The aim of this work is to initiate a systematic study of those properties of Banach space complexes that are stable under certain perturbations. A Banach space complex is essentially an object of the form 1 op-l oP +1 ... --+ XP- --+ XP --+ XP --+ ... , where p runs a finite or infiniteinterval ofintegers, XP are Banach spaces, and oP : Xp ..... Xp+1 are continuous linear operators such that OPOp-1 = 0 for all indices p. In particular, every continuous linear operator S : X ..... Y, where X, Yare Banach spaces, may be regarded as a complex: O ..... X ~ Y ..... O. The already existing Fredholm theory for linear operators suggested the possibility to extend its concepts and methods to the study of Banach space complexes. The basic stability properties valid for (semi-) Fredholm operators have their counterparts in the more general context of Banach space complexes. We have in mind especially the stability of the index (i.e., the extended Euler characteristic) under small or compact perturbations, but other related stability results can also be successfully extended. Banach (or Hilbert) space complexes have penetrated the functional analysis from at least two apparently disjoint directions. A first direction is related to the multivariable spectral theory in the sense of J. L.

Preparing students for further study of both the classical works and current research, this is an accessible text for students who have had a course in real and complex analysis and understand the basic properties of L p spaces. It is sprinkled liberally with examples, historical notes, citations, and original sources, and over 450 exercises provide practice in the use of the results developed in the text through supplementary examples and counterexamples.

This book is intended to be used with graduate courses in Banach space theory.

During the past twenty years many connections have been found between the theory of analytic functions of one or more complex variables and the study of commutative Banach algebras. On the one hand, function theory has been used to answer algebraic questions such as the question of the existence of idempotents in a Banach algebra. On the other hand, concepts arising from the study of Banach algebras such as the maximal ideal space, the Silov boundary, Gleason parts, etc. have led to new questions and to new methods of proof in function theory. Roughly one third of this book isconcerned with developing some of the principal applications of function theory in several complex variables to Banach algebras. We presuppose no knowledge of severalcomplex variables on the part of the reader but develop the necessary material from scratch. The remainder of the book deals with problems of uniform approximation on compact subsets of the space of n complex variables. For n > I no complete theory exists but many important particular problems have been solved. Throughout, our aim has been to make the exposition elementary and self-contained. We have cheerfully sacrificed generality and completeness all along the way in order to make it easier to understand the main ideas.

The Handbook presents an overview of most aspects of modernBanach space theory and its applications. The up-to-date surveys, authored by leading research workers in the area, are written to be accessible to a wide audience. In addition to presenting the state of the art of Banach space theory, the surveys discuss the relation of the subject with such areas as harmonic analysis, complex analysis, classical convexity, probability theory, operator theory, combinatorics, logic, geometric measure theory, and partial differential equations. The Handbook begins with a chapter on basic concepts in Banachspace theory which contains all the background needed for reading any other chapter in the Handbook. Each of the twenty one articles in this volume after the basic concepts chapter is devoted to one specific direction of Banach space theory or its applications. Each article contains a motivated introduction as well as an exposition of the main results, methods, and open problems in its specific direction. Most have an extensive bibliography. Many articles contain new proofs of known results as well as expositions of proofs which are hard to locate in the literature or are only outlined in the original research papers. As well as being valuable to experienced researchers in Banach space theory, the Handbook should be an outstanding source for inspiration and information to graduate students and beginning researchers. The Handbook will be useful for mathematicians who want to get an idea of the various developments in Banach space theory.

In several proofs from the theory of finite-dimensional Lie algebras, an essential contribution comes from the Jordan canonical structure of linear maps acting on finite-dimensional vector spaces. On the other hand, there exist classical results concerning Lie algebras which advise us to use infinite-dimensional vector spaces as well. For example, the classical Lie Theorem asserts that all finite-dimensional irreducible representations of solvable Lie algebras are one-dimensional. Hence, from this point of view, the solvable Lie algebras cannot be distinguished from one another, that is, they cannot be classified. Even this example alone urges the infinite-dimensional vector spaces to appear on the stage. But the structure of linear maps on such a space is too little understood; for these linear maps one cannot speak about something like the Jordan canonical structure of matrices. Fortunately there exists a large class of linear maps on vector spaces of arbi trary dimension, having some common features with the matrices. We mean the bounded linear operators on a complex Banach space. Certain types of bounded operators (such as the Dunford spectral, Foia§ decomposable, scalar generalized or Colojoara spectral generalized operators) actually even enjoy a kind of Jordan decomposition theorem. One of the aims of the present book is to expound the most important results obtained until now by using bounded operators in the study of Lie algebras.