In this book, the authors geometrically construct Riemann surfaces of infinite genus by pasting together plane domains and handles. To achieve a meaningful generalization of the classical theory of Riemann surfaces to the case of infinite genus, one must impose restrictions on the asymptotic behavior of the Riemann surface. In the construction carried out here, these restrictions are formulated in terms of the sizes and locations of the handles and in terms of the gluing maps. The approach used has two main attractions. The first is that much of the classical theory of Riemann surfaces, including the Torelli theorem, can be generalized to this class. The second is that solutions of Kadomcev-Petviashvilli equations can be expressed in terms of theta functions associated with Riemann surfaces of infinite genus constructed in the book. Both of these are developed here. The authors also present in detail a number of important examples of Riemann surfaces of infinite genus (hyperelliptic surfaces of infinite genus, heat surfaces and Fermi surfaces). The book is suitable for graduate students and research mathematicians interested in analysis and integrable systems.

This memoir develops the spectral theory of the Lax operators of nonlinear Schrödinger-like partial differential equations with periodic boundary conditions. Their special curves, i.e., the common spectrum with the periodic shifts, are generically Riemann surfaces of infinite genus. The points corresponding to infinite energy are added. The resulting spaces are no longer Riemann surfaces in the usual sense, but they are quite similar to compact Riemann surfaces.

Reflects the range of mathematical interests of Henry McKean, to whom it is dedicated.

Riemann?Hilbert problems are fundamental objects of study within complex analysis. Many problems in differential equations and integrable systems, probability and random matrix theory, and asymptotic analysis can be solved by reformulation as a Riemann?Hilbert problem.This book, the most comprehensive one to date on the applied and computational theory of Riemann?Hilbert problems, includes an introduction to computational complex analysis, an introduction to the applied theory of Riemann?Hilbert problems from an analytical and numerical perspective, and a discussion of applications to integrable systems, differential equations, and special function theory. It also includes six fundamental examples and five more sophisticated examples of the analytical and numerical Riemann?Hilbert method, each of mathematical or physical significance or both.?