This book presents a novel development of fundamental and fascinating aspects of algebraic topology and mathematical physics: 'extra-ordinary' and further generalized cohomology theories enhanced to 'twisted' and differential-geometric form, with focus on, firstly, their rational approximation by generalized Chern character maps, and then, the resulting charge quantization laws in higher n-form gauge field theories appearing in string theory and the classification of topological quantum materials.Although crucial for understanding famously elusive effects in strongly interacting physics, the relevant higher non-abelian cohomology theory ('higher gerbes') has had an esoteric reputation and remains underdeveloped.Devoted to this end, this book's theme is that various generalized cohomology theories are best viewed through their classifying spaces (or moduli stacks) — not necessarily infinite-loop spaces — from which perspective the character map is really an incarnation of the fundamental theorem of rational homotopy theory, thereby not only uniformly subsuming the classical Chern character and a multitude of scattered variants that have been proposed, but now seamlessly applicable in the hitherto elusive generality of (twisted, differential, and) non-abelian cohomology.In laying out this result with plenty of examples, this book provides a modernized introduction and review of fundamental classical topics: 1. abstract homotopy theory via model categories; 2. generalized cohomology in its homotopical incarnation; 3. rational homotopy theory seen via homotopy Lie theory, whose fundamental theorem we recast as a (twisted) non-abelian de Rham theorem, which naturally induces the (twisted) non-abelian character map.

"Presents a novel development in fundamental aspects of algebraic topology and mathematical physics: existing "extra-ordinary" and further generalized Cohomology theories enhanced to "twisted", differential, and non-abelian Cohomology. Contains many examples and applications, as well as background materials for advanced students"--

Since their introduction by Gromov in the 1980s, the study of bounded cohomology and simplicial volume has developed into an active field connected to geometry and group theory. This monograph, arising from a learning seminar for young researchers working in the area, provides a collection of different perspectives on the subject, both classical and recent. The book's introduction presents the main definitions of the theories of bounded cohomology and simplicial volume, outlines their history, and explains their principal motivations and applications. Individual chapters then present different aspects of the theory, with a focus on examples. Detailed references to foundational papers and the latest research are given for readers wishing to dig deeper. The prerequisites are only basic knowledge of classical algebraic topology and of group theory, and the presentations are gentle and informal in order to be accessible to beginning graduate students wanting to enter this lively and topical field.

This book aims to describe, for readers uneducated in science, the development of humanity's desire to know and understand the world around us through the various stages of its development to the present, when science is almost universally recognized - at least in the Western world - as the most reliable way of knowing. The book describes the history of the large-scale exploration of the surface of the earth by sea, beginning with the Vikings and the Chinese, and of the unknown interiors of the American and African continents by foot and horseback. After the invention of the telescope, visual exploration of the surfaces of the Moon and Mars were made possible, and finally a visit to the Moon. The book then turns to our legacy from the ancient Greeks of wanting to understand rather than just know, and why the scientific way of understanding is valued. For concreteness, it relates the lives and accomplishments of six great scientists, four from the nineteenth century and two from the twentieth. Finally, the book explains how chemistry came to be seen as the most basic of the sciences, and then how physics became the most fundamental.

Nigel Hitchin is one of the world's foremost figures in the fields of differential and algebraic geometry and their relations with mathematical physics, and he has been Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford since 1997. Geometry and Physics: A Festschrift in honour of Nigel Hitchin contain the proceedings of the conferences held in September 2016 in Aarhus, Oxford, and Madrid to mark Nigel Hitchin's 70th birthday, and to honour his far-reaching contributions to geometry and mathematical physics. These texts contain 29 articles by contributors to the conference and other distinguished mathematicians working in related areas, including three Fields Medallists. The articles cover a broad range of topics in differential, algebraic and symplectic geometry, and also in mathematical physics. These volumes will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in geometry and mathematical physics.

Nigel Hitchin is one of the world's foremost figures in the fields of differential and algebraic geometry and their relations with mathematical physics, and he has been Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford since 1997. Geometry and Physics: A Festschrift in honour of Nigel Hitchin contain the proceedings of the conferences held in September 2016 in Aarhus, Oxford, and Madrid to mark Nigel Hitchin's 70th birthday, and to honour his far-reaching contributions to geometry and mathematical physics. These texts contain 29 articles by contributors to the conference and other distinguished mathematicians working in related areas, including three Fields Medallists. The articles cover a broad range of topics in differential, algebraic and symplectic geometry, and also in mathematical physics. These volumes will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in geometry and mathematical physics.

The purpose of the present memoir is two-fold. First, the authors obtain a non-abelian localization theorem when M is any even dimensional compact manifold : following an idea of E. Witten, the authors deform an elliptic symbol associated to a Clifford bundle on M with a vector field associated to a moment map. Second, the authors use this general approach to reprove the [Q,R]=0 [Q,R]=0 theorem of Meinrenken-Sjamaar in the Hamiltonian case and obtain mild generalizations to almost complex manifolds. This non-abelian localization theorem can be used to obtain a geometric description of the multiplicities of the index of general spin c spinc Dirac operators.

This ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF MATHEMATICS aims to be a reference work for all parts of mathe matics. It is a translation with updates and editorial comments of the Soviet Mathematical Encyclopaedia published by 'Soviet Encyclopaedia Publishing House' in five volumes in 1977-1985. The annotated translation consists of ten volumes including a special index volume. There are three kinds of articles in this ENCYCLOPAEDIA. First of all there are survey-type articles dealing with the various main directions in mathematics (where a rather fine subdivi sion has been used). The main requirement for these articles has been that they should give a reasonably complete up-to-date account of the current state of affairs in these areas and that they should be maximally accessible. On the whole, these articles should be understandable to mathematics students in their first specialization years, to graduates from other mathematical areas and, depending on the specific subject, to specialists in other domains of science, en gineers and teachers of mathematics. These articles treat their material at a fairly general level and aim to give an idea of the kind of problems, techniques and concepts involved in the area in question. They also contain background and motivation rather than precise statements of precise theorems with detailed definitions and technical details on how to carry out proofs and constructions. The second kind of article, of medium length, contains more detailed concrete problems, results and techniques.

This book describes the interaction between several key aspects of Galois theory based on Iwasawa theory, fundamental groups and automorphic forms. These ideas encompass a large portion of mainstream number theory and ramifications that are of interest to graduate students and researchers in number theory, algebraic geometry, topology and physics.