Joseph Gubeladze - Böcker

For every mathematician, ring theory and K-theory are intimately connected: al- braic K-theory is largely the K-theory of rings. At ?rst sight, polytopes, by their very nature, must appear alien to surveyors of this heartland of algebra. But in the presence of a discrete structure, polytopes de?ne a?ne monoids, and, in their turn, a?ne monoids give rise to monoid algebras. Teir spectra are the building blocks of toric varieties, an area that has developed rapidly in the last four decades. From a purely systematic viewpoint, "monoids" should therefore replace "po- topes" in the title of the book. However, such a change would conceal the geometric ?avor that we have tried to preserve through all chapters. Before delving into a description of the contents we would like to mention three general features of the book: (?) the exhibiting of interactions of convex geometry, ring theory, and K-theory is not the only goal; we present some of the central results in each of these ?elds; (?) the exposition is of constructive (i. e., algorithmic) nature at many places throughout the text-there is no doubt that one of the driving forces behind the current popularity of combinatorial geometry is the quest for visualization and computation; (?) despite the large amount of information from various ?elds, we have strived to keep the polytopal perspective as the major organizational principle.

For every mathematician, ring theory and K-theory are intimately connected: al- braic K-theory is largely the K-theory of rings. At ?rst sight, polytopes, by their very nature, must appear alien to surveyors of this heartland of algebra. But in the presence of a discrete structure, polytopes de?ne a?ne monoids, and, in their turn, a?ne monoids give rise to monoid algebras. Teir spectra are the building blocks of toric varieties, an area that has developed rapidly in the last four decades. From a purely systematic viewpoint, "monoids" should therefore replace "po- topes" in the title of the book. However, such a change would conceal the geometric ?avor that we have tried to preserve through all chapters. Before delving into a description of the contents we would like to mention three general features of the book: (?) the exhibiting of interactions of convex geometry, ring theory, and K-theory is not the only goal; we present some of the central results in each of these ?elds; (?) the exposition is of constructive (i. e., algorithmic) nature at many places throughout the text-there is no doubt that one of the driving forces behind the current popularity of combinatorial geometry is the quest for visualization and computation; (?) despite the large amount of information from various ?elds, we have strived to keep the polytopal perspective as the major organizational principle.

This volume collects contributions by leading experts in the area of commutative algebra related to the  INdAM meeting “Homological and Computational Methods in Commutative Algebra” held in Cortona (Italy) from May 30 to  June 3, 2016 . The conference and this volume are dedicated to Winfried Bruns on the occasion of his 70th birthday. In particular, the topics of this book strongly reflect the variety of Winfried Bruns’ research interests and his great impact on commutative algebra as well as its applications to related fields. The authors discuss recent and relevant developments in algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, computational algebra, discrete geometry and homological algebra. The book offers a unique resource, both for young and more experienced researchers seeking comprehensive overviews and extensive bibliographic references.