This memoir initiates a model theory-based study of the numerical radius norm. Guided by the abstract model theory of Jim Agler, the authors propose a decomposition for operators that is particularly useful in understanding their properties with respect to the numerical radius norm. Of the topics amenable to investigation with these tools, the following are presented: a complete description of the linear extreme points of the non-matrix (numerical radius) unit ball; several equivalent characterizations of matricial extremals in the unit ball, that is, those members which do not allow a nontrivial extension remaining in the unit ball; and applications to numerical ranges of matrices, including a complete parameterization of all matrices whose numerical ranges are closed disks.

This memoir initiates a model theory-based study of the numerical radius norm. Guided by the abstract model theory of Jim Agler, the authors propose a decomposition for operators that is particularly useful in understanding their properties with respect to the numerical radius norm. Of the topics amenable to investigation with these tools, the following are presented: a complete description of the linear extreme points of the non-matrix (numerical radius) unit ball; several equivalent characterizations of matricial extremals in the unit ball, that is, those members which do not allow a nontrivial extension remaining in the unit ball; and applications to numerical ranges of matrices, including a complete parameterization of all matrices whose numerical ranges are closed disks.

Starting with elementary operator theory and matrix analysis, this book introduces the basic properties of the numerical range and gradually builds up the whole numerical range theory. Over 400 assorted problems, ranging from routine exercises to published research results, give you the chance to put the theory into practice and test your understanding. Interspersed throughout the text are numerous comments and references, allowing you to discover related developments and to pursue areas of interest in the literature. Also included is an appendix on basic convexity properties on the Euclidean space. Targeted at graduate students as well as researchers interested in functional analysis, this book provides a comprehensive coverage of classic and recent works on the numerical range theory. It serves as an accessible entry point into this lively and exciting research area.

Gian-Carlo Rota was born in Vigevano, Italy, in 1932. He died in Cambridge, Mas sachusetts, in 1999. He had several careers, most notably as a mathematician, but also as a philosopher and a consultant to the United States government. His mathe matical career was equally varied. His early mathematical studies were at Princeton (1950 to 1953) and Yale (1953 to 1956). In 1956, he completed his doctoral thesis under the direction of Jacob T. Schwartz. This thesis was published as the pa per "Extension theory of differential operators I", the first paper reprinted in this volume. Rota's early work was in analysis, more specifically, in operator theory, differ ential equations, ergodic theory, and probability theory. In the 1960's, Rota was motivated by problems in fluctuation theory to study some operator identities of Glen Baxter (see [7]). Together with other problems in probability theory, this led Rota to study combinatorics. His series of papers, "On the foundations of combi natorial theory", led to a fundamental re-evaluation of the subject. Later, in the 1990's, Rota returned to some of the problems in analysis and probability theory which motivated his work in combinatorics. This was his intention all along, and his early death robbed mathematics of his unique perspective on linkages between the discrete and the continuous. Glimpses of his new research programs can be found in [2,3,6,9,10].

In this work, the author examines the following: When the Hamiltonian system $m i \ddot{q} i + (\partial V/\partial q i) (t,q) =0$ with periodicity condition $q(t+T) = q(t),\; \forall t \in \germ R$ (where $q {i} \in \germ R{\ell}$, $\ell \ge 3$, $1 \le i \le n$, $q = (q {1},...,q {n})$ and $V = \sum V {ij}(t,q {i}-q {j})$ with $V {ij}(t,\xi)$ $T$-periodic in $t$ and singular in $\xi$ at $\xi = 0$) is posed as a variational problem, the corresponding functional does not satisfy the Palais-Smale condition and this leads to the notion of critical points at infinity. This volume is a study of these critical points at infinity and of the topology of their stable and unstable manifolds. The potential considered here satisfies the strong force hypothesis which eliminates collision orbits. The details are given for 4-body type problems then generalized to n-body type problems.

In this book, the authors treat the full Hodge theory for the de Rham complex when calculated in the Sobolev topology rather than in the $L2$ topology. The use of the Sobolev topology strikingly alters the problem from the classical setup and gives rise to a new class of elliptic boundary value problems. The study takes place on both the upper half space and on a smoothly bounded domain. It features: a good introduction to elliptic theory, pseudo-differential operators, and boundary value problems; theorems completely explained and proved; and new geometric tools for differential analysis on domains and manifolds.

Free probability theory, introduced by Voiculescu, has developed very actively in the last few years and has had an increasing impact on quite different fields in mathematics and physics. Whereas the subject arose out of the field of von Neumann algebras, presented here is a quite different view of Voiculescu's amalgamated free product. This combinatorial description not only allows re-proving of most of Voiculescu's results in a concise and elegant way, but also opens the way for many new results. Unlike other approaches, this book emphasizes the combinatorial structure of the concept of ``freeness''. This gives an elegant and easily accessible description of freeness and leads to new results in unexpected directions. Specifically, a mathematical framework for otherwise quite ad hoc approximations in physics emerges.

In this volume, the authors demonstrate under some assumptions on $f $, $f $ that a solution to the classical Monge-Kantorovich problem of optimally rearranging the measure $\mu{ }=f dx$ onto $\mu =f dy$ can be constructed by studying the $p$-Laplacian equation $- \roman{div}(\vert DU_p\vert p-2}Du_p)=f -f $ in the limit as $p\rightarrow\infty$. The idea is to show $u_p\rightarrow u$, where $u$ satisfies $\vert Du\vert\leq 1, -\roman{div}(aDu)=f -f $ for some density $a\geq0$, and then to build a flow by solving a nonautonomous ODE involving $a, Du, f $ and $f $

In this volume, the authors show that a set of local admissible fields generates a vertex algebra. For an affine Lie algebra $\tilde{\frak g}$, they construct the corresponding level $k$ vertex operator algebra and show that level $k$ highest weight $\tilde{\frak g}$-modules are modules for this vertex operator algebra. They determine the set of annihilating fields of level $k$ standard modules and study the corresponding loop $\tilde{\frak g}$-module--the set of relations that defines standard modules. In the case when $\tilde{\frak g}$ is of type $A{(1)} 1$, they construct bases of standard modules parameterized by colored partitions, and as a consequence, obtain a series of Rogers-Ramanujan type combinatorial identities.

This volume is about tree-like structures, namely semilinear ordering, general betweenness relations, C-relations and D-relations. It contains a systematic study of betweenness and introduces C- and D- relations to describe the behaviour of points at infinity (leaves or ends or directions of trees). The focus is on structure theorems and on automorphism groups, with applications to the theory of infinite permutation groups.