Search

The special semester'Singularities and low dimensional topology'in the Spring of 2023 at the Erdős Center (Budapest) brought together algebraic geometers and topologists to discuss and explore the strong connection between surface singularities and topological properties of three- and four-dimensional manifolds. The semester featured a Winter School (with four lecture series) and several focused weeks. This volume contains the notes of the lecture series of the Winter School and some of the lecture notes from the focused weeks. Topics covered in this collection range from algebraic geometry of complex curves, lattice homology of curve and surface singularities to novel results in smooth four-dimensional topology and grid homology, and to Seiberg-Witten homotopy theory and ‘spacification'of knot invariants. Some of these topics are already well-documented in the literature, and the lectures aim to provide a new perspective and fresh connections. Other topics are rather new and have been covered only in research papers. We hope that this volume will be useful not only for advanced graduate students and early-stage researchers, but also for the more experienced geometers and topologists who want to be informed about the latest developments in the field.

Mathematical models are used to describe the essence of the real world, and their analysis induces new predictions filled with unexpected phenomena.In spite of a huge number of insights derived from a variety of scientific fields in these five hundred years of the theory of differential equations, and its extensive developments in these one hundred years, several principles that ensure these successes are discovered very recently.This monograph focuses on one of them: cancellation of singularities derived from interactions of multiple species, which is described by the language of geometry, in particular, that of global analysis.Five objects of inquiry, scattered across different disciplines, are selected in this monograph: evolution of geometric quantities, models of multi-species in biology, interface vanishing of d - δ systems, the fundamental equation of electro-magnetic theory, and free boundaries arising in engineering.The relaxation of internal tensions in these systems, however, is described commonly by differential forms, and the reader will be convinced of further applications of this principle to other areas.

View the abstract.

Resolution of singularities is notorious as a difficult topic within algebraic geometry. Recent work, aiming at resolution of families and semistable reduction, infused the subject with logarithmic geometry and algebraic stacks, two techniques essential for the current theory of moduli spaces. As a byproduct a short, a simple and efficient functorial resolution procedure in characteristic 0 using just algebraic stacks was produced. The goals of the book, the result of an Oberwolfach Seminar, are to introduce readers to explicit techniques of resolution of singularities with access to computer implementations, introduce readers to the theories of algebraic stacks and logarithmic structures, and to resolution in families and semistable reduction methods.

This is the fourth volume of the Handbook of Geometry and Topology of Singularities, a series that aims to provide an accessible account of the state of the art of the subject, its frontiers, and its interactions with other areas of research. This volume consists of twelve chapters which provide an in-depth and reader-friendly survey of various important aspects of singularity theory. Some of these complement topics previously explored in volumes I to III. Amongst the topics studied in this volume are the Nash blow up, the space of arcs in algebraic varieties, determinantal singularities, Lipschitz geometry, indices of vector fields and 1-forms, motivic characteristic classes, the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity and comparison theorems that spring from the classical De Rham complex. Singularities are ubiquitous in mathematics and science in general. Singularity theory is a crucible where different types of mathematical problems interact, surprising connections are born and simple questions lead to ideas which resonate in other subjects. Authored by world experts, the various contributions deal with both classical material and modern developments, covering a wide range of topics which are linked to each other in fundamental ways. The book is addressed to graduate students and newcomers to the theory, as well as to specialists who can use it as a guidebook.

Singularities are ubiquitous in nature and generate high levels of interest and activity among scientists. At a singularity, a parameter of interest becomes indeterminate, a single point at which a mathematical quantity is not defined or not ‘well behaved'. In optics, a singularity refers to a point at which some parameter describing the electromagnetic field becomes indeterminate. Even though at the singular point, things are not well defined, the neighbourhood points of a singularity are characterized by very large gradients and hence there is significant scope for new discoveries. Recent advances have gathered pace, and interest continues to grow in this field, and with its applications. Key Features: Simple presentation suitable for beginners. Extensive coverage of the field suitable for experts. Comprehensive literature survey. A key reference book for academics and industry experts working within the field.

