This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the interactions between noncommutative algebra and classical algebraic geometry.

This book presents four lectures on recent research in commutative algebra and its applications to algebraic geometry. Aimed at researchers and graduate students with an advanced background in algebra, these lectures were given during the Commutative Algebra program held at the Vietnam Institute of Advanced Study in Mathematics in the winter semester 2013 -2014. The first lecture is on Weyl algebras (certain rings of differential operators) and their D-modules, relating non-commutative and commutative algebra to algebraic geometry and analysis in a very appealing way. The second lecture concerns local systems, their homological origin, and applications to the classification of Artinian Gorenstein rings and the computation of their invariants. The third lecture is on the representation type of projective varieties and the classification of arithmetically Cohen -Macaulay bundles and Ulrich bundles. Related topics such as moduli spaces of sheaves, liaison theory, minimal resolutions, and Hilbert schemes of points are also covered. The last lecture addresses a classical problem: how many equations are needed to define an algebraic variety set-theoretically? It systematically covers (and improves) recent results for the case of toric varieties.

This monograph presents various ongoing approaches to the vast topic of quantization, which is the process of forming a quantum mechanical system starting from a classical one, and discusses their numerous fruitful interactions with mathematics.The opening chapter introduces the various forms of quantization and their interactions with each other and with mathematics.A first approach to quantization, called deformation quantization, consists of viewing the Planck constant as a small parameter. This approach provides a deformation of the structure of the algebra of classical observables rather than a radical change in the nature of the observables. When symmetries come into play, deformation quantization needs to be merged with group actions, which is presented in chapter 2, by Simone Gutt.The noncommutativity arising from quantization is the main concern of noncommutative geometry. Allowing for the presence of symmetries requires working with principal fiber bundles in a non-commutative setup, where Hopf algebras appear naturally. This is the topic of chapter 3, by Christian Kassel. Nichols algebras, a special type of Hopf algebras, are the subject of chapter 4, by Nicolás Andruskiewitsch. The purely algebraic approaches given in the previous chapters do not take the geometry of space-time into account. For this purpose a special treatment using a more geometric point of view is required. An approach to field quantization on curved space-time, with applications to cosmology, is presented in chapter 5 in an account of the lectures of Abhay Ashtekar that brings a complementary point of view to non-commutativity.An alternative quantization procedure is known under the name of string theory. In chapter 6 its supersymmetric version is presented. Superstrings have drawn the attention of many mathematicians, due to its various fruitful interactions with algebraic geometry, some of which are described here. The remaining chapters discuss further topics, as the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism and direct products of spectral triples.This volume addresses both physicists and mathematicians and serves as an introduction to ongoing research in very active areas of mathematics and physics at the border line between geometry, topology, algebra and quantum field theory.

This book surveys fundamental current topics in these two areas of research, emphasising the lively interaction between them. Volume 2 focuses on the most recent research.

This book surveys fundamental current topics in these two areas of research, emphasising the lively interaction between them. Volume 1 contains expository papers ideal for those entering the field.

Noncommutative Geometry is one of the most deep and vital research subjects of present-day Mathematics. Its development, mainly due to Alain Connes, is providing an increasing number of applications and deeper insights for instance in Foliations, K-Theory, Index Theory, Number Theory but also in Quantum Physics of elementary particles. The purpose of the Summer School in Martina Franca was to offer a fresh invitation to the subject and closely related topics; the contributions in this volume include the four main lectures, cover advanced developments and are delivered by prominent specialists.