In this memoir, we prove that the universal Teichmuller space $T(1)$ carries a new structure of a complex Hilbert manifold and show that the connected component of the identity of $T(1)$ -- the Hilbert submanifold $T {0 (1)$ -- is a topological group. We define a Weil-Petersson metric on $T(1)$ by Hilbert space inner products on tangent spaces, compute its Riemann curvature tensor, and show that $T(1)$ is a Kahler-Einstein manifold with negative Ricci and sectional curvatures. We introduce and compute Mumford-Miller-Morita characteristic forms for the vertical tangent bundle of the universal Teichmuller curve fibration over the universal Teichmuller space. As an application, we derive Wolpert curvature formulas for the finite-dimensional Teichmuller spaces from the formulas for the universal Teichmuller space. We study in detail the Hilbert manifold structure on $T {0 (1)$ and characterize points on $T {0 (1)$ in terms of Bers and pre-Bers embeddings by proving that the Grunsky operators $B {1 $ and The results of this memoir were presented in our e-prints: Weil-Petersson metric on the universal Teichmuller space I. Curvature properties and Chern forms, arXiv:math.CV/0312172 (2003), and Weil-Petersson metric on the universal Teichmuller space II. Kahler potential and period mapping, arXiv:math.CV/0406408 (2004).

Mapping class groups and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces were the topics of the Graduate Summer School at the 2011 IAS/Park City Mathematics Institute. This book presents the nine different lecture series comprising the summer school, covering a selection of topics of current interest. The introductory courses treat mapping class groups and Teichmüller theory. The more advanced courses cover intersection theory on moduli spaces, the dynamics of polygonal billiards and moduli spaces, the stable cohomology of mapping class groups, the structure of Torelli groups, and arithmetic mapping class groups. The courses consist of a set of intensive short lectures offered by leaders in the field, designed to introduce students to exciting, current research in mathematics. These lectures do not duplicate standard courses available elsewhere. The book should be a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers interested in the topology, geometry and dynamics of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces and related topics. Titles in this series are co-published with the Institute for Advanced Study/Park City Mathematics Institute. Members of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) receive a 20% discount from list price.

The appearance of mapping class groups in mathematics is ubiquitous. The book presents 23 papers containing problems about mapping class groups, the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, Teichmuller geometry, and related areas. Each paper focusses completely on open problems and directions. The problems range in scope from specific computations, to broad programs. The goal is to have a rich source of problems which have been formulated explicitly and accessibly. The book is divided into four parts. Part I contains problems on the combinatorial and (co)homological group-theoretic aspects of mapping class groups, and the way in which these relate to problems in geometry and topology. Part II concentrates on connections with classification problems in 3-manifold theory, the theory of symplectic 4-manifolds, and algebraic geometry. A wide variety of problems, from understanding billiard trajectories to the classification of Kleinian groups, can be reduced to differential and synthetic geometry problems about moduli space. Such problems and connections are discussed in Part III. Mapping class groups are related, both concretely and philosophically, to a number of other groups, such as braid groups, lattices in semisimple Lie groups, and automorphism groups of free groups. Part IV concentrates on problems surrounding these relationships. This book should be of interest to anyone studying geometry, topology, algebraic geometry or infinite groups. It is meant to provide inspiration for everyone from graduate students to senior researchers.

This volume contains the proceedings of the conference on Lie Algebras, Vertex Operator Algebras, and Related Topics, celebrating the 70th birthday of James Lepowsky and Robert Wilson, held from August 14–18, 2015, at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. Since their seminal work in the 1970s, Lepowsky and Wilson, their collaborators, their students, and those inspired by their work, have developed an amazing body of work intertwining the fields of Lie algebras, vertex algebras, number theory, theoretical physics, quantum groups, the representation theory of finite simple groups, and more. The papers presented here include recent results and descriptions of ongoing research initiatives representing the broad influence and deep connections brought about by the work of Lepowsky and Wilson and include a contribution by Yi-Zhi Huang summarizing some major open problems in these areas, in particular as they pertain to two-dimensional conformal field theory.

This volume provides a detailed account of the theory of symplectic reduction by stages, along with numerous illustrations of the theory. It gives special emphasis to group extensions, including a detailed discussion of the Euclidean group, the oscillator group, the Bott-Virasoro group and other groups of matrices. The volume also provides ample background theory on symplectic reduction and cotangent bundle reduction.

This book collects papers based on the XXXVI Białowieża Workshop on Geometric Methods in Physics, 2017. The Workshop, which attracts a community of experts active at the crossroads of mathematics and physics, represents a major annual event in the field. Based on presentations given at the Workshop, the papers gathered here are previously unpublished, at the cutting edge of current research, and primarily grounded in geometry and analysis, with applications to classical and quantum physics. In addition, a Special Session was dedicated to S. Twareque Ali, a distinguished mathematical physicist at Concordia University, Montreal, who passed away in January 2016. For the past six years, the Białowieża Workshops have been complemented by a School on Geometry and Physics, comprising a series of advanced lectures for graduate students and early-career researchers. The extended abstracts of this year’s lecture series are also included here. The unique character of the Workshop-and-School series is due in part to the venue: a famous historical, cultural and environmental site in the Białowieża forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre in eastern Poland. Lectures are given in the Nature and Forest Museum, and local traditions are interwoven with the scientific activities.

The Teichmuller space of a surface was introduced by O. Teichmuller in the 1930s. It is a basic tool in the study of Riemann's moduli spaces and the mapping class groups. These objects are fundamental in several fields of mathematics, including algebraic geometry, number theory, topology, geometry, and dynamics. The original setting of Teichmuller theory is complex analysis. The work of Thurston in the 1970s brought techniques of hyperbolic geometry to the study of Teichmuller space and its asymptotic geometry. Teichmuller spaces are also studied from the point of view of the representation theory of the fundamental group of the surface in a Lie group $G$, most notably $G=\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ and $G=\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$. In the 1980s, there evolved an essentially combinatorial treatment of the Teichmuller and moduli spaces involving techniques and ideas from high-energy physics, namely from string theory. The current research interests include the quantization of Teichmuller space, the Weil-Petersson symplectic and Poisson geometry of this space as well as gauge-theoretic extensions of these structures. The quantization theories can lead to new invariants of hyperbolic 3-manifolds. The purpose of this handbook is to give a panorama of some of the most important aspects of Teichmuller theory. The handbook should be useful to specialists in the field, to graduate students, and more generally to mathematicians who want to learn about the subject. All the chapters are self-contained and have a pedagogical character. They are written by leading experts in the subject.

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.