This book contains several fundamental ideas that are revived time after time in different guises, providing a better understanding of algebraic geometric phenomena. It shows how the field is enriched with loans from analysis and topology and from commutative algebra and homological algebra.

Vertex algebras are algebraic objects that encapsulate the concept of operator product expansion from two-dimensional conformal field theory. Vertex algebras are fast becoming ubiquitous in many areas of modern mathematics, with applications to representation theory, algebraic geometry, the theory of finite groups, modular functions, topology, integrable systems, and combinatorics. This book is an introduction to the theory of vertex algebras with a particular emphasis on the relationship with the geometry of algebraic curves. The notion of a vertex algebra is introduced in a coordinate-independent way, so that vertex operators become well defined on arbitrary smooth algebraic curves, possibly equipped with additional data, such as a vector bundle. Vertex algebras then appear as the algebraic objects encoding the geometric structure of various moduli spaces associated with algebraic curves. Therefore they may be used to give a geometric interpretation of various questions of representation theory. The book contains many original results, introduces important new concepts, and brings new insights into the theory of vertex algebras. The authors have made a great effort to make the book self-contained and accessible to readers of all backgrounds. Reviewers of the first edition anticipated that it would have a long-lasting influence on this exciting field of mathematics and would be very useful for graduate students and researchers interested in the subject. This second edition, substantially improved and expanded, includes several new topics, in particular an introduction to the Beilinson-Drinfeld theory of factorization algebras and the geometric Langlands correspondence.

The second volume of the Geometry of Algebraic Curves is devoted to the foundations of the theory of moduli of algebraic curves. Its authors are research mathematicians who have actively participated in the development of the Geometry of Algebraic Curves. The subject is an extremely fertile and active one, both within the mathematical community and at the interface with the theoretical physics community. The approach is unique in its blending of algebro-geometric, complex analytic and topological/combinatorial methods. It treats important topics such as Teichmüller theory, the cellular decomposition of moduli and its consequences and the Witten conjecture. The careful and comprehensive presentation of the material is of value to students who wish to learn the subject and to experts as a reference source. The first volume appeared 1985 as vol. 267 of the same series.

A substantial amount of this book is devoted to general questions (including significant material from the history of science, allowing one to follow the formation of modern attitudes on the essence of mathematics and the methods of its applications): only chapters 5 and 6 are devoted to a survey of the basic algebraic structures and a more detailed analysis of a structure associated with some geometric considerations, are of a more concrete character.

Concepts of Time in Post-War European Music gives a historical and philosophical account of the discussions of the nature of time and music during the mid-twentieth century. The nature of time was a persistent topic among composers in Paris and Darmstadt in the decades after World War II, one which influenced their musical practice and historical relevance. Based on the author’s specialized knowledge of the relevant philosophical discourses, this volume offers a balanced critique of these composers' attempts at philosophizing about time. Touching on familiar topics such as Adorno’s philosophy of music, the writings of Boulez and Stockhausen, and Messiaen’s theology, this volume uncovers specific relationships among varied intellectual traditions that have not previously been described. Each chapter provides a philosophical explanation of specific problems that are relevant for interpreting the composer’s own essays or lectures, followed by a musical analysis of a piece of music which illustrates central theoretical concepts. This is a valuable study for scholars and researchers of music theory, music history, and the philosophy of music.

This volume investigates the interplay between the classical theory of automorphic forms and the modern theory of representations of adele groups. Interpreting important recent contributions of Jacquet and Langlands, the author presents new and previously inaccessible results, and systematically develops explicit consequences and connections with the classical theory. The underlying theme is the decomposition of the regular representation of the adele group of GL(2). A detailed proof of the celebrated trace formula of Selberg is included, with a discussion of the possible range of applicability of this formula. Throughout the work the author emphasizes new examples and problems that remain open within the general theory. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. The Classical Theory 2. Automorphic Forms and the Decomposition of L2(PSL(2,R) 3. Automorphic Forms as Functions on the Adele Group of GL(2) 4. The Representations of GL(2) over Local and Global Fields 5. Cusp Forms and Representations of the Adele Group of GL(2) 6. Hecke Theory for GL(2) 7. The Construction of a Special Class of Automorphic Forms 8. Eisenstein Series and the Continuous Spectrum 9. The Trace Formula for GL(2) 10. Automorphic Forms on a Quaternion Algebr?

The description for this book, Seminar on Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem. (AM-57), Volume 57, will be forthcoming.