This monograph provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory of complex normal surface singularities, with a special emphasis on connections to low-dimensional topology. In this way, it unites the analytic approach with the more recent topological one, combining their tools and methods.In the first chapters, the book sets out the foundations of the theory of normal surface singularities. This includes a comprehensive presentation of the properties of the link (as an oriented 3-manifold) and of the invariants associated with a resolution, combined with the structure and special properties of the line bundles defined on a resolution. A recurring theme is the comparison of analytic and topological invariants. For example, the Poincaré series of the divisorial filtration is compared to a topological zeta function associated with the resolution graph, and the sheaf cohomologies of the line bundles are compared to the Seiberg–Witten invariants of the link. Equivariant Ehrhart theory is introduced to establish surgery-additivity formulae of these invariants, as well as for the regularization procedures of multivariable series.In addition to recent research, the book also provides expositions of more classical subjects such as the classification of plane and cuspidal curves, Milnor fibrations and smoothing invariants, the local divisor class group, and the Hilbert–Samuel function. It contains a large number of examples of key families of germs: rational, elliptic, weighted homogeneous, superisolated and splice-quotient. It provides concrete computations of the topological invariants of their links (Casson(–Walker) and Seiberg–Witten invariants, Turaev torsion) and of the analytic invariants (geometric genus, Hilbert function of the divisorial filtration, and the analytic semigroup associated with the resolution). The book culminates in a discussion of the topological and analytic lattice cohomologies (as categorifications of the Seiberg–Witten invariant and of the geometric genus respectively) and of the graded roots. Several open problems and conjectures are also formulated.Normal Surface Singularities provides researchers in algebraic and differential geometry, singularity theory, complex analysis, and low-dimensional topology with an invaluable reference on this rich topic, offering a unified presentation of the major results and approaches.

View the abstract.

This book addresses the global study of finite and infinite singularities of planar polynomial differential systems, with special emphasis on quadratic systems. While results covering the degenerate cases of singularities of quadratic systems have been published elsewhere, the proofs for the remaining harder cases were lengthier. This book covers all cases, with half of the content focusing on the last non-degenerate ones.The book contains the complete bifurcation diagram, in the 12-parameter space, of global geometrical configurations of singularities of quadratic systems. The authors'results provide - for the first time - global information on all singularities of quadratic systems in invariant form and their bifurcations. In addition, a link to a very helpful software package is included. With the help of this software, the study of the algebraic bifurcations becomes much more efficient and less time-consuming.Given its scope, the book will appeal to specialists on polynomial differential systems, pure and applied mathematicians who need to study bifurcation diagrams of families of such systems, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral fellows.

This title introduces the theory of arc schemes in algebraic geometry and singularity theory, with special emphasis on recent developments around the Nash problem for surfaces. The main challenges are to understand the global and local structure of arc schemes, and how they relate to the nature of the singularities on the variety. Since the arc scheme is an infinite dimensional object, new tools need to be developed to give a precise meaning to the notion of a singular point of the arc scheme.Other related topics are also explored, including motivic integration and dual intersection complexes of resolutions of singularities. Written by leading international experts, it offers a broad overview of different applications of arc schemes in algebraic geometry, singularity theory and representation theory.

This volume brings together recent, original research and survey articles by leading experts in several fields that include singularity theory, algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. The motivation for this collection comes from the wide-ranging research of the distinguished mathematician, Antonio Campillo, in these and related fields. Besides his influence in the mathematical community stemming from his research, Campillo has also endeavored to promote mathematics and mathematicians'networking everywhere, especially in Spain, Latin America and Europe. Because of his impressive achievements throughout his career, we dedicate this book to Campillo in honor of his 65th birthday. Researchers and students from the world-wide, and in particular Latin American and European, communities in singularities, algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, coding theory, and other fields covered in the volume, will have interest in this book.

Singularities in Physics and Engineering gives a thorough introduction to singularities and their development. It explains, in detail, important topics such as the types of singularities, their properties, detection and application, and emerging research trends. With new advances being generated continuously, the vibrant field of optics is covered here to give an essential foundation for all students and researchers interested in singular optics.

The authors study noncompact surfaces evolving by mean curvature flow (mcf). For an open set of initial data that are $C^3$-close to round, but without assuming rotational symmetry or positive mean curvature, the authors show that mcf solutions become singular in finite time by forming neckpinches, and they obtain detailed asymptotics of that singularity formation. The results show in a precise way that mcf solutions become asymptotically rotationally symmetric near a neckpinch singularity.

