Based on the author''s university lecture courses, this book presents the many facets of one of the most important open problems in operator algebra theory. Central to this book is the proof of the equivalence of the various forms of the problem, including forms involving C*-algebra tensor products and free groups, ultraproducts of von Neumann algebras, and quantum information theory. The reader is guided through a number of results (some of them previously unpublished) revolving around tensor products of C*-algebras and operator spaces, which are reminiscent of Grothendieck''s famous Banach space theory work. The detailed style of the book and the inclusion of background information make it easily accessible for beginning researchers, Ph.D. students, and non-specialists alike.
