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.

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.

Designed to give graduate students an understanding of integrable systems via the study of Riemann surfaces, loop groups, and twistors, this book has its origins in a lecture series given by the internationally renowned authors. Written in an accessible, informal style, it fills a gap in the existing literature.

The book's main concern is automorphisms of Riemann surfaces, giving a foundational treatment from the point of view of Galois coverings, and treating the problem of the largest automorphism group for a Riemann surface of a given genus. In addition, the extent to which fixed points of automorphisms are generalized Weierstrass points is considered. The extremely useful inequality of Castelnuovo- Severi is also treated. While the methods are elementary, much of the material does not appear in the current texts on Riemann surfaces, algebraic curves. The book is accessible to a reader who has had an introductory course on the theory of Riemann surfaces or algebraic curves.

This book is devoted to classical and modern achievements in complex analysis. In order to benefit most from it, a first-year university background is sufficient; all other statements and proofs are provided. We begin with a brief but fairly complete course on the theory of holomorphic, meromorphic, and harmonic functions. We then present a uniformization theory, and discuss a representation of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces of a fixed topological type as a factor space of a contracted space by a discrete group. Next, we consider compact Riemann surfaces and prove the classical theorems of Riemann-Roch, Abel, Weierstrass, etc. We also construct theta functions that are very important for a range of applications. After that, we turn to modern applications of this theory. First, we build the (important for mathematics and mathematical physics) Kadomtsev-Petviashvili hierarchy and use validated results to arrive at important solutions to these differential equations. We subsequently use the theory of harmonic functions and the theory of differential hierarchies to explicitly construct a conformal mapping that translates an arbitrary contractible domain into a standard disk – a classical problem that has important applications in hydrodynamics, gas dynamics, etc. The book is based on numerous lecture courses given by the author at the Independent University of Moscow and at the Mathematics Department of the Higher School of Economics.