The theory of singularities lies at the crossroads between those branches of mathematics which are the most abstract and those which are the most applied. Algebraic and differential geometry and topology, commutative algebra and group theory are as intimately connected to singularity theory as are dynamical systems theory, control theory, differential equations, quantum mechanical and quasi-classical asymptotics, optics, and functional analysis. This collection of papers incorporates recent results of participants in the editor's ongoing seminar in singularity theory, held in the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow University for over twenty years. With its broad range of subject matter, this volume will appeal to a wide range of readers in various areas of the mathematical sciences. Among the topics covered are: construction of new knot invariants, stable cohomology of complementary spaces to diffusion diagrams, topological properties of spaces of Legendre maps, application of Weierstrass bifurcation points in projective curve flattenings, classification of singularities of projective surfaces with boundary, nonsmoothness of visible contours of smooth convex hypersurfaces, flag manifolds, hyperbolic partial differential systems, and control theory.

This book is concerned with the study in two dimensions of stationary solutions of uɛ of a complex valued Ginzburg-Landau equation involving a small parameter ɛ. Such problems are related to questions occurring in physics, e.g., phase transition phenomena in superconductors and superfluids. The parameter ɛ has a dimension of a length which is usually small. Thus, it is of great interest to study the asymptotics as ɛ tends to zero. One of the main results asserts that the limit u-star of minimizers uɛ exists. Moreover, u-star is smooth except at a finite number of points called defects or vortices in physics. The number of these defects is exactly the Brouwer degree – or winding number – of the boundary condition. Each singularity has degree one – or as physicists would say, vortices are quantized. The material presented in this book covers mostly original results by the authors. It assumes a moderate knowledge of nonlinear functional analysis,partial differential equations, and complex functions. This book is designed for researchers and graduate students alike, and can be used as a one-semester text. The present softcover reprint is designed to make this classic text available to a wider audience.

Written for researchers focusing on general relativity, supergravity, and cosmology, this is a self-contained exposition of the structure of the cosmological singularity in generic solutions of the Einstein equations, and an up-to-date mathematical derivation of the theory underlying the Belinski–Khalatnikov–Lifshitz (BKL) conjecture on this field. Part I provides a comprehensive review of the theory underlying the BKL conjecture. The generic asymptotic behavior near the cosmological singularity of the gravitational field, and fields describing other kinds of matter, is explained in detail. Part II focuses on the billiard reformulation of the BKL behavior. Taking a general approach, this section does not assume any simplifying symmetry conditions and applies to theories involving a range of matter fields and space-time dimensions, including supergravities. Overall, this book will equip theoretical and mathematical physicists with the theoretical fundamentals of the Big Bang, Big Crunch, Black Hole singularities, the billiard description, and emergent mathematical structures.

'This engagingly written text provides a useful pedagogical introduction to an extensive class of geometrical phenomena in the optics of polarization and phase, including simple explanations of much of the underlying mathematics.'—Michael Berry, University of Bristol, UK'The author covers a vast number of topics in great detail, with a unifying mathematical treatment. It will be a useful reference for both beginners and experts….'—Enrique Galvez, Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University'a firm and comprehensive grounding both for those looking to acquaint themselves with the field and those of us that need reminding of the things we thought we knew, but hitherto did not understand: an essential point of reference.'—Miles Padgett, Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy and Vice Principal (Research), University of Glasgow This book focuses on the various forms of wavefield singularities, including optical vortices and polarization singularities, as well as orbital angular momentum and associated applications. It highlights how an understanding of singular optics provides a completely different way to look at light. Whereas traditional optics focuses on the shape and structure of the non-zero portions of the wavefield, singular optics describes a wave's properties from its null regions. The contents cover the three main areas of the field: the study of generic features of wavefields, determination of unusual properties of vortices and wavefields that contain singularities, and practical applications of vortices and other singularities.

In this monograph, the authors present some powerful methods for dealing with singularities in elliptic and parabolic partial differential inequalities. Here, the authors take the unique approach of investigating differential inequalities rather than equations, the reason being that the simplest way to study an equation is often to study a corresponding inequality; for example, using sub and superharmonic functions to study harmonic functions. Another unusual feature of the present book is that it is based on integral representation formulae and nonlinear potentials, which have not been widely investigated so far. This approach can also be used to tackle higher order differential equations. The book will appeal to graduate students interested in analysis, researchers in pure and applied mathematics, and engineers who work with partial differential equations. Readers will require only a basic knowledge of functional analysis, measure theory and Sobolev spaces.

