The talks given at the Arolla Conference on Algebraic Topology covered a broad spectrum of current research in homotopy theory, offering participants the possibility to sample and relish selected morsels of homotopy theory, much as a participant in a wine tasting partakes of a variety of fine wines. True to the spirit of the conference, the proceedings included in this volume present a savory sampler of homotopical delicacies. Readers will find within these pages a compilation of articles describing current research in the area, including classical stable and unstable homotopy theory, configuration spaces, group cohomology, K-theory, localization, p-compact groups, and simplicial theory.

The 23 papers report recent developments in using the technique to help clarify the relationship between phenomena and data in a number of natural and social sciences. Among the topics are a coordinate-free approach to multivariate exponential families, some rank-based hypothesis tests for covariance structure and conditional independence, deconvolution density estimation on compact Lie groups, random walks on regular languages and algebraic systems of generating functions, and the extendibility of statistical models. There is no index. c. Book News Inc.

This volume presents research and expository papers presented at the third and fifth meetings of the Council for African American Researchers in the Mathematical Sciences (CAARMS). The CAARMS is a group dedicated to organizing an annual conference that showcases the current research primarily, but not exclusively, of African Americans in the mathematical sciences, including mathematics, operations research, statistics, and computer science. Held annually since 1995, significant numbers of researchers have presented their current work in hour-long technical presentations, and graduate students have presented their work in organized poster sessions. The events create an ideal forum for mentoring and networking where attendees can meet researchers and graduate students interested in the same fields. For volumes based on previous CAARMS proceedings, see African Americans in Mathematics II (Volume 252 in the AMS series, Contemporary Mathematics), and African Americans in Mathematics (Volume 34 in the AMS series, DIMACS).

Number theory, spectral geometry, and fractal geometry are interlinked in this in-depth study of the vibrations of fractal strings, that is, one-dimensional drums with fractal boundary. Throughout Geometry, Complex Dimensions and Zeta Functions, Second Edition, new results are examined and a new definition of fractality as the presence of nonreal complex dimensions with positive real parts is presented. The new final chapter discusses several new topics and results obtained since the publication of the first edition.

Our knowledge of objects of algebraic geometry such as moduli of curves, (real) Schubert classes, fundamental groups of complements of hyperplane arrangements, toric varieties, and variation of Hodge structures, has been enhanced recently by ideas and constructions of quantum field theory, such as mirror symmetry, Gromov-Witten invariants, quantum cohomology, and gravitational descendants. These are some of the themes of this refereed collection of papers, which grew out of the special session, ``Enumerative Geometry in Physics,'' held at the AMS meeting in Lowell, MA, April 2000. This session brought together mathematicians and physicists who reported on the latest results and open questions; all the abstracts are included as an Appendix, and also included are papers by some who could not attend. The collection provides an overview of state-of-the-art tools, links that connect classical and modern problems, and the latest knowledge available.

This book gives a general outlook on homotopy theory; fundamental concepts, such as homotopy groups and spectral sequences, are developed from a few axioms and are thus available in a broad variety of contexts. Many examples and applications in topology and algebra are discussed, including an introduction to rational homotopy theory in terms of both differential Lie algebras and De Rham algebras. The author describes powerful tools for homotopy classification problems, particularly for the classification of homotopy types and for the computation of the group homotopy equivalences. Applications and examples of such computations are given, including when the fundamental group is non-trivial. Moreover, the deep connection between the homotopy classification problems and the cohomology theory of small categories is demonstrated. The prerequisites of the book are few: elementary topology and algebra. Consequently, this account will be valuable for non-specialists and experts alike. It is an important supplement to the standard presentations of algebraic topology, homotopy theory, category theory and homological algebra.

The basic theory of fibrations is generalized to a context in which fibres, and maps on fibres, are constrained to lie in any preassigned category of spaces [script capital] F. Then axioms are placed on [script capital] F to allow the development of a theory of associated principal fibrations and, under several choices of additional hypotheses on [script capital] F, a classification theorem is proven for such fibrations.