This book develops a variety of aspects of analysis and geometry on foliated spaces which should be useful in many situations. These strands are then brought together to provide a context and to expose Connes index theorem for foliated spaces, a theorem which asserts the equality of the analytic and the topological index (two real numbers) which are associated to a tangentially elliptic operator. An additional purpose of this exposition is preparing the way towards the more general index theorem of Connes and Skandalis. This index theorem describes the abstract index class in KO (CR*(G(M))),...

The Spring 1986 Program in Geometric Function Theory (GFT) at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) brought together mathe maticians interested in Teichmiiller theory, quasiconformal mappings, Kleinian groups, univalent functions and value distribution. It included a large and stimulating Workshop, preceded by a mini-conference on String Theory attended by both mathematicians and physicists. These activities produced interesting results and fruitful interactions among the partici pants. These volumes represent only a portion of the papers that will even tually result from ideas...

In recent years considerable interest has been focused on nonlinear diffu sion problems, the archetypical equation for these being Ut = D.u + f(u). Here D. denotes the n-dimensional Laplacian, the solution u = u(x, t) is defined over some space-time domain of the form n x O, T], and f(u) is a given real function whose form is determined by various physical and mathematical applications. These applications have become more varied and widespread as problem after problem has been shown to lead to an equation of this type or to its time-independent counterpart, the elliptic equation of...

In recent years considerable interest has been focused on nonlinear diffu sion problems, the archetypical equation for these being Ut = U + f(u). Here denotes the n-dimensional Laplacian, the solution u = u(x, t) is defined over some space-time domain of the form n x O, T], and f(u) is a given real function whose form is determined by various physical and mathematical applications. These applications have become more varied and widespread as problem after problem has been shown to lead to an equation of this type or to its time-independent counterpart, the elliptic equation of equilibrium...

The Spring 1986 Program in Geometric Function Theory (GFT) at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) brought together mathe maticians interested in Teichmiiller theory, quasiconformal mappings, Kleinian groups, univalent functions and value distribution. It included a large and stimulating Workshop, preceded by a mini-conference on String Theory attended by both mathematicians and physicists. These activities produced interesting results and fruitful interactions among the partici pants. These volumes represent only a portion of the papers that will even tually result from ideas...

A recent paper on subfactors of von Neumann factors has stimulated much research in von Neumann algebras. It was discovered soon after the appearance of this paper that certain algebras which are used there for the analysis of subfactors could also be used to define a new polynomial invariant for links. Recent efforts to understand the fundamental nature of the new link invariants has led to connections with invariant theory, statistical mechanics and quantum theory. In turn, the link invariants, the notion of a quantum group, and the quantum Yang-Baxter equation have had a great impact on...

This volume is the offspring of a week-long workshop on "Galois groups over Q and related topics," which was held at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute during the week March 23-27, 1987. The organizing committee consisted of Kenneth Ribet (chairman), Yasutaka Ihara, and Jean-Pierre Serre. The conference focused on three principal themes: 1. Extensions of Q with finite simple Galois groups. 2. Galois actions on fundamental groups, nilpotent extensions of Q arising from Fermat curves, and the interplay between Gauss sums and cyclotomic units. 3. Representations of Gal(Q/Q) with values...

From the reviews of the first edition: "This book exposes the beautiful confluence of deep techniques and ideas from mathematical physics and the topological study of the differentiable structure of compact four-dimensional manifolds, compact spaces locally modeled on the world in which we live and operate... The book is filled with insightful remarks, proofs, and contributions that have never before appeared in print. For anyone attempting to understand the work of Donaldson and the applications of gauge theories to four-dimensional topology, the book is a must." #Science#1 "I...

This volume derives from a workshop on differential geometry, calculus of vari ations, and computer graphics at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, May 23-25, 1988. The meeting was structured around principal lectures given by F. Almgren, M. Callahan, J. Ericksen, G. Francis, R. Gulliver, P. Hanra han, J. Kajiya, K. Polthier, J. Sethian, I. Sterling, E. L. Thomas, and T. Vogel. The divergent backgrounds of these and the many other participants, as reflected in their lectures at the meeting and in their papers presented here, testify to the unifying element of the...

This book gives a treatment of exterior differential systems. It will in clude both the general theory and various applications. An exterior differential system is a system of equations on a manifold defined by equating to zero a number of exterior differential forms. When all the forms are linear, it is called a pfaffian system. Our object is to study its integral manifolds, i. e., submanifolds satisfying all the equations of the system. A fundamental fact is that every equation implies the one obtained by exterior differentiation, so that the complete set of equations associated to an...