Measured geodesic laminations are a natural generalization of simple closed curves in surfaces, and they play a decisive role in various developments in two-and three-dimensional topology, geometry, and dynamical systems. This book presents a self-contained and comprehensive treatment of the rich combinatorial structure of the space of measured geodesic laminations in a fixed surface. Families of measured geodesic laminations are described by specifying a train track in the surface, and the space of measured geodesic laminations is analyzed by studying properties of train tracks in the surface. The material is developed from first principles, the techniques employed are essentially combinatorial, and only a minimal background is required on the part of the reader. Specifically, familiarity with elementary differential topology and hyperbolic geometry is assumed. The first chapter treats the basic theory of train tracks as discovered by W. P. Thurston, including recurrence, transverse recurrence, and the explicit construction of a measured geodesic lamination from a measured train track. The subsequent chapters develop certain material from R. C. Penner's thesis, including a natural equivalence relation on measured train tracks and standard models for the equivalence classes (which are used to analyze the topology and geometry of the space of measured geodesic laminations), a duality between transverse and tangential structures on a train track, and the explicit computation of the action of the mapping class group on the space of measured geodesic laminations in the surface.

Measured geodesic laminations are a natural generalization of simple closed curves in surfaces, and they play a decisive role in various developments in two-and three-dimensional topology, geometry, and dynamical systems. This book presents a self-contained and comprehensive treatment of the rich combinatorial structure of the space of measured geodesic laminations in a fixed surface. Families of measured geodesic laminations are described by specifying a train track in the surface, and the space of measured geodesic laminations is analyzed by studying properties of train tracks in the surface. The material is developed from first principles, the techniques employed are essentially combinatorial, and only a minimal background is required on the part of the reader. Specifically, familiarity with elementary differential topology and hyperbolic geometry is assumed. The first chapter treats the basic theory of train tracks as discovered by W. P. Thurston, including recurrence, transverse recurrence, and the explicit construction of a measured geodesic lamination from a measured train track. The subsequent chapters develop certain material from R. C. Penner's thesis, including a natural equivalence relation on measured train tracks and standard models for the equivalence classes (which are used to analyze the topology and geometry of the space of measured geodesic laminations), a duality between transverse and tangential structures on a train track, and the explicit computation of the action of the mapping class group on the space of measured geodesic laminations in the surface.

ICM 2010 proceedings comprises a four-volume set containing articles based on plenary lectures and invited section lectures, the Abel and Noether lectures, as well as contributions based on lectures delivered by the recipients of the Fields Medal, the Nevanlinna, and Chern Prizes. The first volume will also contain the speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies and other highlights of the Congress.

In 1920, Perre Fatou expressed the conjecture that--except for special cases--all critical points of a rational map of the Riemann sphere tend to periodic orbits under iteration. This book provides a rigorous proof of the Real Fatou Conjecture--that in spite of the apparently elementary nature of a problem, its solution requires advanced tools of complex analysis.

This volume is based on lectures given at the highly successful three-week Summer School on Geometry, Topology and Dynamics of Character Varieties held at the National University of Singapore's Institute for Mathematical Sciences in July 2010.Aimed at graduate students in the early stages of research, the edited and refereed articles comprise an excellent introduction to the subject of the program, much of which is otherwise available only in specialized texts. Topics include hyperbolic structures on surfaces and their degenerations, applications of ping-pong lemmas in various contexts, introductions to Lorenzian and complex hyperbolic geometry, and representation varieties of surface groups into PSL(2, ℝ) and other semi-simple Lie groups. This volume will serve as a useful portal to students and researchers in a vibrant and multi-faceted area of mathematics.

This book consists of 16 surveys on Thurston's work and its later development. The authors are mathematicians who were strongly influenced by Thurston's publications and ideas. The subjects discussed include, among others, knot theory, the topology of 3-manifolds, circle packings, complex projective structures, hyperbolic geometry, Kleinian groups, foliations, mapping class groups, Teichmüller theory, anti-de Sitter geometry, and co-Minkowski geometry. The book is addressed to researchers and students who want to learn about Thurston’s wide-ranging mathematical ideas and their impact. At the same time, it is a tribute to Thurston, one of the greatest geometers of all time, whose work extended over many fields in mathematics and who had a unique way of perceiving forms and patterns, and of communicating and writing mathematics.