In 1989-90 the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute conducted a program on "Algebraic Topology and its " "Applications." The main areas of concentration were homotopy theory, K-theory, and applications to geometric topology, gauge theory, and moduli spaces. Workshops were conducted in these three areas. This volume consists of invited, expository articles on the topics studied during this program. They describe recent advances and point to possible new directions. They should prove to be useful references for researchers in Algebraic Topology and related fields, as well as to graduate students.

This book explores string topology, Hochschild and cyclic homology, assembling material from a wide scattering of scholarly sources in a single practical volume. The first part offers a thorough and elegant exposition of various approaches to string topology and the Chas-Sullivan loop product. The second gives a complete and clear construction of an algebraic model for computing topological cyclic homology.