locally compact rings were [Pontr1]' [J1], [J2], [JT], [An], lOt], [K1]' [K2]' [K3], [K4], [K5], [K6]. Later two papers, [GS1,GS2]appeared, which contain many results concerning locally compact rings. This book can be used in two w.ays. It contains all necessary elementary results from the theory of topological groups and rings. In order to read these parts of the book the reader needs to know only elementary facts from the theories of groups, rings, modules, topology. The book consists of two parts.

An introduction to the basic tools of the theory of (partially) ordered sets such as visualization via diagrams, subsets, homomorphisms, important order-theoretical constructions and classes of ordered sets. Using a thematic approach, the author presents open or recently solved problems to motivate the development of constructions and investigations for new classes of ordered sets. The text can be used as a focused follow-up or companion to a first proof (set theory and relations) or graph theory course.

A new foundation of Topology, summarized under the name Convenient Topology, is considered such that several deficiencies of topological and uniform spaces are remedied. This does not mean that these spaces are superfluous. It means exactly that a better framework for handling problems of a topological nature is used. In this setting semiuniform convergence spaces play an essential role. They include not only convergence structures such as topological structures and limit space structures, but also uniform convergence structures such as uniform structures and uniform limit space structures, and they are suitable for studying continuity, Cauchy continuity and uniform continuity as well as convergence structures in function spaces, e.g. simple convergence, continuous convergence and uniform convergence. Various interesting results are presented which cannot be obtained by using topological or uniform spaces in the usual context. The text is self-contained with the exception of the last chapter, where the intuitive concept of nearness is incorporated in Convenient Topology (there exist already excellent expositions on nearness spaces).

The fundamental theorem of algebra states that any complex polynomial must have a complex root. This book examines three pairs of proofs of the theorem from three different areas of mathematics: abstract algebra, complex analysis and topology. The first proof in each pair is fairly straightforward and depends only on what could be considered elementary mathematics. However, each of these first proofs leads to more general results from which the fundamental theorem can be deduced as a direct consequence. These general results constitute the second proof in each pair. To arrive at each of the proofs, enough of the general theory of each relevant area is developed to understand the proof. In addition to the proofs and techniques themselves, many applications such as the insolvability of the quintic and the transcendence of e and pi are presented. Finally, a series of appendices give six additional proofs including a version of Gauss'original first proof. The book is intended for junior/senior level undergraduate mathematics students or first year graduate students, and would make an ideal "capstone" course in mathematics.

Systems with sub-processes evolving on many different time scales are ubiquitous in applications: chemical reactions, electro-optical and neuro-biological systems, to name just a few. This volume contains papers that expose the state of the art in mathematical techniques for analyzing such systems. Recently developed geometric ideas are highlighted in this work that includes a theory of relaxation-oscillation phenomena in higher dimensional phase spaces. Subtle exponentially small effects result from singular perturbations implicit in certain multiple time scale systems. Their role in the slow motion of fronts, bifurcations, and jumping between invariant tori are all explored here. Neurobiology has played a particularly stimulating role in the development of these techniques and one paper is directed specifically at applying geometric singular perturbation theory to reveal the synchrony in networks of neural oscillators.

The material and references in this extended second edition of "The Topology of Torus Actions on Symplectic Manifolds," published as Volume 93 in this series in 1991, have been updated. Symplectic manifolds and torus actions are investigated, with numerous examples of torus actions, for instance on some moduli spaces. Although the book is still centered on convexity results, it contains much more material, in particular lots of new examples and exercises.

Daniel Quillen's definition of the higher algebraic K-groups of a ring emphasized the importance of computing the homology of groups of matrices. This text traces the development of this theory from Quillen's fundamental calculation of the cohomology of GLn (Fq). The stability theorems and low-dimensional results of A. Suslin, W. van der Kallen and others are presented as well as recent results for rank one groups. A chapter on the Friedlander-Milnor-conjecture concerning the homology of algebraic groups made discrete is also included. This marks the first time that these results have been collected in a single volume. The book should prove useful to graduate students and researchers in K-theory, group cohomology, algebraic geometry and topology.