'The present book has been enriched by including, in the Notes of each chapter, other aspects and studies on the topics in questions and by providing a wide list of references. The book will be a helpful tool for researchers interested in the field and in particular, in the study of the differential geometry of singular submanifolds of Euclidean and Minkowski spaces.'European Mathematical SocietyDifferential Geometry from a Singularity Theory Viewpoint provides a new look at the fascinating and classical subject of the differential geometry of surfaces in Euclidean spaces. The book uses singularity theory to capture some key geometric features of surfaces. It describes the theory of contact and its link with the theory of caustics and wavefronts. It then uses the powerful techniques of these theories to deduce geometric information about surfaces embedded in 3, 4 and 5-dimensional Euclidean spaces. The book also includes recent work of the authors and their collaborators on the geometry of sub-manifolds in Minkowski spaces.

The emergence of singularity theory marks the return of mathematics to the study of the simplest analytical objects: functions, graphs, curves, surfaces. The modern singularity theory for smooth mappings, which is currently undergoing intensive development, can be thought of as a crossroad where the most abstract topics (such as algebraic and differential geometry and topology, complex analysis, invariant theory, and Lie group theory) meet the most applied topics (such as dynamical systems, mathematical physics, geometrical optics, mathematical economics, and control theory). The papers in this volume include reviews of established areas as well as presentations of recent results in singularity theory. The authors have paid special attention to examples and discussion of results rather than burying the ideas in formalism, notation, and technical details. The aim is to introduce all mathematicians—as well as physicists, engineers, and other consumers of singularity theory—to the world of ideas and methods in this burgeoning area.

This introduction to functional analysis focuses on the types of singularity that prevent an operator from being invertible. The presentation is based on the open mapping theorem, Hahn-Banach theorem, dual space construction, enlargement of normed space, and Liouville's theorem. Suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in functional analysis, this volume is also a valuable resource for researchers in Fredholm theory, Banach algebras, and multiparameter spectral theory. The treatment develops the theory of open and almost open operators between incomplete spaces. It builds the enlargement of a normed space and of a bounded operator and sets up an elementary algebraic framework for Fredholm theory. The approach extends from the definition of a normed space to the fringe of modern multiparameter spectral theory and concludes with a discussion of the varieties of joint spectrum. This edition contains a brief new Prologue by author Robin Harte as well as his lengthy new Epilogue,'Residual Quotients and the Taylor Spectrum.'Dover republication of the edition published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1988.

This book gives a new foundation for the theory of links in 3-space modeled on the modern developmentby Jaco, Shalen, Johannson, Thurston et al. of the theory of 3-manifolds. The basic construction is a method of obtaining any link by'splicing'links of the simplest kinds, namely those whose exteriors are Seifert fibered or hyperbolic. This approach to link theory is particularly attractive since most invariants of links are additive under splicing.Specially distinguished from this viewpoint is the class of links, none of whose splice components is hyperbolic. It includes all links constructed by cabling and connected sums, in particular all links of singularities of complex plane curves. One of the main contributions of this monograph is the calculation of invariants of these classes of links, such as the Alexander polynomials, monodromy, and Seifert forms.

The book aims to provide an unifying view of a variety (a'zoo') of mathematical models with some kind of singular nonlinearity, in the sense that it becomes infinite when the state variable approaches a certain point. Up to 11 different concrete models are analyzed in separate chapters. Each chapter starts with a discussion of the basic model and its physical significance. Then the main results and typical proofs are outlined, followed by open problems. Each chapter is closed by a suitable list of references. The book may serve as a guide for researchers interested in the modelling of real world processes.

The book provides an introduction to the theory of functions of several complex variables and their singularities, with special emphasis on topological aspects. The topics include Riemann surfaces, holomorphic functions of several variables, classification and deformation of singularities, fundamentals of differential topology, and the topology of singularities. The aim of the book is to guide the reader from the fundamentals to more advanced topics of recent research. All the necessary prerequisites are specified and carefully explained. The general theory is illustrated by various examples and applications.

