This volume is dedicated to Ciro Ciliberto on the occasion of his 70th birthday and contains refereed papers, offering an overview of important parts of current research in algebraic geometry and related research in the history of mathematics. It presents original research as well as surveys, both providing a valuable overview of the current state of the art of the covered topics and reflecting the versatility of the scientific interests of Ciro Ciliberto.
Author Serge Lang defines algebraic geometry as the study of systems of algebraic equations in several variables and of the structure that one can give to the solutions of such equations. The study can be carried out in four ways: analytical, topological, algebraico-geometric, and arithmetic. This volume offers a rapid, concise, and self-contained introductory approach to the algebraic aspects of the third method, the algebraico-geometric. The treatment assumes only familiarity with elementary algebra up to the level of Galois theory. Starting with an opening chapter on the general theory of places, the author advances to examinations of algebraic varieties, the absolute theory of varieties, and products, projections, and correspondences. Subsequent chapters explore normal varieties, divisors and linear systems, differential forms, the theory of simple points, and algebraic groups, concluding with a focus on the Riemann-Roch theorem. All the theorems of a general nature related to the foundations of the theory of algebraic groups are featured.
Providing an overview of the state of the art on rationality questions in algebraic geometry, this volume gives an update on the most recent developments. It offers a comprehensive introduction to this fascinating topic, and will certainly become an essential reference for anybody working in the field. Rationality problems are of fundamental importance both in algebra and algebraic geometry. Historically, rationality problems motivated significant developments in the theory of abelian integrals, Riemann surfaces and the Abel–Jacobi map, among other areas, and they have strong links with modern notions such as moduli spaces, Hodge theory, algebraic cycles and derived categories. This text is aimed at researchers and graduate students in algebraic geometry.
Arithmetic algebraic geometry is in a fascinating stage of growth, providing a rich variety of applications of new tools to both old and new problems. Representative of these recent developments is the notion of Arakelov geometry, a way of "completing" a variety over the ring of integers of a number field by adding fibres over the Archimedean places. Another is the appearance of the relations between arithmetic geometry and Nevanlinna theory, or more precisely between diophantine approximation theory and the value distribution theory of holomorphic maps. Research mathematicians and graduate students in algebraic geometry and number theory will find a valuable and lively view of the field in this state-of-the-art selection.
An undergraduate textbook devoted exclusively to relationships between mathematics and art, Viewpoints is ideally suited for math-for-liberal-arts courses and mathematics courses for fine arts majors. The textbook contains a wide variety of classroom-tested activities and problems, a series of essays by contemporary artists written especially for the book, and a plethora of pedagogical and learning opportunities for instructors and students. Viewpoints focuses on two mathematical areas: perspective related to drawing man-made forms and fractal geometry related to drawing natural forms. Investigating facets of the three-dimensional world in order to understand mathematical concepts behind the art, the textbook explores art topics including comic, anamorphic, and classical art, as well as photography, while presenting such mathematical ideas as proportion, ratio, self-similarity, exponents, and logarithms. Straightforward problems and rewarding solutions empower students to make accurate, sophisticated drawings. Personal essays and short biographies by contemporary artists are interspersed between chapters and are accompanied by images of their work. These fine artists--who include mathematicians and scientists--examine how mathematics influences their art. Accessible to students of all levels, Viewpoints encourages experimentation and collaboration, and captures the essence of artistic and mathematical creation and discovery. Classroom-tested activities and problem solving Accessible problems that move beyond regular art school curriculum Multiple solutions of varying difficulty and applicability Appropriate for students of all mathematics and art levels Original and exclusive essays by contemporary artists Forthcoming: Instructor's manual (available only to teachers)
Our knowledge of objects of algebraic geometry such as moduli of curves, (real) Schubert classes, fundamental groups of complements of hyperplane arrangements, toric varieties, and variation of Hodge structures, has been enhanced recently by ideas and constructions of quantum field theory, such as mirror symmetry, Gromov-Witten invariants, quantum cohomology, and gravitational descendants. These are some of the themes of this refereed collection of papers, which grew out of the special session, ``Enumerative Geometry in Physics,'' held at the AMS meeting in Lowell, MA, April 2000. This session brought together mathematicians and physicists who reported on the latest results and open questions; all the abstracts are included as an Appendix, and also included are papers by some who could not attend. The collection provides an overview of state-of-the-art tools, links that connect classical and modern problems, and the latest knowledge available.
This book is a true introduction to the basic concepts and techniques of algebraic geometry. The language is purposefully kept on an elementary level, avoiding sheaf theory and cohomology theory. The introduction of new algebraic concepts is always motivated by a discussion of the corresponding geometric ideas. The main point of the book is to illustrate the interplay between abstract theory and specific examples. The book contains numerous problems that illustrate the general theory. The text is suitable for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. It contains sufficient material for a one-semester course. The reader should be familiar with the basic concepts of modern algebra. A course in one complex variable would be helpful, but is not necessary.
Algebraic Art explores the invention of a peculiarly Victorian account of the nature and value of aesthetic form, and it traces that account to a surprising source: mathematics. The nineteenth century was a moment of extraordinary mathematical innovation, witnessing the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the revaluation of symbolic algebra, and the importation of mathematical language into philosophy. All these innovations sprang from a reconception of mathematics as a formal rather than a referential practice--as a means for describing relationships rather than quantities. For Victorian mathematicians, the value of a claim lay not in its capacity to describe the world but its internal coherence. This concern with formal structure produced a striking convergence between mathematics and aesthetics: geometers wrote fables, logicians reconceived symbolism, and physicists described reality as consisting of beautiful patterns. Artists, meanwhile, drawing upon the cultural prestige of mathematics, conceived their work as a 'science' of form, whether as lines in a painting, twinned characters in a novel, or wavelike stress patterns in a poem. Avant-garde photographs and paintings, fantastical novels like Flatland and Lewis Carroll's children's books, and experimental poetry by Swinburne, Rossetti, and Patmore created worlds governed by a rigorous internal logic even as they were pointedly unconcerned with reference or realist protocols. Algebraic Art shows that works we tend to regard as outliers to mainstream Victorian culture were expressions of a mathematical formalism that was central to Victorian knowledge production and that continues to shape our understanding of the significance of form.
