Time-evolution in low-dimensional topological spaces is a subject of puzzling vitality. This book is a state-of-the-art account, covering classical and new results. The volume comprises Poincaré-Bendixson, local and Morse-Smale theories, as well as a carefully written chapter on the invariants of surface flows. Of particular interest are chapters on the Anosov-Weil problem, C*-algebras and non-compact surfaces. The book invites graduate students and non-specialists to a fascinating realm of research. It is a valuable source of reference to the specialists.

This monograph deals with two aspects of the theory of elliptic genus: its topological aspect involving elliptic functions, and its representation theoretic aspect involving vertex operator super-algebras. For the second aspect, elliptic genera are shown to have the structure of modules over certain vertex operator super-algebras. The vertex operators corresponding to parallel tensor fields on closed Riemannian Spin Kähler manifolds such as Riemannian tensors and Kähler forms are shown to give rise to Virasoro algebras and affine Lie algebras. This monograph is chiefly intended for topologists and it includes accounts on topics outside of topology such as vertex operator algebras.

Manifolds, the higher-dimensional analogs of smooth curves and surfaces, are fundamental objects in modern mathematics. Combining aspects of algebra, topology, and analysis, manifolds have also been applied to classical mechanics, general relativity, and quantum field theory. In this streamlined introduction to the subject, the theory of manifolds is presented with the aim of helping the reader achieve a rapid mastery of the essential topics. By the end of the book the reader should be able to compute, at least for simple spaces, one of the most basic topological invariants of a manifold, its de Rham cohomology. Along the way, the reader acquires the knowledge and skills necessary for further study of geometry and topology. The requisite point-set topology is included in an appendix of twenty pages; other appendices review facts from real analysis and linear algebra. Hints and solutions are provided to many of the exercises and problems. This work may be used as the text for a one-semester graduate or advanced undergraduate course, as well as by students engaged in self-study. Requiring only minimal undergraduate prerequisites, 'Introduction to Manifolds' is also an excellent foundation for Springer's GTM 82, 'Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology'.

The Ricci flow is a powerful technique that integrates geometry, topology, and analysis. Intuitively, the idea is to set up a PDE that evolves a metric according to its Ricci curvature. The resulting equation has much in common with the heat equation, which tends to 'flow' a given function to ever nicer functions. By analogy, the Ricci flow evolves an initial metric into improved metrics. Richard Hamilton began the systematic use of the Ricci flow in the early 1980s and applied it in particular to study 3-manifolds. Grisha Perelman has made recent breakthroughs aimed at completing Hamilton's program. The Ricci flow method is now central to our understanding of the geometry and topology of manifolds.This book is an introduction to that program and to its connection to Thurston's geometrization conjecture. The authors also provide a 'Guide for the hurried reader', to help readers wishing to develop, as efficiently as possible, a nontechnical appreciation of the Ricci flow program for 3-manifolds, i.e., the so-called 'fast track'. The book is suitable for geometers and others who are interested in the use of geometric analysis to study the structure of manifolds. "The Ricci Flow" was nominated for the 2005 Robert W. Hamilton Book Award, which is the highest honor of literary achievement given to published authors at the University of Texas at Austin.

This volume takes a look at the current state of the theory of foliations, with surveys and research articles concerning different aspects. The focused aspects cover geometry of foliated Riemannian manifolds, Riemannian foliations and dynamical properties of foliations and some aspects of classical dynamics related to the field. Among the articles readers may find a study of foliations which admit a transverse contractive flow, an extensive survey on non-commutative geometry of Riemannian foliations, an article on contact structures converging to foliations, as well as a few articles on conformal geometry of foliations. This volume also contains a list of open problems in foliation theory which were collected from the participants of the Foliations 2005 conference.