Basic properties, homotopy classification, and characteristic classes of fibre bundles have become an essential part of graduate mathematical education for students in geometry and mathematical physics. The new edition of this text includes two additional chapters, one on the gauge group of a bundle and the other on the differential forms representing characteristic classes of complex vector bundles on manifolds.

Based on several recent courses given to mathematical physics students, this volume is an introduction to bundle theory. It aims to provide newcomers to the field with solid foundations in topological K-theory. A fundamental theme, emphasized in the book, centers around the gluing of local bundle data related to bundles into a global object. One renewed motivation for studying this subject, comes from quantum field theory, where topological invariants play an important role.

First Edition sold over 2500 copies in the Americas; New Edition contains three new chapters and two new appendices

Based on several recent courses given to mathematical physics students, this volume is an introduction to bundle theory. It aims to provide newcomers to the field with solid foundations in topological K-theory. A fundamental theme, emphasized in the book, centers around the gluing of local bundle data related to bundles into a global object. One renewed motivation for studying this subject, comes from quantum field theory, where topological invariants play an important role.

This book is an introduction to the theory of elliptic curves, ranging from its most elementary aspects to current research. The first part, which grew out of Tate's Haverford lectures, covers the elementary arithmetic theory of elliptic curves over the rationals. The next two chapters recast the arguments used in the proof of the Mordell theorem into the context of Galois cohomology and descent theory. This is followed by three chapters on the analytic theory of elliptic curves, including such topics as elliptic functions, theta functions, and modular functions. Next, the theory of endomorphisms and elliptic curves over infinite and local fields are discussed. The book then continues by providing a survey of results in the arithmetic theory, especially those related to the conjecture of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer. This new edition contains three new chapters which explore recent directions and extensions of the theory of elliptic curves and the addition of two new appendices. The first appendix, written by Stefan Theisan, examines the role of Calabi-Yau manifolds in string theory, while the second, by Otto Forster, discusses the use of elliptic curves in computing theory and coding theory. Dale Husemöller is a member of the faculty at the Max Planck Institute of Mathematics in Bonn.

Fibre bundles play an important role in just about every aspect of modern geometry and topology. Basic properties, homotopy classification, and characteristic classes of fibre bundles have become an essential part of graduate mathematical education for students in geometry and mathematical physics. In this third edition two new chapters on the gauge group of a bundle and on the differential forms representing characteristic classes of complex vector bundles on manifolds have been added. These chapters result from the important role of the gauge group in mathematical physics and the continual usefulness of characteristic classes defined with connections on vector bundles.