This book is a collection of the lectures and talks presented in the Tohoku Forum for Creativity in the thematic year 2015 'Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics: Strings, Black Holes and Quantum Information', and related events in the period 2014-2016.This volume especially contains an overview of recent developments in the theory of strings and membranes, as well as topological field theory.

This volume is dedicated to the memory of Shoshichi Kobayashi, and gathers contributions from distinguished researchers working on topics close to his research areas. The book is organized into three parts, with the first part presenting an overview of Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi's career. This is followed by two expository course lectures (the second part) on recent topics in extremal Kahler metrics and value distribution theory, which will be helpful for graduate students in mathematics interested in new topics in complex geometry and complex analysis. Lastly, the third part of the volume collects authoritative research papers on differential geometry and complex analysis. Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi was a recognized international leader in the areas of differential and complex geometry. He contributed crucial ideas that are still considered fundamental in these fields. The book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of differential geometry, complex geometry, and several complex variables geometry, as well as to graduate students in mathematics.

This volume is dedicated to the memory of Shoshichi Kobayashi, and gathers contributions from distinguished researchers working on topics close to his research areas. The book is organized into three parts, with the first part presenting an overview of Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi's career. This is followed by two expository course lectures (the second part) on recent topics in extremal Kahler metrics and value distribution theory, which will be helpful for graduate students in mathematics interested in new topics in complex geometry and complex analysis. Lastly, the third part of the volume collects authoritative research papers on differential geometry and complex analysis. Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi was a recognized international leader in the areas of differential and complex geometry. He contributed crucial ideas that are still considered fundamental in these fields. The book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of differential geometry, complex geometry, and several complex variables geometry, as well as to graduate students in mathematics.

Noncommutative differential geometry is a new approach to classical geometry. It was originally used by Fields Medalist A. Connes in the theory of foliations, where it led to striking extensions of Atiyah-Singer index theory. It also may be applicable to hitherto unsolved geometric phenomena and physical experiments. However, noncommutative differential geometry was not well understood even among mathematicians. Therefore, an international symposium on commutative differential geometry and its applications to physics was held in Japan, in July 1999. Topics covered included: deformation problems, Poisson groupoids, operad theory, quantization problems, and D-branes. The meeting was attended by both mathematicians and physicists, which resulted in interesting discussions. This volume contains the refereed proceedings of this symposium. Providing a state of the art overview of research in these topics, this book is suitable as a source book for a seminar in noncommutative geometry and physics.

This volume reflects the growing collaboration between mathematicians and theoretical physicists to treat the foundations of quantum field theory using the mathematical tools of q-deformed algebras and noncommutative differential geometry. A particular challenge is posed by gravity, which probably necessitates extension of these methods to geometries with minimum length and therefore quantization of space. This volume builds on the lectures and talks that have been given at a recent meeting on "Quantum Field Theory and Noncommutative Geometry." A considerable effort has been invested in making the contributions accessible to a wider community of readers - so this volume will not only benefit researchers in the field but also postgraduate students and scientists from related areas wishing to become better acquainted with this field.

This volume is composed of invited expository articles by well-known mathematicians in differential geometry and mathematical physics that have been arranged in celebration of Hideki Omori's recent retirement from Tokyo University of Science and in honor of his fundamental contributions to these areas.

The papers focus on recent trends and future directions in symplectic and Poisson geometry, global analysis, infinite-dimensional Lie group theory, quantizations and noncommutative geometry, as well as applications of partial differential equations and variational methods to geometry. These articles will appeal to graduate students in mathematics and quantum mechanics, as well as researchers, differential geometers, and mathematical physicists.

Contributors include: M. Cahen, D. Elworthy, A. Fujioka, M. Goto, J. Grabowski, S. Gutt, J. Inoguchi, M. Karasev, O. Kobayashi, Y. Maeda, K. Mikami, N. Miyazaki, T. Mizutani, H. Moriyoshi, H. Omori, T. Sasai, D. Sternheimer, A. Weinstein, K. Yamaguchi, T. Yatsui, and A. Yoshioka.

This volume reflects the growing collaboration between mathematicians and theoretical physicists to treat the foundations of quantum field theory using the mathematical tools of q-deformed algebras and noncommutative differential geometry. A particular challenge is posed by gravity, which probably necessitates extension of these methods to geometries with minimum length and therefore quantization of space. This volume builds on the lectures and talks that have been given at a recent meeting on "Quantum Field Theory and Noncommutative Geometry." A considerable effort has been invested in making the contributions accessible to a wider community of readers - so this volume will not only benefit researchers in the field but also postgraduate students and scientists from related areas wishing to become better acquainted with this field.

Noncommutative differential geometry is a new approach to classical geometry. It was originally used by Fields Medalist A. Connes in the theory of foliations, where it led to striking extensions of Atiyah-Singer index theory. It also may be applicable to hitherto unsolved geometric phenomena and physical experiments.
However, noncommutative differential geometry was not well understood even among mathematicians. Therefore, an international symposium on commutative differential geometry and its applications to physics was held in Japan, in July 1999. Topics covered included: deformation problems, Poisson groupoids, operad theory, quantization problems, and D-branes. The meeting was attended by both mathematicians and physicists, which resulted in interesting discussions. This volume contains the refereed proceedings of this symposium.
Providing a state of the art overview of research in these topics, this book is suitable as a source book for a seminar in noncommutative geometry and physics.

Symplectic geometry originated in physics, but it has flourished as an independent subject in mathematics, together with its offspring, symplectic topology. Symplectic methods have even been applied back to mathematical physics. Noncommutative geometry has developed an alternative mathematical quantization scheme based on a geometric approach to operator algebras. Deformation quantization, a blend of symplectic methods and noncommutative geometry, approaches quantum mechanics from a more algebraic viewpoint, as it addresses quantization as a deformation of Poisson structures. This volume contains seven chapters based on lectures given by invited speakers at two May 2010 workshops held at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute: Symplectic and Poisson Geometry in Interaction with Analysis, Algebra and Topology (honoring Alan Weinstein, one of the key figures in the field) and Symplectic Geometry, Noncommutative Geometry and Physics. The chapters include presentations of previously unpublished results and comprehensive reviews, including recent developments in these areas.