Ken Ono - Böcker

This volume contains the proceedings of the Topics in Number Theory Conference held at the Pennsylvania State University from July 31 through August 3, 1997. It contains seventeen research papers covering many areas of number theory; among them are contributions from four of the eight plenary speakers

Robert A. Rankin, one of the world's foremost authorities on modular forms and a founding editor of The Ramanujan Journal, died on January 27, 2001, at the age of 85. Rankin had broad interests and contributed fundamental papers in a wide variety of areas within number theory, geometry, analysis, and algebra. To commemorate Rankin's life and work, the editors have collected together 25 papers by several eminent mathematicians reflecting Rankin's extensive range of interests within number theory. Many of these papers reflect Rankin's primary focus in modular forms. It is the editors' fervent hope that mathematicians will be stimulated by these papers and gain a greater appreciation for Rankin's contributions to mathematics. This volume would be an inspiration to students and researchers in the areas of number theory and modular forms.

Robert A. Rankin, one of the world's foremost authorities on modular forms and a founding editor of The Ramanujan Journal, died on January 27, 2001, at the age of 85. Rankin had broad interests and contributed fundamental papers in a wide variety of areas within number theory, geometry, analysis, and algebra. To commemorate Rankin's life and work, the editors have collected together 25 papers by several eminent mathematicians reflecting Rankin's extensive range of interests within number theory. Many of these papers reflect Rankin's primary focus in modular forms. It is the editors' fervent hope that mathematicians will be stimulated by these papers and gain a greater appreciation for Rankin's contributions to mathematics. This volume would be an inspiration to students and researchers in the areas of number theory and modular forms.

From July 31 through August 3,1997, the Pennsylvania State University hosted the Topics in Number Theory Conference. The conference was organized by Ken Ono and myself. By writing the preface, I am afforded the opportunity to express my gratitude to Ken for beng the inspiring and driving force behind the whole conference. Without his energy, enthusiasm and skill the entire event would never have occurred. We are extremely grateful to the sponsors of the conference: The National Sci­ ence Foundation, The Penn State Conference Center and the Penn State Depart­ ment of Mathematics. The object in this conference was to provide a variety of presentations giving a current picture of recent, significant work in number theory. There were eight plenary lectures: H. Darmon (McGill University), "Non-vanishing of L-functions and their derivatives modulo p. " A. Granville (University of Georgia), "Mean values of multiplicative functions. " C. Pomerance (University of Georgia), "Recent results in primality testing. " C. Skinner (Princeton University), "Deformations of Galois representations. " R. Stanley (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), "Some interesting hyperplane arrangements. " F. Rodriguez Villegas (Princeton University), "Modular Mahler measures. " T. Wooley (University of Michigan), "Diophantine problems in many variables: The role of additive number theory. " D. Zeilberger (Temple University), "Reverse engineering in combinatorics and number theory. " The papers in this volume provide an accurate picture of many of the topics presented at the conference including contributions from four of the plenary lectures.

Modular forms and Jacobi forms play a central role in many areas of mathematics. Over the last 10-15 years, this theory has been extended to certain non-holomorphic functions, the so-called ""harmonic Maass forms"". The first glimpses of this theory appeared in Ramanujan's enigmatic last letter to G. H. Hardy written from his deathbed. Ramanujan discovered functions he called ""mock theta functions"" which over eighty years later were recognized as pieces of harmonic Maass forms. This book contains the essential features of the theory of harmonic Maass forms and mock modular forms, together with a wide variety of applications to algebraic number theory, combinatorics, elliptic curves, mathematical physics, quantum modular forms, and representation theory.

This authoritative volume covers aspects of the life and enduring mathematical research of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Born in the late 19th century, Ramanujan had little formal training in pure mathematics. This iconic figure made extraordinary contributions to many facets of mathematical analysis and number theory. During his short life, Ramanujan published 37 papers and curated in notebooks more than 3900 identities which he recorded without proof. Nearly all of his claims that were new have now been proven correct. He stated numerous results that were both original and highly unconventional. Many of these identities have led to major achievements in a wide range of areas of mathematics and theoretical physics. The eight editors of this Handbook have assembled articles on many aspects of Ramanujan’s life and mathematical legacy with a focus on the evolution of his discoveries into many important sub-disciplines of current mathematical research. Included are 234 articles supplied by 88 authors. The book will be of interest to students, teachers, researchers and anyone who is intrigued by the legacy of one of the most striking figures in the history of mathematics.