The Abel Symposium 2008 focused on the modern theory of differential equations and their applications in geometry, mechanics, and mathematical physics. Following the tradition of Monge, Abel and Lie, the scientific program emphasized the role of algebro-geometric methods, which nowadays permeate all mathematical models in natural and engineering sciences. The ideas of invariance and symmetry are of fundamental importance in the geometric approach to differential equations, with a serious impact coming from the area of integrable systems and field theories.

This volume consists of...

In mathematical physics, the correspondence between quantum and classical mechanics is a central topic, which this book explores in more detail in the particular context of spin systems, that is, SU(2)-symmetric mechanical systems. A detailed presentation of quantum spin-j systems, with emphasis on the SO(3)-invariant decomposition of their operator algebras, is first followed by an introduction to the Poisson algebra of the classical spin system and then by a similarly detailed examination of its SO(3)-invariant decomposition. The book next proceeds with a detailed and systematic study of...

In mathematical physics, the correspondence between quantum and classical mechanics is a central topic, which this book explores in more detail in the particular context of spin systems, that is, SU(2)-symmetric mechanical systems.