This is the award-winning monograph of the Sunyer i Balaguer Prize 1999. The book presents recently discovered connections between Artin s braid groups and left self-distributive systems, which are sets equipped with a binary operation satisfying the identity x(yz) = (xy)(xz). Although not a comprehensive course, the exposition is self-contained, and many basic results are established. In particular, the first chapters include a thorough algebraic study of Artin s braid groups."

gentle introduction to the subject, leading the reader to understand the notion of what is important in topology with regard to geometry. Divided into three sections - The line and the plane, Metric spaces and Topological spaces -, the book eases the move into higher levels of abstraction. Students are thereby informally assisted in learning new ideas while remaining on familiar territory. The authors do not assume previous knowledge of axiomatic approach or set theory. Similarly, they have restricted the mathematical vocabulary in the book so as to avoid overwhelming the reader, and the concept of convergence is employed to allow students to focus on a central theme while moving to a natural understanding of the notion of topology. The pace of the book is relaxed with gradual acceleration: the first nine sections form a balanced course in metric spaces for undergraduates while also containing ample material for a two-semester graduate course. Finally, the book illustrates the many connections between topology and other subjects, such as analysis and set theory, via the inclusion of "Extras" at the end of each chapter presenting a brief foray outside topology.

This book contains a collection of articles summarizing together the state of knowl- edge in a broad portion of modern homotopy theory. These articles were assembled during 1998 and 1999, on the occasion of an emphasis semester organized by the Centre de Recerca Matematica (CRM) and its highlight, the 1998 Barcelona Con- ference on Algebraic Topology (BCAT). First of all, we are indebted to all the authors for submitting their work, and to the referees for their help in the selec- tion and for their generous contribution to the content of the articles. Many talks given during the CRM semester or at the conference focused on aspects of the following topics: abstract stable homotopy, model categories, homotopical localizations and cellular approximations, p-compact groups, mod- ules over the Steenrod algebra, classifying spaces for proper actions of discrete groups, K-theory and other generalized cohomology theories, cohomology of fi- nite and profinite groups, Hochschild homology, configuration spaces, Lusternik- Schnirelmann category, stable and unstable splittings. Other talks treated multi- disciplinary subjects related to quantum field theory, differential geometry, homo- topical dynamics, tilings, and various aspects of group theory. In addition, an advanced course on Classifying Spaces and Cohomology of Groups was organized by the CRM in the days preceding the conference. Lecture notes from this course will be published by Birkhauser Verlag as the first volume of a newly created CRM Advanced Course series.

This is the first monograph to exclusively treat Kac-Moody (K-M) groups, a standard tool in mathematics and mathematical physics. K-M Lie algebras were introduced in the mid-sixties independently by V. Kac and R. Moody, generalizing finite-dimensional semisimple Lie algebras. K-M theory has since undergone tremendous developments in various directions and has profound connections with a number of diverse areas, including number theory, combinatorics, topology, singularities, quantum groups, completely integrable systems, and mathematical physics. This comprehensive, well-written text moves from K-M Lie algebras to the broader K-M Lie group setting, and focuses on the study of K-M groups and their flag varieties. In developing K-M theory from scratch, the author systematically leads readers to the forefront of the subject, treating the algebro-geometric, topological, and representation-theoretic aspects of the theory. Most of the material presented here is not available anywhere in the book literature.{\it Kac--Moody Groups, their Flag Varieties and Representation Theory} is suitable for an advanced graduate course in representation theory, and contains a number of examples, exercises, challenging open problems, comprehensive bibliography, and index. Research mathematicians at the crossroads of representation theory, geometry, and topology will learn a great deal from this text; although the book is devoted to the general K-M case, those primarily interested in the finite-dimensional case will also benefit. No prior knowledge of K-M Lie algebras or of (finite-dimensional) algebraic groups is required, but some basic knowledge would certainly be helpful. For the reader's convenience some of the basic results needed from other areas, including ind-varieties, pro-algebraic groups and pro-Lie algebras, Tits systems, local cohomology, equivariant cohomology, and homological algebra are included.

