This volume contains contributions originating from the International Workshop on Operator Theory and Its Applications (IWOTA) held in Newcastle upon Tyne in July 2004. The articles expertly cover a broad range of material at the cutting edge of functional analysis and its applications. The works are written by world authorities in their specialities.

This book constitutes a first- or second-year graduate course in operator theory. It is a field that has great importance for other areas of mathematics and physics, such as algebraic topology, differential geometry, and quantum mechanics. It assumes a basic knowledge in functional analysis but no prior acquaintance with operator theory is required.

{\it Elements of Operatory Theory} is aimed at graduate students as well as a new generation of mathematicians and scientists who need to apply operator theory to their field. Written in a user-friendly, motivating style, fundamental topics are presented in a systematic fashion, i.e., set theory, algebraic structures, topological structures, Banach spaces, Hilbert spaces, culminating with the Spectral Theorem, one of the landmarks in the theory of operators on Hilbert spaces. The exposition is concept-driven and as much as possible avoids the formula-computational approach. Key features of this largely self-contained work include: * required background material to each chapter * fully rigorous proofs, over 300 of them, are specially tailored to the presentation and some are new * more than 100 examples and, in several cases, interesting counterexamples that demonstrate the frontiers of an important theorem * over 300 problems, many with hints * both problems and examples underscore further auxiliary results and extensions of the main theory; in this non-traditional framework, the reader is challenged and has a chance to prove the principal theorems anew This work is an excellent text for the classroom as well as a self-study resource for researchers. Prerequisites include an introduction to analysis and to functions of a complex variable, which most first-year graduate students in mathematics, engineering, or another formal science have already acquired. Measure theory and integration theory are required only for the last section of the final chapter.

This volume contains contributions originating from the International Workshop on Operator Theory and Its Applications (IWOTA) held in Newcastle upon Tyne in July 2004. The articles expertly cover a broad range of material at the cutting edge of functional analysis and its applications. The works are written by world authorities in their specialities.

This volume is dedicated to Leonid Lerer on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The main part presents recent results in Lerer’s research area of interest, which includes Toeplitz, Toeplitz plus Hankel, and Wiener-Hopf operators, Bezout equations, inertia type results, matrix polynomials, and related areas in operator and matrix theory. Biographical material and Lerer's list of publications complete the volume.

A one-sentence definition of operator theory could be: The study of (linear) continuous operations between topological vector spaces, these being in general (but not exclusively) Fréchet, Banach, or Hilbert spaces (or their duals). Operator theory is thus a very wide field, with numerous facets, both applied and theoretical. There are deep connections with complex analysis, functional analysis, mathematical physics, and electrical engineering, to name a few. Fascinating new applications and directions regularly appear, such as operator spaces, free probability, and applications to Clifford analysis. In our choice of the sections, we tried to reflect this diversity. This is a dynamic ongoing project, and more sections are planned, to complete the picture. We hope you enjoy the reading, and profit from this endeavor.

This is the first volume of a collection of original and review articles on recent advances and new directions in a multifaceted and interconnected area of mathematics and its applications. It encompasses many topics in theoretical developments in operator theory and its diverse applications in applied mathematics, physics, engineering, and other disciplines. The purpose is to bring in one volume many important original results of cutting edge research as well as authoritative review of recent achievements, challenges, and future directions in the area of operator theory and its applications.