Based on the Simons Symposia held in 2015, the proceedings in this volume focus on rational curves on higher-dimensional algebraic varieties and applications of the theory of curves to arithmetic problems. There has been significant progress in this field with major new results, which have given new impetus to the study of rational curves and spaces of rational curves on K3 surfaces and their higher-dimensional generalizations. One main recent insight the book covers is the idea that the geometry of rational curves is tightly coupled to properties of derived categories of sheaves on K3 surfaces. The implementation of this idea led to proofs of long-standing conjectures concerning birational properties of holomorphic symplectic varieties, which in turn should yield new theorems in arithmetic. This proceedings volume covers these new insights in detail.

Based on the Simons Symposia held in 2015, the proceedings in this volume focus on rational curves on higher-dimensional algebraic varieties and applications of the theory of curves to arithmetic problems. There has been significant progress in this field with major new results, which have given new impetus to the study of rational curves and spaces of rational curves on K3 surfaces and their higher-dimensional generalizations. One main recent insight the book covers is the idea that the geometry of rational curves is tightly coupled to properties of derived categories of sheaves on K3 surfaces. The implementation of this idea led to proofs of long-standing conjectures concerning birational properties of holomorphic symplectic varieties, which in turn should yield new theorems in arithmetic. This proceedings volume covers these new insights in detail.

The transparency and power of geometric constructions has been a source of inspiration to generations of mathematicians. The beauty and persuasion of pictures, communicated in words or drawings, continues to provide the intuition and arguments for working with complicated concepts and structures of modern mathematics. This volume contains a selection of articles exploring geometric approaches to problems in algebra, algebraic geometry and number theory.

Key topics include:

* Curves and their Jacobians

* Algebraic surfaces

* Moduli spaces, Shimura varieties

* Motives and motivic integration

* Number-theoretic applications, rational points

* Combinatorial aspects of algebraic geometry

* Quantum cohomology

* Arithmetic dynamical systems

The collection gives a representative sample of problems and most recent results in algebraic and arithmetic geometry; the text can serve as an intense introduction for graduate students and those wishing to pursue research in these areas.

Contributors: I. Bauer, F. Bogomolov, N. Budur, F. Catanese, C.-L. Chai, R. Cluckers, C. De Concini, J.S. Ellenberg, F. Grunewald, B. Hassett, T. Hausel, F. Loeser, J. Pineiro, R. Pink, C. Procesi, M. Spitzweck, P. Swinnerton-Dyer, L. Szpiro, H. Tamvakis, Y. Tschinkel, T.J. Tucker, A. Venkatesh, and Y.G. Zarhin.

Rationality problems link algebra to geometry, and the difficulties involved depend on the transcendence degree of $K$ over $k$, or geometrically, on the dimension of the variety. A major success in 19th century algebraic geometry was a complete solution of the rationality problem in dimensions one and two over algebraically closed ground fields of characteristic zero. Such advances has led to many interdisciplinary applications to algebraic geometry.

This comprehensive book consists of surveys of research papers by leading specialists in the field and gives indications for future research in rationality problems. Topics discussed include the rationality of quotient spaces, cohomological invariants of quasi-simple Lie type groups, rationality of the moduli space of curves, and rational points on algebraic varieties.

This volume is intended for researchers, mathematicians, and graduate students interested in algebraic geometry, and specifically in rationality problems.

Contributors: F. Bogomolov; T. Petrov; Y. Tschinkel; Ch. Bohning; G. Catanese; I. Cheltsov; J. Park; N. Hoffmann; S. J. Hu; M. C. Kang; L. Katzarkov; Y. Prokhorov; A. Pukhlikov"