Barry Simon, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

Orthogonal Polynomials on the Unit Circle:
Part 1: Classical Theory; Part 2: Spectral Theory

Expected publication date is January 13, 2005

Description

This two-part volume gives a comprehensive overview of the theory of probability measures on the unit circle, viewed especially in terms of the orthogonal polynomials defined by those measures. A major theme involves the connections between the Verblunsky coefficients (the coefficients of the recurrence equation for the orthogonal polynomials) and the measures, an analog of the spectral theory of one-dimensional Schrodinger operators.

Among the topics discussed along the way are the asymptotics of Toeplitz determinants (Szego's theorems), limit theorems for the density of the zeros of orthogonal polynomials, matrix representations for multiplication by z (CMV matrices), periodic Verblunsky coefficients from the point of view of meromorphic functions on hyperelliptic surfaces, and connections between the theories of orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle and on the real line.

The book is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in analysis.

Contents

Part 1: The Basics
Szego's theorem
Tools for Geronimus' theorem
Matrix representations
Baxter's theorem
The strong Szego theorem
Verblunsky coefficients with rapid decay
The density of zeros
Bibliography
Author index
Subject index
Part 2: Rakhmanov's theorem and related issues
Techniques of spectral analysis
Periodic Verblunsky coefficients
Spectral analysis of specific classes of Verblunsky coefficients
The connection to Jacobi matrices
Reader's guide: Topics and formulae
Perspectives
Twelve great papers
Conjectures and open questions
Bibliography
Author index
Subject index

Details:

Series: Colloquium Publications, Volume: 54
Publication Year: 2004
ISBN: 0-8218-3757-5
Paging: approximately 1096 pp.
Binding: Hardcover

Edited by: Michael Douglas, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, Jerome Gauntlett, University of London, England, and Mark Gross, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA

Strings and Geometry

Expected publication date is January 19, 2005

Description

This volume is the proceedings of the 2002 Clay Mathematics Institute School on Geometry and String Theory. This month-long program was held at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, England, and was organized by both mathematicians and physicists: A. Corti, R. Dijkgraaf, M. Douglas, J. Gauntlett, M. Gross, C. Hull, A. Jaffe and M. Reid. The early part of the school had many lectures that introduced various concepts of algebraic geometry and string theory with a focus on improving communication between these two fields. During the latter part of the program there were also a number of research level talks.

This volume contains a selection of expository and research articles by lecturers at the school and highlights some of the current interests of researchers working at the interface between string theory and algebraic geometry. The topics covered include manifolds of special holonomy, supergravity, supersymmetry, D-branes, the McKay correspondence and the Fourier-Mukai transform.

The book is suitable for graduate students and research mathematicians interested in relations between mathematical physics and algebraic geometry.

Titles in this series are published by the AMS for the Clay Mathematics Institute (Cambridge, MA).

Contents

M. R. Douglas -- The geometry of string theory
B. S. Acharya -- M theory, G_2-manifolds and four dimensional physics
S. K. Donaldson -- Conjectures in Kahler geometry
J. P. Gauntlett -- Branes, calibrations and supergravity
S. Gukov -- M-theory on manifolds with exceptional holonomy
N. Hitchin -- Special holonomy and beyond
D. Joyce -- Constructing compact manifolds with exceptional holonomy
A. Kovalev -- From Fano threefolds to compact G_2-manifolds
A. Craw -- An introduction to motivic integration
A. Ishii -- Representation moduli of the McKay quiver for finite Abelian subgroups of SL(3,mathbb{C})
F. Kirwan -- Moduli spaces of bundles over Riemann surfaces and the Yang-Mills stratification revisited
C. Madonna and V. V. Nikulin -- On a classical correspondence between K3 surfaces II
B. Szendroi -- Contractions and monodromy in homological mirror symmetry
N. Dorey -- Lectures on supersymmetric gauge theory
A. Kapustin -- The geometry of A-branes
R. C. Myers -- Low energy D-brane actions
List of Participants

Details:

Series: Clay Mathematics Proceedings,Volume: 3
Publication Year: 2004
ISBN: 0-8218-3715-X
Paging: approximately 408 pp.
Binding: Softcover

Edited by: Robert Hardt, Rice University, Houston, TX

Six Themes on Variation

Expected publication date is January 14, 2005

Description

The calculus of variations is a beautiful subject with a rich history and with origins in the minimization problems of calculus. Although it is now at the core of many modern mathematical fields, it does not have a well-defined place in most undergraduate mathematics curricula. This volume should nevertheless give the undergraduate reader a sense of its great character and importance.

Interesting functionals, such as area or energy, often give rise to problems whose most natural solution occurs by differentiating a one-parameter family of variations of some function. The critical points of the functional are related to the solutions of the associated Euler-Lagrange equation. These differential equations are at the heart of the calculus of variations and its applications to other subjects. Some of the topics addressed in this book are Morse theory, wave mechanics, minimal surfaces, soap bubbles, and modeling traffic flow. All are readily accessible to advanced undergraduates.

This book is derived from a workshop sponsored by Rice University. It is suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and research mathematicians interested in the calculus of variations and its applications to other subjects.

