Locally symmetric spaces are generalizations of spaces of constant curvature. In this book the author presents the proof of a remarkable phenomenon, which he calls "strong rigidity": this is a stronger form of the deformation rigidity that has been investigated by Selberg, Calabi-Vesentini, Weil, Borel, and Raghunathan. The proof combines the theory of semi-simple Lie groups, discrete subgroups, the geometry of E. Cartan's symmetric Riemannian spaces, elements of ergodic theory, and the fundamental theorem of projective geometry as applied to Tit's geometries. In his proof the author introduces two new notions having independent interest: one is "pseudo-isometries"; the other is a notion of a quasi-conformal mapping over the division algebra K (K equals real, complex, quaternion, or Cayley numbers). The author attempts to make the account accessible to readers with diverse backgrounds, and the book contains capsule descriptions of the various theories that enter the proof.

Early one morning in April of 1987, the Chinese mathematician J. -Q. Zhong died unexpectedly of a heart attack in New York. He was then near the end of a one-year visit in the United States. When news of his death reached his Chinese-American friends, it was immediately decided by one and all that something should be done to preserve his memory. The present volume is an outgrowth of this sentiment. His friends in China have also established a Zhong Jia-Qing Memorial Fund, which has since twice awarded the Zhong Jia-Qing prizes for Chinese mathematics graduate students. It is hoped that at least part of the reasons for the esteem and affection in which he was held by all who knew him would come through in the succeeding pages of this volume. The three survey chapters by Li and Treibergs, Lu, and Siu (Chapters 1-3) all center around the areas of mathematics in which Zhong made noteworthy contributions. In addition to putting Zhong's mathematical contributions in perspective, these articles should be useful also to a large segment of the mathematical community; together they give a coherent picture of a sizable portion of contemporary geometry. The survey of Lu differs from the other two in that it gives a firsthand account of the work done in the People's Republic of China in several complex variables in the last four decades.

The applications of topological techniques for understanding molecular structures have become increasingly important over the past thirty years. In this topology text, the reader will learn about knot theory, 3-dimensional manifolds, and the topology of embedded graphs, while learning the role these play in understanding molecular structures. Most of the results that are described in the text are motivated by questions asked by chemists or molecular biologists, though the results themselves often go beyond answering the original question asked. There is no specific mathematical or chemical prerequisite; all the relevant background is provided. The text is enhanced by nearly 200 illustrations and more than 100 exercises. Reading this fascinating book, undergraduate mathematics students can escape the world of pure abstract theory and enter that of real molecules, while chemists and biologists will find simple, clear but rigorous definitions of mathematical concepts they handle intuitively in their work.

This volume in the Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, Second Edition, covers recent developments in classical areas of ergodic theory, including the asymptotic properties of measurable dynamical systems, spectral theory, entropy, ergodic theorems, joinings, isomorphism theory, recurrence, nonsingular systems. It enlightens connections of ergodic theory with symbolic dynamics, topological dynamics, smooth dynamics, combinatorics, number theory, pressure and equilibrium states, fractal geometry, chaos. In addition, the new edition includes dynamical systems of probabilistic origin, ergodic aspects of Sarnak's conjecture, translation flows on translation surfaces, complexity and classification of measurable systems, operator approach to asymptotic properties, interplay with operator algebras

The theory of infinite loop spaces has been the center of much recent activity in algebraic topology. Frank Adams surveys this extensive work for researchers and students. Among the major topics covered are generalized cohomology theories and spectra; infinite-loop space machines in the sense of Boadman-Vogt, May, and Segal; localization and group completion; the transfer; the Adams conjecture and several proofs of it; and the recent theories of Adams and Priddy and of Madsen, Snaith, and Tornehave.

Many parallels between complex dynamics and hyperbolic geometry have emerged in the past decade. Building on work of Sullivan and Thurston, this book gives a unified treatment of the construction of fixed-points for renormalization and the construction of hyperbolic 3- manifolds fibering over the circle. Both subjects are studied via geometric limits and rigidity. This approach shows open hyperbolic manifolds are inflexible, and yields quantitative counterparts to Mostow rigidity. In complex dynamics, it motivates the construction of towers of quadratic-like maps, and leads to a quantitative proof of convergence of renormalization.

A classic treatment of Riemann surfaces from the acclaimed Annals of Mathematics Studies series Princeton University Press is proud to have published the Annals of Mathematics Studies since 1940. One of the oldest and most respected series in science publishing, it has included many of the most important and influential mathematical works of the twentieth century. The series continues this tradition as Princeton University Press publishes the major works of the twenty-first century. To mark the continued success of the series, all books are available in paperback and as ebooks.

The first part of this monograph is devoted to a characterization of hypergeometric-like functions, that is, twists of hypergeometric functions in n-variables. These are treated as an (n+1) dimensional vector space of multivalued locally holomorphic functions defined on the space of n+3 tuples of distinct points on the projective line P modulo, the diagonal section of Auto P=m. For n=1, the characterization may be regarded as a generalization of Riemann's classical theorem characterizing hypergeometric functions by their exponents at three singular points. This characterization permits the authors to compare monodromy groups corresponding to different parameters and to prove commensurability modulo inner automorphisms of PU(1,n). The book includes an investigation of elliptic and parabolic monodromy groups, as well as hyperbolic monodromy groups. The former play a role in the proof that a surprising number of lattices in PU(1,2) constructed as the fundamental groups of compact complex surfaces with constant holomorphic curvature are in fact conjugate to projective monodromy groups of hypergeometric functions. The characterization of hypergeometric-like functions by their exponents at the divisors "at infinity" permits one to prove generalizations in n-variables of the Kummer identities for n-1 involving quadratic and cubic changes of the variable.

Since Poincaré's time, topologists have been most concerned with three species of manifold. The most primitive of these--the TOP manifolds--remained rather mysterious until 1968, when Kirby discovered his now famous torus unfurling device. A period of rapid progress with TOP manifolds ensued, including, in 1969, Siebenmann's refutation of the Hauptvermutung and the Triangulation Conjecture. Here is the first connected account of Kirby's and Siebenmann's basic research in this area. The five sections of this book are introduced by three articles by the authors that initially appeared between 1968 and 1970. Appendices provide a full discussion of the classification of homotopy tori, including Casson's unpublished work and a consideration of periodicity in topological surgery.

This book introduces the reader to the most important concepts and problems in the field of l2-invariants. After some foundational material on group von Neumann algebras, l2-Betti numbers are defined and their use is illustrated by several examples. The text continues with Atiyah's question on possible values of l2-Betti numbers and the relation to Kaplansky's zero divisor conjecture. The general definition of l2-Betti numbers allows for applications in group theory. A whole chapter is dedicated to Lück's approximation theorem and its generalizations. The final chapter deals with l2-torsion, twisted variants and the conjectures relating them to torsion growth in homology. The text provides a self-contained treatment that constructs the required specialized concepts from scratch. It comes with numerous exercises and examples, so that both graduate students and researchers will find it useful for self-study or as a basis for an advanced lecture course.