This monograph deals with recent questions of conformal geometry. It provides in detail an approach to studying moduli spaces of conformal structures, using a new canonical metric for conformal structures. This book is accessible to readers with basic knowledge in differential geometry and global analysis. It addresses graduates and researchers.
Mapping class groups and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces were the topics of the Graduate Summer School at the 2011 IAS/Park City Mathematics Institute. This book presents the nine different lecture series comprising the summer school, covering a selection of topics of current interest. The introductory courses treat mapping class groups and Teichmüller theory. The more advanced courses cover intersection theory on moduli spaces, the dynamics of polygonal billiards and moduli spaces, the stable cohomology of mapping class groups, the structure of Torelli groups, and arithmetic mapping class groups. The courses consist of a set of intensive short lectures offered by leaders in the field, designed to introduce students to exciting, current research in mathematics. These lectures do not duplicate standard courses available elsewhere. The book should be a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers interested in the topology, geometry and dynamics of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces and related topics. Titles in this series are co-published with the Institute for Advanced Study/Park City Mathematics Institute. Members of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) receive a 20% discount from list price.
This book studies certain spaces of Riemannian metrics on both compact and non-compact manifolds. These spaces are defined by various sign-based curvature conditions, with special attention paid to positive scalar curvature and non-negative sectional curvature, though we also consider positive Ricci and non-positive sectional curvature. If we form the quotient of such a space of metrics under the action of the diffeomorphism group (or possibly a subgroup) we obtain a moduli space. Understanding the topology of both the original space of metrics and the corresponding moduli space form the central theme of this book. For example, what can be said about the connectedness or the various homotopy groups of such spaces? We explore the major results in the area, but provide sufficient background so that a non-expert with a grounding in Riemannian geometry can access this growing area of research.
This book studies certain spaces of Riemannian metrics on both compact and non-compact manifolds. These spaces are defined by various sign-based curvature conditions, with special attention paid to positive scalar curvature and non-negative sectional curvature, though we also consider positive Ricci and non-positive sectional curvature. If we form the quotient of such a space of metrics under the action of the diffeomorphism group (or possibly a subgroup) we obtain a moduli space. Understanding the topology of both the original space of metrics and the corresponding moduli space form the central theme of this book. For example, what can be said about the connectedness or the various homotopy groups of such spaces? We explore the major results in the area, but provide sufficient background so that a non-expert with a grounding in Riemannian geometry can access this growing area of research.
Andreas Floer died on May 15, 1991 an untimely and tragic death. His visions and far-reaching contributions have significantly influenced the developments of mathematics. His main interests centered on the fields of dynamical systems, symplectic geometry, Yang-Mills theory and low dimensional topology. Motivated by the global existence problem of periodic solutions for Hamiltonian systems and starting from ideas of Conley, Gromov and Witten, he developed his Floer homology, providing new, powerful methods which can be applied to problems inaccessible only a few years ago. This volume opens with a short biography and three hitherto unpublished papers of Andreas Floer. It then presents a collection of invited contributions, and survey articles as well as research papers on his fields of interest, bearing testimony of the high esteem and appreciation this brilliant mathematician enjoyed among his colleagues. Authors include: A. Floer, V.I. Arnold, M. Atiyah, M. Audin, D.M. Austin, S.M. Bates, P.J. Braam, M. Chaperon, R.L. Cohen, G. Dell' Antonio, S.K. Donaldson, B. D'Onofrio, I. Ekeland, Y. Eliashberg, K.D. Ernst, R. Finthushel, A.B. Givental, H. Hofer, J.D.S. Jones, I. McAllister, D. McDuff, Y.-G. Oh, L. Polterovich, D.A. Salamon, G.B. Segal, R. Stern, C.H. Taubes, C. Viterbo, A. Weinstein, E. Witten, E. Zehnder.
Nigel Hitchin is one of the world's foremost figures in the fields of differential and algebraic geometry and their relations with mathematical physics, and he has been Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford since 1997. Geometry and Physics: A Festschrift in honour of Nigel Hitchin contain the proceedings of the conferences held in September 2016 in Aarhus, Oxford, and Madrid to mark Nigel Hitchin's 70th birthday, and to honour his far-reaching contributions to geometry and mathematical physics. These texts contain 29 articles by contributors to the conference and other distinguished mathematicians working in related areas, including three Fields Medallists. The articles cover a broad range of topics in differential, algebraic and symplectic geometry, and also in mathematical physics. These volumes will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in geometry and mathematical physics.
The study of mapping class groups and moduli spaces of compact Riemann surfaces is currently a central topic in topology, algebraic geometry, and conformal field theory. This book contains proceedings from two workshops held in the summer of 1991, one at the University of G\"ottingen and the other at the University of Washington at Seattle. The papers gathered here represent diverse approaches and contain several important new results. With both research and survey articles, the book appeals to mathematicians and physicists.
Nigel Hitchin is one of the world's foremost figures in the fields of differential and algebraic geometry and their relations with mathematical physics, and he has been Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford since 1997. Geometry and Physics: A Festschrift in honour of Nigel Hitchin contain the proceedings of the conferences held in September 2016 in Aarhus, Oxford, and Madrid to mark Nigel Hitchin's 70th birthday, and to honour his far-reaching contributions to geometry and mathematical physics. These texts contain 29 articles by contributors to the conference and other distinguished mathematicians working in related areas, including three Fields Medallists. The articles cover a broad range of topics in differential, algebraic and symplectic geometry, and also in mathematical physics. These volumes will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in geometry and mathematical physics.
Kähler Metric and Moduli Spaces, Volume 18-II covers survey notes from the expository lectures given during the seminars in the academic year of 1987 for graduate students and mature mathematicians who were not experts on the topics considered during the sessions about partial differential equations. The book discusses basic facts on Einstein metrics in complex geometry; Einstein-Kähler metrics with positive or non-positive Ricci curvature; Yang-Mills connections; and Einstein-Hermitian metrics. The text then describes the tangent sheaves of minimal varieties; Ricci-Flat Kähler metrics on affine algebraic manifolds; and degenerations of Kähler-Einstein. The moduli of Einstein metrics on a K3 surface and degeneration of Type I and the uniformization of complex surfaces are also considered. Mathematicians and graduate students taking differential and analytic geometry will find the book useful.
The series is aimed specifically at publishing peer reviewed reviews and contributions presented at workshops and conferences. Each volume is associated with a particular conference, symposium or workshop. These events cover various topics within pure and applied mathematics and provide up-to-date coverage of new developments, methods and applications.