This is the second volume in the University Lecture Series, designed to make more widely available some of the outstanding lectures presented in various institutions around the country. Each year at Lehigh University, a distinguished mathematical scientist presents the Pitcher Lectures in the Mathematical Sciences. This volume contains the Pitcher lectures presented by Fritz John in April 1989. The lectures deal with existence in the large of solutions of initial value problems for nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations. As is typical with nonlinear problems, there are many results and few general conclusions in this extensive subject, so the author restricts himself to a small portion of the field, in which it is possible to discern some general patterns. Presenting an exposition of recent research in this area, the author examines the way in which solutions can, even with small and very smooth initial data, “blow up” after a finite time. For various types of quasi-linear equations, this time depends strongly on the number of dimensions and the “size” of the data. Of particular interest is the formation of singularities for nonlinear wave equations in three space dimensions.

This book is an introduction to singularities for graduate students and researchers.It is said that algebraic geometry originated in the seventeenth century with the famous work Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences by Descartes. In that book he introduced coordinates to the study of geometry. After its publication, research on algebraic varieties developed steadily. Many beautiful results emerged in mathematicians'works. Most of them were about non-singular varieties. Singularities were considered “bad” objects that interfered with knowledge of the structure of an algebraic variety. In the past three decades, however, it has become clear that singularities are necessary for us to have a good description of the framework of varieties. For example, it is impossible to formulate minimal model theory for higher-dimensional cases without singularities. Another example is that the moduli spaces of varieties have natural compactification, the boundaries of which correspond to singular varieties. A remarkable fact is that the study of singularities is developing and people are beginning to see that singularities are interesting and can be handled by human beings. This book is a handy introduction to singularities for anyone interested in singularities. The focus is on an isolated singularity in an algebraic variety. After preparation of varieties, sheaves, and homological algebra, some known results about 2-dimensional isolated singularities are introduced. Then a classification of higher-dimensional isolated singularities is shown according to plurigenera and the behavior of singularities under a deformation is studied.

In this paper, the author considers semilinear elliptic equations of the form $-\Delta u- \frac{\lambda}{|x|^2}u +b(x)\,h(u)=0$ in $\Omega\setminus\{0\}$, where $\lambda$ is a parameter with $-\infty 0$. The author completely classifies the behaviour near zero of all positive solutions of equation (0.1) when $h$ is regularly varying at $\infty$ with index $q$ greater than $1$ (that is, $\lim_{t\to \infty} h(\xi t)/h(t)=\xi^q$ for every $\xi>0$). In particular, the author's results apply to equation (0.1) with $h(t)=t^q (\log t)^{\alpha_1}$ as $t\to \infty$ and $b(x)=|x|^\theta (-\log |x|)^{\alpha_2}$ as $|x|\to 0$, where $\alpha_1$ and $\alpha_2$ are any real numbers.

The book integrates theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and modeling approaches for the treatment of singular phenomena. The projects covered focus on actual applied problems, and develop qualitatively new and mathematically challenging methods for various problems from the natural sciences. Ranging from stochastic and geometric analysis over nonlinear analysis and modelling to numerical analysis and scientific computation, the book is divided into the three sections: A) Scaling limits of diffusion processes and singular spaces, B) Multiple scales in mathematical models of materials science and biology and C) Numerics for multiscale models and singular phenomena. Each section addresses the key aspects of multiple scales and model hierarchies, singularities and degeneracies, and scaling laws and self-similarity.

This book gives a comprehensive treatment of the singularities that appear in the minimal model program and in the moduli problem for varieties. The study of these singularities and the development of Mori's program have been deeply intertwined. Early work on minimal models relied on detailed study of terminal and canonical singularities but many later results on log terminal singularities were obtained as consequences of the minimal model program. Recent work on the abundance conjecture and on moduli of varieties of general type relies on subtle properties of log canonical singularities and conversely, the sharpest theorems about these singularities use newly developed special cases of the abundance problem. This book untangles these interwoven threads, presenting a self-contained and complete theory of these singularities, including many previously unpublished results.

