This monograph presents a comprehensive treatment of important new ideas on Dirac operators and Dirac cohomology. Dirac operators are widely used in physics, differential geometry, and group-theoretic settings (particularly, the geometric construction of discrete series representations). The related concept of Dirac cohomology, which is defined using Dirac operators, is a far-reaching generalization that connects index theory in differential geometry to representation theory. Using Dirac operators as a unifying theme, the authors demonstrate how some of the most important results in representation theory fit together when viewed from this perspective. An excellent contribution to the mathematical literature of representation theory, this self-contained exposition offers a systematic examination and panoramic view of the subject. The material will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in representation theory, differential geometry, and physics.

This volume contains the proceedings of the conference Representation Theory XVI, held from June 25-29, 2019, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The articles in the volume address selected aspects of representation theory of reductive Lie groups and vertex algebras, and are written by prominent experts in the field as well as junior researchers. The three main topics of these articles are Lie theory, number theory, and vertex algebras.