Contents

F. Jones -- Calculus of variations: What does "variations" mean?
R. Forman -- How many equilibria are there? An introduction to Morse theory
S. J. Cox -- Aye, there's the rub. An inquiry into why a plucked string comes to rest
F. Morgan -- Proof of the double bubble conjecture
M. Wolf -- Minimal surfaces, flat cone spheres and moduli spaces of staircases
B. L. Keyfitz -- Hold that light! Modeling of traffic flow by differential equations

Details:

Series: Student Mathematical Library,Volume: 26
Publication Year: 2004
ISBN: 0-8218-3720-6
Paging: 153 pp.
Binding: Softcover

Reinhard Illner, C. Sean Bohun, Samantha McCollum, and Thea van Roode, University of Victoria, BC, Canada

Mathematical Modelling: A case studies approach

Expected publication date is January 16, 2005

Description

Mathematical modelling is a subject without boundaries. It is the means by which mathematics becomes useful to virtually any subject. Moreover, modelling has been and continues to be a driving force for the development of mathematics itself. This book explains the process of modelling real situations to obtain mathematical problems that can be analyzed, thus solving the original problem.

The presentation is in the form of case studies, which are developed much as they would be in true applications. In many cases, an initial model is created, then modified along the way. Some cases are familiar, such as the evaluation of an annuity. Others are unique, such as the fascinating situation in which an engineer, armed only with a slide rule, had 24 hours to compute whether a valve would hold when a temporary rock plug was removed from a water tunnel.

Each chapter ends with a set of exercises and some suggestions for class projects. Some projects are extensive, as with the explorations of the predator-prey model; others are more modest.

The text was designed to be suitable for a one-term course for advanced undergraduates. The selection of topics and the style of exposition reflect this choice. The authors have also succeeded in demonstrating just how enjoyable the subject can be.

This is an ideal text for classes on modelling. It can also be used in seminars or as preparation for mathematical modelling competitions.

Contents

Crystallization dynamics
Will the valve hold?
How much will that annuity cost me?
Dimensional analysis
Predator-prey systems
A control problem in fishery management
Formal justice
Traffic dynamics: A microscopic model
Traffic dynamics: Macroscopic modelling
Bibliography

Details:

Series: Student Mathematical Library, Volume: 27
Publication Year: 2005
ISBN: 0-8218-3650-1
Paging: 196 pp.
Binding: Softcover

S. Ramanan, Chennai Mathematics Institute, India

Global Calculus

Expected publication date is January 13, 2005

Description

The power that analysis, topology and algebra bring to geometry has revolutionized the way geometers and physicists look at conceptual problems. Some of the key ingredients in this interplay are sheaves, cohomology, Lie groups, connections and differential operators. In Global Calculus, the appropriate formalism for these topics is laid out with numerous examples and applications by one of the experts in differential and algebraic geometry.

Ramanan has chosen an uncommon but natural path through the subject. In this almost completely self-contained account, these topics are developed from scratch. The basics of Fourier transforms, Sobolev theory and interior regularity are proved at the same time as symbol calculus, culminating in beautiful results in global analysis, real and complex. Many new perspectives on traditional and modern questions of differential analysis and geometry are the hallmarks of the book.

The book is suitable for a first year graduate course on global analysis.

Contents

Sheaves and differential manifolds: Definitions and examples
Differential operators
Integration on differential manifolds
Cohomology of sheaves and applications
Connections on principal and vector bundles; Lifting of symbols
Linear connections
Manifolds with additional structures
Local analysis of elliptic operators
Vanishing theorems and applications
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Details:

Series: Graduate Studies in Mathematics, Volume: 65
Publication Year: 2005
ISBN: 0-8218-3702-8
Paging: 316 pp.
Binding: Hardcover

T.Y. Lam, University of California, Berkeley, CA

Introduction to Quadratic Forms over Fields

Expected publication date is January 13, 2005

Description

This new version of the author's prizewinning book, Algebraic Theory of Quadratic Forms (W. A. Benjamin, Inc., 1973), gives a modern and self-contained introduction to the theory of quadratic forms over fields of characteristic different from two. Starting with few prerequisites beyond linear algebra, the author charts an expert course from Witt's classical theory of quadratic forms, quaternion and Clifford algebras, Artin-Schreier theory of formally real fields, and structural theorems on Witt rings, to the theory of Pfister forms, function fields, and field invariants. These main developments are seamlessly interwoven with excursions into Brauer-Wall groups, local and global fields, trace forms, Galois theory, and elementary algebraic K-theory, to create a uniquely original treatment of quadratic form theory over fields. Two new chapters totaling more than 100 pages have been added to the earlier incarnation of this book to take into account some of the newer results and more recent viewpoints in the area.

As is characteristic of this author's expository style, the presentation of the main material in this book is interspersed with a copious number of carefully chosen examples to illustrate the general theory. This feature, together with a rich stock of some 280 exercises for the thirteen chapters, greatly enhances the pedagogical value of this book, both as a graduate text and as a reference work for researchers in algebra, number theory, algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, and geometric topology.

Contents

Foundations
Introduction to Witt rings
Quaternion algebras and their norm forms
The Brauer-Wall group
Clifford algebras
Local fields and global fields
Quadratic forms under algebraic extensions
Formally real fields, real-closed fields, and pythagorean fields
Quadratic forms under transcendental extensions
Pfister forms and function fields
Field invariants
Special topics in quadratic forms
Special topics on invariants
Bibliography
Index

Details:

Series: Graduate Studies in Mathematics, Volume: 67
Publication Year: 2005
ISBN: 0-8218-1095-2
Paging: 550 pp.
Binding: Hardcover