The second in a series of three volumes that survey the theory of theta functions, this volume emphasizes the special properties of the theta functions associated with compact Riemann surfaces and how they lead to solutions of the Korteweg-de-Vries equations as well as other non-linear differential equations of mathematical physics.

It presents an explicit elementary construction of hyperelliptic Jacobian varieties and is a self-contained introduction to the theory of the Jacobians. It also ties together nineteenth-century discoveries due to Jacobi, Neumann, and Frobenius with...

This volume contains the first two out of four chapters which are intended to survey a large part of the theory of theta functions. These notes grew out of a series of lectures given at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in the period October, 1978, to March, 1979, on which notes were taken and excellently written up by C. Musili and M. Nori. I subsequently lectured at greater length on the contents of Chapter III at Harvard in the fall of 1979 and at a Summer School in Montreal in August, 1980, and again notes were very capably put together by E. Previato and M. Stillman,...