It has been realized that Hilbert schemes originally studied in algebraic geometry are closely related to several branches of mathematics, such as singularities, symplectic geometry, representation theory - even theoretical physics. This book reflects this feature of Hilbert schemes.

Grothendieck’s beautiful theory of schemes permeates modern algebraic geometry and underlies its applications to number theory, physics, and applied mathematics. This simple account of that theory emphasizes and explains the universal geometric concepts behind the definitions. In the book, concepts are illustrated with fundamental examples, and explicit calculations show how the constructions of scheme theory are carried out in practice.

K3 surfaces are central objects in modern algebraic geometry. This book examines this important class of Calabi–Yau manifolds from various perspectives in eighteen self-contained chapters. It starts with the basics and guides the reader to recent breakthroughs, such as the proof of the Tate conjecture for K3 surfaces and structural results on Chow groups. Powerful general techniques are introduced to study the many facets of K3 surfaces, including arithmetic, homological, and differential geometric aspects. In this context, the book covers Hodge structures, moduli spaces, periods, derived categories, birational techniques, Chow rings, and deformation theory. Famous open conjectures, for example the conjectures of Calabi, Weil, and Artin–Tate, are discussed in general and for K3 surfaces in particular, and each chapter ends with questions and open problems. Based on lectures at the advanced graduate level, this book is suitable for courses and as a reference for researchers.

This edition has been updated to reflect recent advances in the theory of semistable coherent sheaves and their moduli spaces. The authors review changes in the field and point the reader towards further literature. An ideal text for graduate students or mathematicians with a background in algebraic geometry.

Hilbert schemes, which parametrize subschemes in algebraic varieties, have been extensively studied in algebraic geometry for the last 50 years. The most interesting class of Hilbert schemes are schemes of collections of points (zero-dimensional subschemes) in a smooth algebraic surface . Schemes turn out to be closely related to many areas of mathematics, such as algebraic combinatorics, integrable systems, representation theory, and mathematical physics, among others. This book surveys recent developments of the theory of Hilbert schemes of points on complex surfaces and its interplay with infinite dimensional Lie algebras. It starts with the basics of Hilbert schemes of points and presents in detail an example of Hilbert schemes of points on the projective plane. Then the author turns to the study of cohomology of , including the construction of the action of infinite dimensional Lie algebras on this cohomology, the ring structure of cohomology, equivariant cohomology of and the Gromov–Witten correspondence. The last part of the book presents results about quantum cohomology of and related questions. The book is of interest to graduate students and researchers in algebraic geometry, representation theory, combinatorics, topology, number theory, and theoretical physics.

The aim of this work is to offer a concise and self-contained 'lecture-style' introduction to the theory of classical rigid geometry established by John Tate, together with the formal algebraic geometry approach launched by Michel Raynaud. These Lectures are now viewed commonly as an ideal means of learning advanced rigid geometry, regardless of the reader's level of background. Despite its parsimonious style, the presentation illustrates a number of key facts even more extensively than any other previous work. This Lecture Notes Volume is a revised and slightly expanded version of a preprint that appeared in 2005 at the University of Münster's Collaborative Research Center "Geometrical Structures in Mathematics".

Presents an outline of Alexander Grothendieck's theories. This book discusses four main themes - descent theory, Hilbert and Quot schemes, the formal existence theorem, and the Picard scheme. It is suitable for those working in algebraic geometry.

This book contains recent and exciting developments on the structure of moduli spaces, with an emphasis on the algebraic structures that underlie this structure. Topics covered include Hilbert schemes of points, moduli of instantons, coherent sheaves and their derived categories, moduli of flat connections, Hodge structures, and the topology of affine varieties. Two beautiful series of lectures are a particularly fine feature of the book. One is an introductory series by Manfred Lehn on the topology and geometry of Hilbert schemes of points on surfaces, and the other, by Hiraku Nakajima and Kota Yoshioka, explains their recent work on the moduli space of instantons over ${\mathbb R 4$. The material is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in moduli spaces in algebraic geometry, topology, and mathematical physics.

The primary goal of this 2003 book is to give a brief introduction to the main ideas of algebraic and geometric invariant theory. It assumes only a minimal background in algebraic geometry, algebra and representation theory. Topics covered include the symbolic method for computation of invariants on the space of homogeneous forms, the problem of finite-generatedness of the algebra of invariants, the theory of covariants and constructions of categorical and geometric quotients. Throughout, the emphasis is on concrete examples which originate in classical algebraic geometry. Based on lectures given at University of Michigan, Harvard University and Seoul National University, the book is written in an accessible style and contains many examples and exercises. A novel feature of the book is a discussion of possible linearizations of actions and the variation of quotients under the change of linearization. Also includes the construction of toric varieties as torus quotients of affine spaces.

Calogero-Moser systems, which were originally discovered by specialists in integrable systems, are currently at the crossroads of many areas of mathematics and within the scope of interests of many mathematicians. More specifically, these systems and their generalizations turned out to have intrinsic connections with such fields as algebraic geometry (Hilbert schemes of surfaces), representation theory (double affine Hecke algebras, Lie groups, quantum groups), deformation theory (symplectic reflection algebras), homological algebra (Koszul algebras), Poisson geometry, etc. The goal of the present lecture notes is to give an introduction to the theory of Calogero-Moser systems, highlighting their interplay with these fields. Since these lectures are designed for non-experts, the author gives short introductions to each of the subjects involved and provides a number of exercises.