Edmund Hlawka is a leading number theorist whose work has had a lasting influence on modern number theory and other branches of mathematics. He has contributed to diophantine approximation, the geometry of numbers, uniform distributions, analytic number theory, discrete geometry, convexity, numerical integration, inequalities, differential equations and gas dynamics. Of particular importance are his findings in the geometry of numbers (especially the Minkowski-Hlawka theorem) and uniform distribution. This Selecta volume collects his most important articles, many of which were previously hard to find. It will provide a useful tool for researchers and graduate students working in the areas covered, and includes a general introduction by E. Hlawka.

The C.I.M.E. session in Diophantine Approximation, held in Cetraro (Italy) June 28 - July 6, 2000 focused on height theory, linear independence and transcendence in group varieties, Baker's method, approximations to algebraic numbers and applications to polynomial-exponential diophantine equations and to diophantine theory of linear recurrences. Very fine lectures by D. Masser, Y. Nesterenko, H.-P. Schlickewei, W.M. Schmidt and M. Walsschmidt have resulted giving a good overview of these topics, and describing central results, both classical and recent, emphasizing the new methods and ideas of the proofs rather than the details. They are addressed to a wide audience and do not require any prior specific knowledge.

The book presents an in-depth study of arbitrary one-dimensional continuous strong Markov processes using methods of stochastic calculus. Departing from the classical approaches, a unified investigation of regular as well as arbitrary non-regular diffusions is provided. A general construction method for such processes, based on a generalization of the concept of a perfect additive functional, is developed. The intrinsic decomposition of a continuous strong Markov semimartingale is discovered. The book also investigates relations to stochastic differential equations and fundamental examples of irregular diffusions.

"This book by a leading researcher and masterly expositor of the subject studies diophantine approximations to algebraic numbers and their applications to diophantine equations. The methods are classical, and the results stressed can be obtained without much background in algebraic geometry. In particular, Thue equations, norm form equations and S-unit equations, with emphasis on recent explicit bounds on the number of solutions, are included. The book will be useful for graduate students and researchers." (L'Enseignement Mathematique) "The rich Bibliography includes more than hundred references. The book is easy to read, it may be a useful piece of reading not only for experts but for students as well." Acta Scientiarum Mathematicarum