This book was originally published in 2006. Moonshine forms a way of explaining the mysterious connection between the monster finite group and modular functions from classical number theory. The theory has evolved to describe the relationship between finite groups, modular forms and vertex operator algebras. Moonshine Beyond the Monster describes the general theory of Moonshine and its underlying concepts, emphasising the interconnections between mathematics and mathematical physics. Written in a clear and pedagogical style, this book is ideal for graduate students and researchers working in areas such as conformal field theory, string theory, algebra, number theory, geometry and functional analysis. Containing over a hundred exercises, it is also a suitable textbook for graduate courses on Moonshine and as supplementary reading for courses on conformal field theory and string theory.

In an exciting, fast-paced historical narrative ranging across two centuries, Ronan takes readers on an exhilarating tour of this final mathematical quest to understand symmetry.

A modern introduction to quantum field theory for graduates, providing intuitive, physical explanations supported by real-world applications and homework problems.

Burkhard Bilger's beautifully written, wonderfully funny and movingly nostalgic book explores the surviving (and often dying) folk traditions of the American South, from the eating of squirrel brains in Kentucky, cock-fighting in Oklahoma, frog-ranching in Georgia and coon-hunting allover, to the noodling for flatheads (fishing for catfish, using your fingers as bait and your arm as a hook) of the title.Caught between the possibility of survival through commercialisation or gradual decline (or in the case of squirrel-brain-eating, threatened by fears of Mad Squirrel Disease), many of these activities will be lucky to survive far into the new century. Burkhard Bilger's book is a wonderful elegy, hilarious, fascinating and touching, to a threatened tradition of American eccentricity and independence, but it is also a celebration of the survival of local folk culture in the era of the global triumph of Nike, Barbie and Coca-Cola, a survival that persists in America's own back yard. Narrative non-fiction at its best.

Alexander Masters tripped over his first book subject on a Cambridge sidewalk, and the result was the multi-award-winning bestseller Stuart: A Life Backwards. His second, he’s found under his floorboards. One of the greatest mathematical prodigies of the twentieth century, Simon Norton stomps around Alexander’s basement in semidarkness, dodging between stalagmites of bus timetables and engorged plastic bags, eating tinned kippers stirred into packets of Bombay mix. Simon is exploring a theoretical puzzle so complex and critical to our understanding of the universe that it is known as the Monster. It looks like a sudoku table—except a sudoku table has nine columns of numbers. The Monster has 808017424794512875886459904961710757005754368000000000 columns. But that’s not the whole story. What’s inside the decaying sports bag he never lets out of his clutches? Why does he hurtle out of the house in the middle of the night? And—good God!—what is that noxious smell that creeps up the stairwell? Grumpy, poignant, comical—more intimate than either the author or his quarry intended—Simon: The Genius in My Basement is the story of a friendship and a pursuit. Part biography, part memoir, and part popular science, it is a study of the frailty of brilliance, the measures of happiness, and Britain’s most uncooperative egghead eccentric.

The symposium held in honour of the 60th birthday of Graeme Segal brought together leading physicists and mathematicians. Its topics were centred around string theory, M-theory, and quantum gravity on the one hand, and K-theory, elliptic cohomology, quantum cohomology and string topology on the other. Geometry and quantum physics developed in parallel since the recognition of the central role of non-abelian gauge theory in elementary particle physics in the late seventies and the emerging study of super-symmetry and string theory. With its selection of survey and research articles these proceedings fulfil the dual role of reporting on developments in the field and defining directions for future research. For the first time Graeme Segal's manuscript 'The definition of Conformal Field Theory' is published, which has been greatly influential over more than ten years. An introduction by the author puts it into the present context.