This work concerns the diffeomorphism groups of 3-manifolds, in particular of elliptic 3-manifolds. These are the closed 3-manifolds that admit a Riemannian metric of constant positive curvature, now known to be exactly the closed 3-manifolds that have a finite fundamental group. The (Generalized) Smale Conjecture asserts that for any elliptic 3-manifold M, the inclusion from the isometry group of M to its diffeomorphism group is a homotopy equivalence. The original Smale Conjecture, for the 3-sphere, was proven by J. Cerf and A. Hatcher, and N. Ivanov proved the generalized conjecture for many of the elliptic 3-manifolds that contain a geometrically incompressible Klein bottle.

The main results establish the Smale Conjecture for all elliptic 3-manifolds containing geometrically incompressible Klein bottles, and for all lens spaces L(m, q) with m at least 3. Additional results imply that for a Haken Seifert-fibered 3 manifold V, the space of Seifert fiberings has contractible components, and apart from a small list of known exceptions, is contractible. Considerable foundational and background

This two-volume monograph obtains fundamental notions and results of the standard differential geometry of smooth (CINFINITY) manifolds, without using differential calculus. Here, the sheaf-theoretic character is emphasised. This has theoretical advantages such as greater perspective, clarity and unification, but also practical benefits ranging from elementary particle physics, via gauge theories and theoretical cosmology (`differential spaces'), to non-linear PDEs (generalised functions). Thus, more general applications, which are no longer `smooth' in the classical sense, can be coped with. The treatise might also be construed as a new systematic endeavour to confront the ever-increasing notion that the `world around us is far from being smooth enough'. Audience: This work is intended for postgraduate students and researchers whose work involves differential geometry, global analysis, analysis on manifolds, algebraic topology, sheaf theory, cohomology, functional analysis or abstract harmonic analysis.

The book is based on my lecture notes "Infinite dimensional Morse theory and its applications," 1985, Montreal, and one semester of graduate lectures delivered at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1987. Since the aim of this monograph is to give a unified account of the topics in critical point theory, a considerable amount of new materials has been added. Some of them have never been published previously. The book is of interest both to researchers following the development of new results, and to people seeking an introduction into this theory. The main results are designed to be as self-contained as possible. And for the reader's convenience, some preliminary background information has been organized. The following people deserve special thanks for their direct roles in help ing to prepare this book. Prof. L. Nirenberg, who first introduced me to this field ten years ago, when I visited the Courant Institute of Math Sciences. Prof. A. Granas, who invited me to give a series of lectures at SMS, 1983, Montreal, and then the above notes, as the primary version of a part of the manuscript, which were published in the SMS collection. Prof. P. Rabinowitz, who provided much needed encouragement during the academic semester, and invited me to teach a semester graduate course after which the lecture notes became the second version of parts of this book. Professors A. Bahri and H. Brezis who suggested the publication of the book in the Birkhiiuser series."

" . . . that famous pedagogical method whereby one begins with the general and proceeds to the particular only after the student is too confused to understand even that anymore. " Michael Spivak This text was written as an antidote to topology courses such as Spivak It is meant to provide the student with an experience in geomet describes. ric topology. Traditionally, the only topology an undergraduate might see is point-set topology at a fairly abstract level. The next course the average stu dent would take would be a graduate course in algebraic topology, and such courses are commonly very homological in nature, providing quick access to current research, but not developing any intuition or geometric sense. I have tried in this text to provide the undergraduate with a pragmatic introduction to the field, including a sampling from point-set, geometric, and algebraic topology, and trying not to include anything that the student cannot immediately experience. The exercises are to be considered as an in tegral part of the text and, ideally, should be addressed when they are met, rather than at the end of a block of material. Many of them are quite easy and are intended to give the student practice working with the definitions and digesting the current topic before proceeding. The appendix provides a brief survey of the group theory needed."

This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the 1991 Conrad Conference, held in Gainesville, Florida, USA, in December, 1991. Together, these give an overview of some recent advances in the area of ordered algebraic structures. The first part of the book is devoted to ordered permutation groups and universal, as well as model-theoretic, aspects. The second part deals with material variously connected to general topology and functional analysis. Collectively, the contents of the book demonstrate the wide applicability of order-theoretic methods, and how ordered algebraic structures have connections with many research disciplines. For researchers and graduate students whose work involves ordered algebraic structures.