Consider a rational projective curve $\mathcal{C}$ of degree $d$ over an algebraically closed field $\pmb k$. There are $n$ homogeneous forms $g_{1},\dots,g_{n}$ of degree $d$ in $B=\pmb k[x,y]$ which parameterize $\mathcal{C}$ in a birational, base point free, manner. The authors study the singularities of $\mathcal{C}$ by studying a Hilbert-Burch matrix $\varphi$ for the row vector $[g_{1},\dots,g_{n}]$. In the “General Lemma” the authors use the generalized row ideals of $\varphi$ to identify the singular points on $\mathcal{C}$, their multiplicities, the number of branches at each singular point, and the multiplicity of each branch. Let $p$ be a singular point on the parameterized planar curve $\mathcal{C}$ which corresponds to a generalized zero of $\varphi$. In the “Triple Lemma” the authors give a matrix $\varphi'$ whose maximal minors parameterize the closure, in $\mathbb{P}^{2}$, of the blow-up at $p$ of $\mathcal{C}$ in a neighborhood of $p$. The authors apply the General Lemma to $\varphi'$ in order to learn about the singularities of $\mathcal{C}$ in the first neighborhood of $p$. If $\mathcal{C}$ has even degree $d=2c$ and the multiplicity of $\mathcal{C}$ at $p$ is equal to $c$, then he applies the Triple Lemma again to learn about the singularities of $\mathcal{C}$ in the second neighborhood of $p$. Consider rational plane curves $\mathcal{C}$ of even degree $d=2c$. The authors classify curves according to the configuration of multiplicity $c$ singularities on or infinitely near $\mathcal{C}$. There are $7$ possible configurations of such singularities. They classify the Hilbert-Burch matrix which corresponds to each configuration. The study of multiplicity $c$ singularities on, or infinitely near, a fixed rational plane curve $\mathcal{C}$ of degree $2c$ is equivalent to the study of the scheme of generalized zeros of the fixed balanced Hilbert-Burch matrix $\varphi$ for a parameterization of $\mathcal{C}$.

The present publication contains a special collection of research and review articles on deformations of surface singularities, that put together serve as an introductory survey of results and methods of the theory, as well as open problems and examples. The aim is to collect material that will help mathematicians already working or wishing to work in this area to deepen their insight and eliminate the technical barriers in this learning process. Additionally, we introduce some material which emphasizes the newly found relationship with the theory of Stein fillings and symplectic geometry. This links two main theories of mathematics: low dimensional topology and algebraic geometry.​The theory of normal surface singularities is a distinguished part of analytic or algebraic geometry with several important results, its own technical machinery, and several open problems. Recently several connections were established with low dimensional topology, symplectic geometry and theory of Stein fillings. This created an intense mathematical activity with spectacular bridges between the two areas. The theory of deformation of singularities is the key object in these connections.

We demonstrate the consistency of the Einstein equations at the level of shock-waves by proving the existence of shock wave solutions of the spherically symmetric Einstein equations for a perfect fluid, starting from initial density and velocity profiles that are only locally of bounded total variation. For these solutions, the components of the gravitational metric tensor are only Lipschitz continuous at shock waves, and so it follows that these solutions satisfy the Einstein equations, as well as the relativistic compressible Euler equations, only in the weak sense of the theory of distributions. The analysis introduces a locally inertial Glimm scheme that exploits the locally flat character of spacetime, and relies on special properties of the relativistic compressible Euler equations when $p=\sigma^2\rho$, $\sigma\equiv const$. We demonstrate the consistency of the Einstein equations at the level of shock-waves by proving the existence of shock wave solutions of the spherically symmetric Einstein equations for a perfect fluid, starting from initial density and velocity profiles that are only locally of bounded total variation. For these solutions, the components of the gravitational metric tensor are only Lipschitz continuous at shock waves, and so it follows that these solutions satisfy the Einstein equations, as well as the relativistic compressible Euler equations, only in the weak sense of the theory of distributions. The analysis introduces a locally inertial Glimm scheme that exploits the locally flat character of spacetime, and relies on special properties of the relativistic compressible Euler equations when $p=\sigma^2\rho$, $\sigma\equiv const$.

