This textbook presents a unified approach to compact and noncompact Riemann surfaces from the point of view of the so-called L2 $\bar{\delta}$-method. This method is a powerful technique from the theory of several complex variables, and provides for a unique approach to the fundamentally different characteristics of compact and noncompact Riemann surfaces. The inclusion of continuing exercises running throughout the book, which lead to generalizations of the main theorems, as well as the exercises included in each chapter make this text ideal for a one- or two-semester graduate course.

Covers the classical theory of abstract Riemann surfaces. This book presents the requisite function theory and topology for Riemann surfaces. It also covers differentials and uniformization. For compact Riemann surfaces, it features topics such as divisors, Weierstrass points, and the Riemann-Roch theorem.

This book is novel in its broad perspective on Riemann surfaces: the text systematically explores the connection with other fields of mathematics. The book can serve as an introduction to contemporary mathematics as a whole, as it develops background material from algebraic topology, differential geometry, the calculus of variations, elliptic PDE, and algebraic geometry. The book is unique among textbooks on Riemann surfaces in its inclusion of an introduction to Teichmüller theory. For this new edition, the author has expanded and rewritten several sections to include additional material and to improve the presentation.

In this book, Miranda takes the approach that algebraic curves are best encountered for the first time over the complex numbers, where the reader's classical intuition about surfaces, integration, and other concepts can be brought into play. Therefore, many examples of algebraic curves are presented in the first chapters. In this way, the book begins as a primer on Riemann surfaces, with complex charts and meromorphic functions taking centre stage. But the main examples come fromprojective curves, and slowly but surely the text moves toward the algebraic category. Proofs of the Riemann-Roch and Serre Dualtiy Theorems are presented in an algebraic manner, via an adaptation of the adelic proof, expressed completely in terms of solving a Mittag-Leffler problem. Sheaves andcohomology are introduced as a unifying device in the later chapters, so that their utility and naturalness are immediately obvious. Requiring a background of one term of complex variable theory and a year of abstract algebra, this is an excellent graduate textbook for a second-term course in complex variables or a year-long course in algebraic geometry.

This book grew out of lectures on Riemann surfaces given by Otto Forster at the universities of Munich, Regensburg, and Münster. It provides a concise modern introduction to this rewarding subject, as well as presenting methods used in the study of complex manifolds in the special case of complex dimension one. From the reviews: "This book deserves very serious consideration as a text for anyone contemplating giving a course on Riemann surfaces."—-MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

An authoritative but accessible text on one dimensional complex manifolds or Riemann surfaces. Dealing with the main results on Riemann surfaces from a variety of points of view; it pulls together material from global analysis, topology, and algebraic geometry, and covers the essential mathematical methods and tools.

Complex analysis is a cornerstone of mathematics, making it an essential element of any area of study in graduate mathematics. Schlag's treatment of the subject emphasizes the intuitive geometric underpinnings of elementary complex analysis that naturally lead to the theory of Riemann surfaces. The book begins with an exposition of the basic theory of holomorphic functions of one complex variable. The first two chapters constitute a fairly rapid, but comprehensive course in complex analysis. The third chapter is devoted to the study of harmonic functions on the disk and the half-plane, with an emphasis on the Dirichlet problem. Starting with the fourth chapter, the theory of Riemann surfaces is developed in some detail and with complete rigor. From the beginning, the geometric aspects are emphasized and classical topics such as elliptic functions and elliptic integrals are presented as illustrations of the abstract theory. The special role of compact Riemann surfaces is explained, and their connection with algebraic equations is established. The book concludes with three chapters devoted to three major results: the Hodge decomposition theorem, the Riemann-Roch theorem, and the uniformization theorem. These chapters present the core technical apparatus of Riemann surface theory at this level. This text is intended as a detailed, yet fast-paced intermediate introduction to those parts of the theory of one complex variable that seem most useful in other areas of mathematics, including geometric group theory, dynamics, algebraic geometry, number theory, and functional analysis. More than seventy figures serve to illustrate concepts and ideas, and the many problems at the end of each chapter give the reader ample opportunity for practice and independent study.