With applications in mind, this self-contained monograph provides a coherent and thorough treatment of the configuration spaces of Euclidean spaces and spheres, making the subject accessible to researchers and graduates with a minimal background in classical homotopy theory and algebraic topology.

The articles in this volume are an outgrowth of an International Confer- ence in Intersection Theory that took place in Bologna, Italy (December 1997). In a somewhat unorthodox format aimed at both the mathematical community as well as summer school students, talks were research-oriented as well as partly expository. There were four series of expository talks by the following people: M. Brion, University of Grenoble, on Equivariant Chow groups and applications; H. Flenner, University of Bochum, on Joins and intersections; E. M. Friedlander, Northwestern University, on Intersection products for spaces of algebraic cycles; R. Laterveer, University of Strasbourg, on Bigraded Chow (co)homology. Four introductory papers cover the following topics and bring the reader to the forefront of research: 1) the excess intersection algorithm of Stuckrad and Vogel, combined with the deformation to the normal cone, together with many of its geo- metric applications; 2) new and very important homotopy theory techniques that are now used in intersection theory; 3) the Bloch-Beilinson filtration and the theory of motives; 4) algebraic stacks, the modern language of moduli theory. Other research articles concern such active fields as stable maps and Gromov-Witten invariants, deformation theory of complex varieties, and others. Organizers of the conference were Rudiger Achilles, Mirella Manaresi, and Angelo Vistoli, all from the University of Bologna; the scientific com- mittee consisted of Geir Ellingsrud, University of Oslo, William Fulton, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Angelo Vistoli. The conference was financed by the European Union (contract no.

This textbook is designed to give graduate students an understanding of integrable systems via the study of Riemann surfaces, loop groups, and twistors. The book has its origins in a series of lecture courses given by the authors, all of whom are internationally known mathematicians and renowned expositors. It is written in an accessible and informal style, and fills a gap in the existing literature. The introduction by Nigel Hitchin addresses the meaning of integrability: how do we recognize an integrable system? His own contribution then develops connections with algebraic geometry, and includes an introduction to Riemann surfaces, sheaves, and line bundles. Graeme Segal takes the Kortewegde Vries and nonlinear Schroedinger equations as central examples, and explores the mathematical structures underlying the inverse scattering transform. He explains the roles of loop groups, the Grassmannian, and algebraic curves. In the final part of the book, Richard Ward explores the connection between integrability and the self-dual Yang-Mills equations, and describes the correspondence between solutions to integrable equations and holomorphic vector bundles over twistor space.

Inverse limits with set-valued functions are quickly becoming a popular topic of research due to their potential applications in dynamical systems and economics. This brief provides a concise introduction dedicated specifically to such inverse limits. The theory is presented along with detailed examples which form the distinguishing feature of this work. The major differences between the theory of inverse limits with mappings and the theory with set-valued functions are featured prominently in this book in a positive light. The reader is assumed to have taken a senior level course in analysis and a basic course in topology. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers working in this area will find this brief useful.

The KK-theory of Kasparov is now approximately twelve years old; its power, utility and importance have been amply demonstrated. Nonethe less, it remains a forbiddingly difficult topic with which to work and learn. There are many reasons for this. For one thing, KK-theory spans several traditionally disparate mathematical regimes. For another, the literature is scattered and difficult to penetrate. Many of the major papers require the reader to supply the details of the arguments based on only a rough outline of proofs. Finally, the subject itself has come to consist of a number of difficult segments, each of which demands prolonged and intensive study. is to deal with some of these difficul Our goal in writing this book ties and make it possible for the reader to "get started" with the theory. We have not attempted to produce a comprehensive treatise on all aspects of KK-theory; the subject seems too vital to submit to such a treatment at this point. What seemed more important to us was a timely presen tation of the very basic elements of the theory, the functoriality of the KK-groups, and the Kasparov product."

From the reviews: "The book is well written. We find here many examples. Each chapter is followed by exercises, and at the end of the book there are outline solutions to some of them. [...] I especially appreciated the lively style of the book; [...] one is quickly able to find necessary details." EMS Newsletter