Random matrix theory is an area of mathematics first developed by physicists interested in the energy levels of atomic nuclei, but it can also be used to describe some exotic phenomena in the number theory of elliptic curves. The purpose of this book is to illustrate this interplay of number theory and random matrices. It begins with an introduction to elliptic curves and the fundamentals of modelling by a family of random matrices, and moves on to highlight the latest research. There are expositions of current research on ranks of elliptic curves, statistical properties of families of elliptic curves and their associated L-functions and the emerging uses of random matrix theory in this field. Most of the material here had its origin in a Clay Mathematics Institute workshop on this topic at the Newton Institute in Cambridge and together these contributions provide a unique in-depth treatment of the subject.

In recent years the application of random matrix techniques to analytic number theory has been responsible for major advances in this area of mathematics. As a consequence it has created a new and rapidly developing area of research. The aim of this book is to provide the necessary grounding both in relevant aspects of number theory and techniques of random matrix theory, as well as to inform the reader of what progress has been made when these two apparently disparate subjects meet. This volume of proceedings is addressed to graduate students and other researchers in both pure mathematics and theoretical physics. The contributing authors, who are among the world leading experts in this area, have taken care to write self-contained lectures on subjects chosen to produce a coherent volume.