This is a self-contained and systematic account of affine differential geometry from a contemporary viewpoint, not only covering the classical theory, but also introducing the modern developments that have happened over the last decade. In order both to cover as much as possible and to keep the text of a reasonable size, the authors have concentrated on the significant features of the subject and their relationship and application to such areas as Riemannian, Euclidean, Lorentzian and projective differential geometry. In so doing, they also provide a modern introduction to the last. Some of the important geometric surfaces considered are illustrated by computer graphics, making this a physically and mathematically attractive book for all researchers in differential geometry, and for mathematical physicists seeking a quick entry into the subject.

This book draws a colorful and widespread picture of global affine hypersurface theory up to the most recent state. Moreover, the recent development revealed that affine differential geometry – as differential geometry in general – has an exciting intersection area with other fields of interest, like partial differential equations, global analysis, convex geometry and Riemann surfaces. The second edition of this monograph leads the reader from introductory concepts to recent research. Since the publication of the first edition in 1993 there appeared important new contributions, like the solutions of two different affine Bernstein conjectures, due to Chern and Calabi, respectively. Moreover, a large subclass of hyperbolic affine spheres were classified in recent years, namely the locally strongly convex Blaschke hypersurfaces that have parallel cubic form with respect to the Levi-Civita connection of the Blaschke metric. The authors of this book present such results and new methods of proof.

In the series of volumes which together will constitute the Handbook of Differential Geometry a rather complete survey of the field of differential geometry is given. The different chapters will both deal with the basic material of differential geometry and with research results (old and recent). All chapters are written by experts in the area and contain a large bibliography.

In this monograph, the interplay between geometry and partial differential equations (PDEs) is of particular interest. It gives a selfcontained introduction to research in the last decade concerning global problems in the theory of submanifolds, leading to some types of Monge-AmpFre equations. From the methodical point of view, it introduces the solution of certain Monge-AmpFre equations via geometric modeling techniques. Here geometric modeling means the appropriate choice of a normalization and its induced geometry on a hypersurface defined by a local strongly convex global graph. For a better understanding of the modeling techniques, the authors give a selfcontained summary of relative hypersurface theory, they derive important PDEs (e.g. affine spheres, affine maximal surfaces, and the affine constant mean curvature equation). Concerning modeling techniques, emphasis is on carefully structured proofs and exemplary comparisons between different modelings.

In this monograph, the interplay between geometry and partial differential equations (PDEs) is of particular interest. It gives a selfcontained introduction to research in the last decade concerning global problems in the theory of submanifolds, leading to some types of Monge-Amp re equations. From the methodical point of view, it introduces the solution of certain Monge-Amp re equations via geometric modeling techniques. Here geometric modeling means the appropriate choice of a normalization and its induced geometry on a hypersurface defined by a local strongly convex global graph. For a better understanding of the modeling techniques, the authors give a selfcontained summary of relative hypersurface theory, they derive important PDEs (e.g. affine spheres, affine maximal surfaces, and the affine constant mean curvature equation). Concerning modeling techniques, emphasis is on carefully structured proofs and exemplary comparisons between different modelings.

In the series of volumes which together will constitute the Handbook of Differential Geometry a rather complete survey of the field of differential geometry is given. The different chapters will both deal with the basic material of differential geometry and with research results (old and recent). All chapters are written by experts in the area and contain a large bibliography.

Contents:Affine Bibliography 1998 (T Binder et al.)Contact Metric R-Harmonic Manifolds (K Arslan & C Murathan)Local Classification of Centroaffine Tchebychev Surfaces with Constant Curvature Metric (T Binder)Hypersurfaces in Space Forms with Some Constant Curvature Functions (F Brito et al.)Some Relations Between a Submanifold and Its Focal Set (S Carter & A West)On Manifolds of Pseudosymmetric Type (F Defever et al.)Hypersurfaces with Pseudosymmetric Weyl Tensor in Conformally Flat Manifolds (R Deszcz et al.)Least-Squares Geometrical Fitting and Minimising Functions on Submanifolds (F Dillen et al.)Cubic Forms Generated by Functions on Projectively Flat Spaces (J Leder)Distinguished Submanifolds of a Sasakian Manifold (I Mihai)On the Curvature of Left Invariant Locally Conformally Para-Kählerian Metrics (Z Olszak)Remarks on Affine Variations on the Ellipsoid (M Wiehe)Dirac's Equation, Schrödinger's Equation and the Geometry of Surfaces (T J Willmore)and other papers Readership: Researchers doing differential geometry and topology. Keywords:Proceedings;Geometry;Topology;Valenciennes (France);Lyon (France);Leuven (Belgium);Dedication