This book is intended as an introductory text on the subject of Lie groups and algebras and their role in various fields of mathematics and physics. It is written by and for researchers who are primarily analysts or physicists, not algebraists or geometers. Not that we have eschewed the algebraic and geo- metric developments. But we wanted to present them in a concrete way and to show how the subject interacted with physics, geometry, and mechanics. These interactions are, of course, manifold; we have discussed many of them here-in particular, Riemannian geometry, elementary particle physics,...

This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications SOLITONS IN PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS, AND NONLINEAR OPTICS is based on the proceedings of two workshops which were an integral part of the 1988-89 IMA program on NONLINEAR WAVES. The workshops focussed on the main parts of the theory of solitons and on the applications of solitons in physics, biology and engineering, with a special concentration on nonlinear optics. We thank the Coordinating Committee: James Glimm, Daniel Joseph, Barbara Keyfitz, An- Majda, Alan Newell, Peter Olver, David Sattinger and David Schaeffer for drew planning and...