This text is devoted to mathematical structures arising in conformal field theory and the q-deformations. The authors give a self-contained exposition of the theory of Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations and related topics. No previous knowledge of physics is required. The text is suitable for a one-semester graduate course and is intended for graduate students and research mathematicians interested in mathematical physics.

The last twenty years have seen an active interaction between mathematics and physics. This book is devoted to one of the new areas which deals with mathematical structures related to conformal field theory and its sqs-deformations. In the book, the author discusses the interplay between Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov type equations, the Bethe ansatz method, representation theory, and geometry of multi-dimensional hypergeometric functions. This book aims to provide an introduction to the area and expose different facets of the subject. It contains constructions, discussions of notions, statements of main results, and illustrative examples. The exposition is restricted to the simplest case of the theory associated with the Lie algebra s\mathfrak{sl 2s. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students in mathematics and in mathematical physics, in particular to those interested in applications of special functions.

The symposium held in honour of the 60th birthday of Graeme Segal brought together leading physicists and mathematicians. Its topics were centred around string theory, M-theory, and quantum gravity on the one hand, and K-theory, elliptic cohomology, quantum cohomology and string topology on the other. Geometry and quantum physics developed in parallel since the recognition of the central role of non-abelian gauge theory in elementary particle physics in the late seventies and the emerging study of super-symmetry and string theory. With its selection of survey and research articles these proceedings fulfil the dual role of reporting on developments in the field and defining directions for future research. For the first time Graeme Segal's manuscript 'The definition of Conformal Field Theory' is published, which has been greatly influential over more than ten years. An introduction by the author puts it into the present context.

This volume presents the invited lectures of the workshop "Infinite Dimensional Algebras and Quantum Integrable Systems" held in July 2003 at the University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal, as a satellite workshop of the XIV International Congress on Mathematical Physics. In it, recent developments in the theory of infinite dimensional algebras, and their applications to quantum integrable systems, are reviewed by leading experts in the field.

This is the first volume of the proceedings of the third European Congress of Mathematics. Volume I presents the speeches delivered at the Congress, the list of lectures, and short summaries of the achievements of the prize winners as well as papers by plenary and parallel speakers. The second volume collects articles by prize winners and speakers of the mini-symposia. This two-volume set thus gives an overview of the state of the art in many fields of mathematics and is therefore of interest to every professional mathematician. Contributors: R. Ahlswede, V. Bach, V. Baladi, J. Bruna, N. Burq, X. Cabré, P.J. Cameron, Z. Chatzidakis, C. Ciliberto, G. Dal Maso, J. Denef, R. Dijkgraaf, B. Fantechi, H. Föllmer, A.B. Goncharov, A. Grigor'yan, M. Harris, R. Iturriaga, K. Johansson, K. Khanin, P. Koskela, H.W. Lenstra, Jr., F. Loeser, Y.I. Manin, N.S. Manton, Y. Meyer, I. Moerdijk, E.M. Opdam, T. Peternell, B.M.A.G. Piette, A. Reznikov, H. Schlichtkrull, B. Schmidt, K. Schmidt, C. Simó, B. Tóth, E. van den Ban, M.-F. Vignéras, O. Viro.

In the last decade there has been an extraordinary confluence of ideas in mathematics and theoretical physics brought about by pioneering discoveries in geometry and analysis. The various chapters in this volume, treating the interface of geometric analysis and mathematical physics, represent current research interests. No suitable succinct account of the material is available elsewhere. Key topics include: * A self-contained derivation of the partition function of Chern- Simons gauge theory in the semiclassical approximation (D.H. Adams) * Algebraic and geometric aspects of the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations in conformal field theory (P. Bouwknegt) * Application of the representation theory of loop groups to simple models in quantum field theory and to certain integrable systems (A.L. Carey and E. Langmann) * A study of variational methods in Hermitian geometry from the viewpoint of the critical points of action functionals together with physical backgrounds (A. Harris) * A review of monopoles in nonabelian gauge theories (M.K. Murray) * Exciting developments in quantum cohomology (Y. Ruan) * The physics origin of Seiberg-Witten equations in 4-manifold theory (S. Wu) Graduate students, mathematicians and mathematical physicists in the above-mentioned areas will benefit from the user-friendly introductory style of each chapter as well as the comprehensive bibliographies provided for each topic. Prerequisite knowledge is minimal since sufficient background material motivates each chapter.

Kolmogorov equations are second order parabolic equations with a finite or an infinite number of variables. They are deeply connected with stochastic differential equations in finite or infinite dimensional spaces. They arise in many fields as Mathematical Physics, Chemistry and Mathematical Finance. These equations can be studied both by probabilistic and by analytic methods, using such tools as Gaussian measures, Dirichlet Forms, and stochastic calculus. The following courses have been delivered: N.V. Krylov presented Kolmogorov equations coming from finite-dimensional equations, giving existence, uniqueness and regularity results. M. Röckner has presented an approach to Kolmogorov equations in infinite dimensions, based on an LP-analysis of the corresponding diffusion operators with respect to suitably chosen measures. J. Zabczyk started from classical results of L. Gross, on the heat equation in infinite dimension, and discussed some recent results.

* Introduces the fundamental theory of vertex operator algebras and its basic techniques and examples. * Begins with a detailed presentation of the theoretical foundations and proceeds to a range of applications. * Includes a number of new, original results and brings fresh perspective to important works of many other researchers in algebra, lie theory, representation theory, string theory, quantum field theory, and other areas of math and physics.

Hopf algebras have proved to be very interesting structures with deep connections to various areas of mathematics, particularly through quantum groups. Indeed, the study of Hopf algebras, their representations, their generalizations, and the categories related to all these objects has an interdisciplinary nature. It finds methods, relationships, motivations and applications throughout algebra, category theory, topology, geometry, quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and also combinatorics, logic, and theoretical computer science. This volume portrays the vitality of contemporary research in Hopf algebras. Altogether, the articles in the volume explore essential aspects of Hopf algebras and some of their best-known generalizations by means of a variety of approaches and perspectives. They make use of quite different techniques that are already consolidated in the area of quantum algebra. This volume demonstrates the diversity and richness of its subject. Most of its papers introduce the reader to their respective contexts and structures through very expository preliminary sections.

This volume presents the papers based upon lectures given at the 1999 Séminaire de Mathémathiques Supérieurs held in Montreal. It includes contributions from many of the most active researchers in the field. This subject has been in a remarkably active state of development throughout the past three decades, resulting in new motivation for study in r s3risingly different directions. Beyond the intrinsic interest in the study of integrable models of many-particle systems, spin chains, lattice and field theory models at both the classical and the quantum level, and completely solvable models in statistical mechanics, there have been new applications in relation to a number of other fields of current interest. These fields include theoretical physics and pure mathematics, for example the Seiberg-Witten approach to supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, the spectral theory of random matrices, topological models of quantum gravity, conformal field theory, mirror symmetry, quantum cohomology, etc. This collection gives a nice cross-section of the current state of the work in the area of integrable systems which is presented by some of the leading active researchers in this field. The scope and quality of the articles in this volume make this a valuable resource for those interested in an up-to-date introduction and an overview of many of the main areas of study in the theory of integral systems.