Swift progress and new applications characterize the area of solitons and the inverse scattering transform. There are rapid developments in current nonlinear optical technology: larger intensities are more available; pulse widths are smaller; relaxation times and damping rates are less significant. In keeping with these advancements, exactly integrable soliton equations, such as $3$-wave resonant interactions and second harmonic generation, are becoming more and more relevant in experimental applications. Techniques are now being developed for using these interactions to frequency convert...

This book contains papers presented by speakers at the AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conference on Conformal Field Theory, Topological Field Theory and Quantum Groups, held at Mount Holyoke College in June 1992. One group of papers deals with one aspect of conformal field theory, namely, vertex operator algebras or superalgebras and their representations. Another group deals with various aspects of quantum groups. Other topics covered include the theory of knots in three-manifolds, symplectic geometry, and tensor products. This book provides an excellent view of some of the latest...