The present. volume is the second volume of the book'Singularities of Differentiable Maps'by V.1. Arnold, A. N. Varchenko and S. M. Gusein-Zade. The first volume, subtitled'Classification of critical points, caustics and wave fronts', was published by Moscow,'Nauka', in 1982. It will be referred to in this text simply as'Volume 1'. Whilst the first volume contained the zoology of differentiable maps, that is it was devoted to a description of what, where and how singularities could be encountered, this volume contains the elements of the anatomy and physiology of singularities of differentiable functions. This means that the questions considered in it are about the structure of singularities and how they function. Another distinctive feature of the present volume is that we take a hard look at questions for which it is important to work in the complex domain, where the first volume was devoted to themes for which, on the whole, it was not important which field (real or complex) we were considering. Such topics as, for example, decomposition of singularities, the connection between singularities and Lie algebras and the asymptotic behaviour of different integrals depending on parameters become clearer in the complex domain. The book consists of three parts. In the first part we consider the topological structure of isolated critical points of holomorphic functions. We describe the fundamental topological characteristics of such critical points: vanishing cycles, distinguished bases, intersection matrices, monodromy groups, the variation operator and their interconnections and method of calculation.

In April, 1975, I organised a conference at the Battelle Research Center, Seattle, Washington on the theme'Structural stability, catastrophe theory and their applications in the sciences'. To this conference were invited a number of mathematicians concerned with the mathematical theories of structural stability and catastrophe theory, and other mathematicians whose principal interest lay in applications to various sciences - physical, biological, medical and social. Rene Thorn and Christopher Zeeman figured in the list of distinguished participants. The conference aroused considerable interest, and many mathematicians who were not specialists in the fields covered by the conference expressed their desire to attend the conference sessions; in addition, scientists from the Battelle laboratories came to Seattle to learn of developments in these areas and to consider possible applications to their own work. In view of the attendance of these mathematicians and scientists, and in order to enable the expositions of the experts to be intelligible to this wider audience, I invited Professor Yung­ Chen Lu, of Ohio State University, to come to Battelle Seattle in advance of the actual conference to deliver a series of informal lecture-seminars, explaining the background of the mathematical theory and indicating some of the actual and possible applications. In the event, Yung-Chen Lu delivered his lectures in the week preceding and the week following the actual conference, so that the first half of his course was preparatory and the second half explanatory and evaluative. These lecture notes constitute an expanded version of the course.

Frobenius manifolds are complex manifolds with a multiplication and a metric on the holomorphic tangent bundle, which satisfy several natural conditions. This notion was defined in 1991 by Dubrovin, motivated by physics results. Another source of Frobenius manifolds is singularity theory. Duality between string theories lies behind the phenomenon of mirror symmetry. One mathematical formulation can be given in terms of the isomorphism of certain Frobenius manifolds. A third source of Frobenius manifolds is given by integrable systems, more precisely, bihamiltonian hierarchies of evolutionary PDE's. As in the case of quantum cohomology, here Frobenius manifolds are part of an a priori much richer structure, which, because of strong constraints, can be determined implicitly by the underlying Frobenius manifolds. Quantum cohomology, the theory of Frobenius manifolds and the relations to integrable systems are flourishing areas since the early 90's. An activity was organized at the Max-Planck-Institute for Mathematics in 2002, with the purpose of bringing together the main experts in these areas. This volume originates from this activity and presents the state of the art in the subject.

This book is devoted to the Beltrami equations that play a significant role in Geometry, Analysis and Physics and, in particular, in the study of quasiconformal mappings and their generalizations, Riemann surfaces, Kleinian groups, Teichmuller spaces, Clifford analysis, meromorphic functions, low dimensional topology, holomorphic motions, complex dynamics, potential theory, electrostatics, magnetostatics, hydrodynamics and magneto-hydrodynamics.The purpose of this book is to present the recent developments in the theory of Beltrami equations; especially those concerning degenerate and alternating Beltrami equations. The authors study a wide circle of problems like convergence, existence, uniqueness, representation, removal of singularities, local distortion estimates and boundary behavior of solutions to the Beltrami equations. The monograph contains a number of new types of criteria in the given problems, particularly new integral conditions for the existence of regular solutions to the Beltrami equations that turned out to be not only sufficient but also necessary.The most important feature of this book concerns the unified geometric approach based on the modulus method that is effectively applied to solving the mentioned problems. Moreover, it is characteristic for the book application of many new concepts as strong ring solutions, tangent dilatations, weakly flat and strongly accessible boundaries, functions of finite mean oscillations and new integral conditions that make possible to realize a more deep and refined analysis of problems related to the Beltrami equations. Mastering and using these new tools also gives essential advantages for the reader in the research of modern problems in many other domains. Every mathematics graduate library should have a copy of this book.​

