Here, the study of torus actions on topological spaces is presented as a bridge connecting combinatorial and convex geometry with commutative and homological algebra, algebraic geometry, and topology. This established link helps in understanding the geometry and topology of a space with torus action by studying the combinatorics of the space of orbits. Conversely, subtle properties of a combinatorial object can be realized by interpreting it as the orbit structure for a propermanifold or as a complex acted on by a torus. The latter can be a symplectic manifold with Hamiltonian torus action, a toric variety or manifold, a subspace arrangement complement, etc., while the combinatorial objects include simplicial and cubical complexes, polytopes, and arrangements. This approachalso provides a natural topological interpretation in terms of torus actions of many constructions from commutative and homological algebra used in combinatorics. The exposition centers around the theory of moment-angle complexes, providing an effective way to study invariants of triangulations by methods of equivariant topology. The book includes many new and well-known open problems and would be suitable as a textbook. It will be useful for specialists both in topology and in combinatoricsand will help to establish even tighter connections between the subjects involved.

This book is about toric topology, a new area of mathematics that emerged at the end of the 1990s on the border of equivariant topology, algebraic and symplectic geometry, combinatorics, and commutative algebra. It has quickly grown into a very active area with many links to other areas of mathematics, and continues to attract experts from different fields. The key players in toric topology are moment-angle manifolds, a class of manifolds with torus actions defined in combinatorial terms. Construction of moment-angle manifolds relates to combinatorial geometry and algebraic geometry of toric varieties via the notion of a quasitoric manifold. Discovery of remarkable geometric structures on moment-angle manifolds led to important connections with classical and modern areas of symplectic, Lagrangian, and non-Kaehler complex geometry. A related categorical construction of moment-angle complexes and polyhedral products provides for a universal framework for many fundamental constructions of homotopical topology. The study of polyhedral products is now evolving into a separate subject of homotopy theory. A new perspective on torus actions has also contributed to the development of classical areas of algebraic topology, such as complex cobordism. This book includes many open problems and is addressed to experts interested in new ideas linking all the subjects involved, as well as to graduate students and young researchers ready to enter this beautiful new area.

This volume contains original research and survey articles stemming from the Euroconference ``Algebraic and Geometric Combinatorics''. The papers discuss a wide range of problems that illustrate interactions of combinatorics with other branches of mathematics, such as commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, convex and discrete geometry, enumerative geometry, and topology of complexes and partially ordered sets. Among the topics covered are combinatorics of polytopes, lattice polytopes, triangulations and subdivisions, Cohen-Macaulay cell complexes, monomial ideals, geometry of toric surfaces, groupoids in combinatorics, Kazhdan-Lusztig combinatorics, and graph colorings. This book is aimed at researchers and graduate students interested in various aspects of modern combinatorial theories.

Toric topology is the study of algebraic, differential, symplectic-geometric, combinatorial, and homotopy-theoretic aspects of a particular class of torus actions whose quotients are highly structured. The combinatorial properties of this quotient and the equivariant topology of the original manifold interact in a rich variety of ways, thus illuminating subtle aspects of both the combinatorics and the equivariant topology. Many of the motivations and guiding principles of the fieldare provided by (though not limited to) the theory of toric varieties in algebraic geometry as well as that of symplectic toric manifolds in symplectic geometry.This volume is the proceedings of the International Conference on Toric Topology held in Osaka in May-June 2006. It contains about 25 research and survey articles written by conference speakers, covering many different aspects of, and approaches to, torus actions, such as those mentioned above. Some of the manuscripts are survey articles, intended to give a broad overview of an aspect of the subject; all manuscripts consciously aim to be accessible to a broad reading audience of students andresearchers interested in the interaction of the subjects involved. We hope that this volume serves as an enticing invitation to this emerging field.

A collection of articles showcasing the achievements of young Russian researchers in combinatorial and algebraic geometry and topology.

This volume consists of introductory lectures on the topics in the new and rapidly developing area of toric homotopy theory, and its applications to the current research in configuration spaces and braids, as well as to more applicable mathematics such as fr-codes and robot motion planning.The book starts intertwining homotopy theoretical and combinatorial ideas within the remits of toric topology and illustrates an attempt to classify in a combinatorial way polytopes known as fullerenes, which are important objects in quantum physics, quantum chemistry and nanotechnology. Toric homotopy theory is then introduced as a further development of toric topology, which describes properties of Davis-Januszkiewicz spaces, moment-angle complexes and their generalizations to polyhedral products. The book also displays the current research on configuration spaces, braids, the theory of limits over the category of presentations and the theory of fr-codes. As an application to robotics, the book surveys topological problems relevant to the motion planning problem of robotics and includes new results and constructions, which enrich the emerging area of topological robotics.The book is at research entry level addressing the core components in homotopy theory and their important applications in the sciences and thus suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

The Handbook of Homotopy Theory provides a panoramic view of an active area in mathematics that is currently seeing dramatic solutions to long-standing open problems, and is proving itself of increasing importance across many other mathematical disciplines. The origins of the subject date back to work of Henri Poincaré and Heinz Hopf in the early 20th century, but it has seen enormous progress in the 21st century. A highlight of this volume is an introduction to and diverse applications of the newly established foundational theory of ¥ -categories. The coverage is vast, ranging from axiomatic to applied, from foundational to computational, and includes surveys of applications both geometric and algebraic. The contributors are among the most active and creative researchers in the field. The 22 chapters by 31 contributors are designed to address novices, as well as established mathematicians, interested in learning the state of the art in this field, whose methods are of increasing importance in many other areas.