Due to the lack of proper bibliographical sources stratification theory seems to be a "mysterious" subject in contemporary mathematics. This book contains a complete and elementary survey - including an extended bibliography - on stratification theory, including its historical development. Some further important topics in the book are: Morse theory, singularities, transversality theory, complex analytic varieties, Lefschetz theorems, connectivity theorems, intersection homology, complements of affine subspaces and combinatorics. The book is designed for all interested students or professionals in this area.

This self-contained treatment of Morse theory focuses on applications and is intended for a graduate course on differential or algebraic topology, and will also be of interest to researchers. This is the first textbook to include topics such as Morse-Smale flows, Floer homology, min-max theory, moment maps and equivariant cohomology, and complex Morse theory. The reader is expected to have some familiarity with cohomology theory and differential and integral calculus on smooth manifolds. Some features of the second edition include added applications, such as Morse theory and the curvature of knots, the cohomology of the moduli space of planar polygons, and the Duistermaat-Heckman formula. The second edition also includes a new chapter on Morse-Smale flows and Whitney stratifications, many new exercises, and various corrections from the first edition.

One of the most cited books in mathematics, John Milnor's exposition of Morse theory has been the most important book on the subject for more than forty years. Morse theory was developed in the 1920s by mathematician Marston Morse. (Morse was on the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study, and Princeton published his Topological Methods in the Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable in the Annals of Mathematics Studies series in 1947.) One classical application of Morse theory includes the attempt to understand, with only limited information, the large-scale structure of an object. This kind of problem occurs in mathematical physics, dynamic systems, and mechanical engineering. Morse theory has received much attention in the last two decades as a result of a famous paper in which theoretical physicist Edward Witten relates Morse theory to quantum field theory. Milnor was awarded the Fields Medal (the mathematical equivalent of a Nobel Prize) in 1962 for his work in differential topology. He has since received the National Medal of Science (1967) and the Steele Prize from the American Mathematical Society twice (1982 and 2004) in recognition of his explanations of mathematical concepts across a wide range of scienti.c disciplines. The citation reads, "The phrase sublime elegance is rarely associated with mathematical exposition, but it applies to all of Milnor's writings. Reading his books, one is struck with the ease with which the subject is unfolding and it only becomes apparent after re.ection that this ease is the mark of a master.? Milnor has published five books with Princeton University Press.

Aimed at graduate students and researchers in enumerative combinatorics, this book is the first to treat the analytic aspects of combinatorial enumeration from a multivariate perspective.

This volume is based on the lecture notes of six courses delivered at a Cimpa Summer School in Temuco, Chile, in January 2001. Leading experts contribute with introductory articles covering a broad area in probability and its applications, such as mathematical physics and mathematics of finance. Written at graduate level, the lectures touch the latest advances on each subject, ranging from classical probability theory to modern developments. Thus the book will appeal to students, teachers and researchers working in probability theory or related fields.

This book offers a detailed presentation of results needed to prove the Morse Homology Theorem using classical techniques from algebraic topology and homotopy theory. The text presents results that were formerly scattered in the mathematical literature, in a single reference with complete and detailed proofs. The core material includes CW-complexes, Morse theory, hyperbolic dynamical systems (the Lamba-Lemma, the Stable/Unstable Manifold Theorem), transversality theory, the Morse-Smale-Witten boundary operator, and Conley index theory.

Applied topology is a modern subject which emerged in recent years at a crossroads of many methods, all of them topological in nature, which were used in a wide variety of applications in classical mathematics and beyond. Within applied topology, discrete Morse theory came into light as one of the main tools to understand cell complexes arising in different contexts, as well as to reduce the complexity of homology calculations. The present book provides a gentle introduction into this beautiful theory. Using a combinatorial approach—the author emphasizes acyclic matchings as the central object of study. The first two parts of the book can be used as a stand-alone introduction to homology, the last two parts delve into the core of discrete Morse theory. The presentation is broad, ranging from abstract topics, such as formulation of the entire theory using poset maps with small fibers, to heavily computational aspects, providing, for example, a specific algorithm of finding an explicit homology basis starting from an acyclic matching. The book will be appreciated by graduate students in applied topology, students and specialists in computer science and engineering, as well as research mathematicians interested in learning about the subject and applying it in context of their fields.

This book is an introduction to surgery theory: the standard classification method for high-dimensional manifolds. It is aimed at graduate students, who have already had a basic topology course, and would now like to understand the topology of high-dimensional manifolds. This text contains entry-level accounts of the various prerequisites of both algebra and topology, including basic homotopy and homology, Poincare duality, bundles, co-bordism, embeddings, immersions, Whitehead torsion, Poincare complexes, spherical fibrations and quadratic forms and formations. While concentrating on the basic mechanics of surgery, this book includes many worked examples, useful drawings for illustration of the algebra and references for further reading.

Morse Theory: Smooth and Discrete serves as an introduction to classical smooth Morse theory and to Forman's discrete Morse theory, highlighting the parallels between the two subjects. This is the first time both smooth and discrete Morse theory have been treated in a single volume. This makes the book a valuable resource for students and professionals working in topology and discrete mathematics. With a strong focus on examples, the text is suitable for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students.