I.M. Singer - Böcker

At the present time, the average undergraduate mathematics major finds mathematics heavily compartmentalized. After the calculus, he takes a course in analysis and a course in algebra. Depending upon his interests (or those of his department), he takes courses in special topics. Ifhe is exposed to topology, it is usually straightforward point set topology; if he is exposed to geom­ etry, it is usually classical differential geometry. The exciting revelations that there is some unity in mathematics, that fields overlap, that techniques of one field have applications in another, are denied the undergraduate. He must wait until he is well into graduate work to see interconnections, presumably because earlier he doesn't know enough. These notes are an attempt to break up this compartmentalization, at least in topology-geometry. What the student has learned in algebra and advanced calculus are used to prove some fairly deep results relating geometry, topol­ ogy, and group theory. (De Rham's theorem, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for surfaces, the functorial relation of fundamental group to covering space, and surfaces of constant curvature as homogeneous spaces are the most note­ worthy examples.) In the first two chapters the bare essentials of elementary point set topology are set forth with some hint ofthe subject's application to functional analysis.

James Lepowsky t The search for symmetry in nature has for a long time provided representation theory with perhaps its chief motivation. According to the standard approach of Lie theory, one looks for infinitesimal symmetry -- Lie algebras of operators or concrete realizations of abstract Lie algebras. A central theme in this volume is the construction of affine Lie algebras using formal differential operators called vertex operators, which originally appeared in the dual-string theory. Since the precise description of vertex operators, in both mathematical and physical settings, requires a fair amount of notation, we do not attempt it in this introduction. Instead we refer the reader to the papers of Mandelstam, Goddard-Olive, Lepowsky-Wilson and Frenkel-Lepowsky-Meurman. We have tried to maintain consistency of terminology and to some extent notation in the articles herein. To help the reader we shall review some of the terminology. We also thought it might be useful to supplement an earlier fairly detailed exposition of ours [37] with a brief historical account of vertex operators in mathematics and their connection with affine algebras. Since we were involved in the development of the subject, the reader should be advised that what follows reflects our own understanding. For another view, see [29].1 t Partially supported by the National Science Foundation through the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and NSF Grant MCS 83-01664. 1 We would like to thank Igor Frenkel for his valuable comments on the first draft of this introduction.

At the present time, the average undergraduate mathematics major finds mathematics heavily compartmentalized. After the calculus, he takes a course in analysis and a course in algebra. Depending upon his interests (or those of his department), he takes courses in special topics. Ifhe is exposed to topology, it is usually straightforward point set topology; if he is exposed to geom­ etry, it is usually classical differential geometry. The exciting revelations that there is some unity in mathematics, that fields overlap, that techniques of one field have applications in another, are denied the undergraduate. He must wait until he is well into graduate work to see interconnections, presumably because earlier he doesn't know enough. These notes are an attempt to break up this compartmentalization, at least in topology-geometry. What the student has learned in algebra and advanced calculus are used to prove some fairly deep results relating geometry, topol­ ogy, and group theory. (De Rham's theorem, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for surfaces, the functorial relation of fundamental group to covering space, and surfaces of constant curvature as homogeneous spaces are the most note­ worthy examples.) In the first two chapters the bare essentials of elementary point set topology are set forth with some hint ofthe subject's application to functional analysis.

The importance of gauge theory for elementary particle physics is by now firmly established. Recent experiments have yielded convincing evidence for the existence of intermediate bosons, the carriers of the electroweak gauge force, as well as for the presence of gluons, the carriers of the strong gauge force, in hadronic inter­actions. For the gauge theory of strong interactions, however, a number of important theoretical problems remain to be definitely resolved. They include the quark confinement problem, the quantita­tive study of the hadron mass spectrum as well as the role of topology in quantum gauge field theory. These problems require for their solution the development and application of non-perturbative methods in quantum gauge field theory. These problems, and their non-perturbative analysis, formed the central interest of the 1983 Cargese summer institute on "Progress in Gauge Field Theory. " In this sense it was a natural sequel to the 1919 Cargese summer institute on "Recent Developments in Gauge Theories. " Lattice gauge theory provides a systematic framework for the investigation of non-perturbative quantum effects. Accordingly, a large number of lectures dealt with lattice gauge theory. Following a systematic introduction to the subject, the renormalization group method was developed both as a rigorous tool for fundamental questions, and in the block-spin formulation, the computations by Monte Carlo programs. A detailed analysis was presented of the problems encountered in computer simulations. Results obtained by this method on the mass spectrum were reviewed.