Various subsets of the tracial state space of a unital C$*$-algebra are studied. The largest of these subsets has a natural interpretation as the space of invariant means. II$ 1$-factor representations of a class of C$*$-algebras considered by Sorin Popa are also studied. These algebras are shown to have an unexpected variety of II$ 1$-factor representations. In addition to developing some general theory we also show that these ideas are related to numerous other problems inoperator algebras.

Various subsets of the tracial state space of a unital C$*$-algebra are studied. The largest of these subsets has a natural interpretation as the space of invariant means. II$ 1$-factor representations of a class of C$*$-algebras considered by Sorin Popa are also studied. These algebras are shown to have an unexpected variety of II$ 1$-factor representations. In addition to developing some general theory we also show that these ideas are related to numerous other problems inoperator algebras.

This carefully written textbook provides an accessible introduction to the representation theory of algebras, including representations of quivers. The book starts with basic topics on algebras and modules, covering fundamental results such as the Jordan-Hölder theorem on composition series, the Artin-Wedderburn theorem on the structure of semisimple algebras and the Krull-Schmidt theorem on indecomposable modules. The authors then go on to study representations of quivers in detail, leading to a complete proof of Gabriel's celebrated theorem characterizing the representation type of quivers in terms of Dynkin diagrams. Requiring only introductory courses on linear algebra and groups, rings and fields, this textbook is aimed at undergraduate students. With numerous examples illustrating abstract concepts, and including more than 200 exercises (with solutions to about a third of them), the book provides an example-driven introduction suitable for self-study and use alongside lecture courses.

Very roughly speaking, representation theory studies symmetry in linear spaces. It is a beautiful mathematical subject which has many applications, ranging from number theory and combinatorics to geometry, probability theory, quantum mechanics, and quantum field theory. The goal of this book is to give a ``holistic'' introduction to representation theory, presenting it as a unified subject which studies representations of associative algebras and treating the representation theories of groups, Lie algebras, and quivers as special cases. Using this approach, the book covers a number of standard topics in the representation theories of these structures. Theoretical material in the book is supplemented by many problems and exercises which touch upon a lot of additional topics; the more difficult exercises are provided with hints. The book is designed as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. It should be accessible to students with a strong background in linear algebra and a basic knowledge of abstract algebra.

This graduate-level text provides a thorough grounding in the representation theory of finite groups over fields and rings. The book provides a balanced and comprehensive account of the subject, detailing the methods needed to analyze representations that arise in many areas of mathematics. Key topics include the construction and use of character tables, the role of induction and restriction, projective and simple modules for group algebras, indecomposable representations, Brauer characters, and block theory. This classroom-tested text provides motivation through a large number of worked examples, with exercises at the end of each chapter that test the reader's knowledge, provide further examples and practice, and include results not proven in the text. Prerequisites include a graduate course in abstract algebra, and familiarity with the properties of groups, rings, field extensions, and linear algebra.

$\textrm{C}*$-approximation theory has provided the foundation for many of the most important conceptual breakthroughs and applications of operator algebras. This book systematically studies (most of) the numerous types of approximation properties that have been important in recent years: nuclearity, exactness, quasidiagonality, local reflexivity, and others. Moreover, it contains user-friendly proofs, insofar as that is possible, of many fundamental results that were previously quite hard to extract from the literature. Indeed, perhaps the most important novelty of the first ten chapters is an earnest attempt to explain some fundamental, but difficult and technical, results as painlessly as possible. The latter half of the book presents related topics and applications--written with researchers and advanced, well-trained students in mind. The authors have tried to meet the needs both of students wishing to learn the basics of an important area of research as well as researchers who desire a fairly comprehensive reference for the theory and applications of $\textrm{C}*$-approximation theory.

Questions of existence, multiplicity, and regularity of free boundaries for prescribed data need to be addressed and their solutions lead to nonlinear problems. In this paper an equivalence is established between Bernoulli free-boundary problems and a class of equations for real-valued functions of one real variable.