This book developed from a series of lectures I gave at the Symposium on Nonlinear Microlocal Analysis held at Nanjing University in October. 1988. Its purpose is to give an overview of the use of microlocal analysis and commutators in the study of solutions to nonlinear wave equations. The weak singularities in the solutions to such equations behave up to a certain extent like those present in the linear case: they propagate along the null bicharacteristics of the operator. On the other hand. examples exhibiting singularities not present in the linear case can also be constructed. I have tried to present a crossection of both the regularity results and the singular examples. for problems on the interior of a domain and on domains with boundary. The main emphasis is on the case of more than one space dimen­ sion. since that case is treated in great detail in the paper of Rauch-Reed 159]. The results presented here have for the most part appeared elsewhere. and are the work of many authors. but a few new examples and proofs are given. I have attempted to indicate the essential ideas behind the arguments. so that only some of the results are proved in full detail. It is hoped that the central notions of the more technical proofs appearing in research papers will be illuminated by these simpler cases.

This book introduces graduate students and researchers in mathematics and the sciences to the multifaceted subject of the equations of hyperbolic type, which are used, in particular, to describe propagation of waves at finite speed. Among the topics carefully presented in the book are nonlinear geometric optics, the asymptotic analysis of short wavelength solutions, and nonlinear interaction of such waves. Studied in detail are the damping of waves, resonance, dispersive decay, and solutions to the compressible Euler equations with dense oscillations created by resonant interactions. Many fundamental results are presented for the first time in a textbook format. In addition to dense oscillations, these include the treatment of precise speed of propagation and the existence and stability questions for the three wave interaction equations. One of the strengths of this book is its careful motivation of ideas and proofs, showing how they evolve from related, simpler cases. This makes the book quite useful to both researchers and graduate students interested in hyperbolic partial differential equations. Numerous exercises encourage active participation of the reader. The author is a professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan. A recognized expert in partial differential equations, he has made important contributions to the transformation of three areas of hyperbolic partial differential equations: nonlinear microlocal analysis, the control of waves, and nonlinear geometric optics.

In September 1997, the Working Week on Resolution of Singularities was held at Obergurgl in the Tyrolean Alps. Its objective was to manifest the state of the art in the field and to formulate major questions for future research. The four courses given during this week were written up by the speakers and make up part I of this volume. They are complemented in part II by fifteen selected contributions on specific topics and resolution theories. The volume is intended to provide a broad and accessible introduction to resolution of singularities leading the reader directly to concrete research problems.

This introductory and self-contained book gathers as much explicit mathematical results on the linear-elastic and heat-conduction solutions in the neighborhood of singular points in two-dimensional domains, and singular edges and vertices in three-dimensional domains. These are presented in an engineering terminology for practical usage. The author treats the mathematical formulations from an engineering viewpoint and presents high-order finite-element methods for the computation of singular solutions in isotropic and anisotropic materials, and multi-material interfaces. The proper interpretation of the results in engineering practice is advocated, so that the computed data can be correlated to experimental observations. The book is divided into fourteen chapters, each containing several sections.Most of it (the first nine Chapters) addresses two-dimensional domains, whereonly singular points exist. The solution in a vicinity of these points admits an asymptotic expansion composed of eigenpairs and associated generalized flux/stress intensity factors (GFIFs/GSIFs), which are being computed analytically when possible or by finite element methods otherwise. Singular points associated with weakly coupled thermoelasticity in the vicinity of singularities are also addressed and thermal GSIFs are computed. The computed data is important in engineering practice for predicting failure initiation in brittle material on a daily basis. Several failure laws for two-dimensional domains with V-notches are presented and their validity is examined by comparison to experimental observations. A sufficient simple and reliable condition for predicting failure initiation (crack formation) in micron level electronic devices, involving singular points, isstill a topic of active research and interest, and is addressed herein. Explicit singular solutions in the vicinity of vertices and edges in three-dimensional domains are provided in the remaining five chapters. New methods for the computation of generalized edge flux/stress intensity functions along singular edges are presented and demonstrated by several example problems from the field of fracture mechanics; including anisotropic domains and bimaterial interfaces. Circular edges are also presented and the author concludes with some remarks on open questions.This well illustrated book will appeal to both applied mathematicians and engineers working in the field of fracture mechanics and singularities.