M.A. Naimark – författare

Author's Preface to the Russian Edition This book is written for advanced students, for predoctoral graduate stu­ dents, and for professional scientists-mathematicians, physicists, and chemists-who desire to study the foundations of the theory of finite­ dimensional representations of groups. We suppose that the reader is familiar with linear algebra, with elementary mathematical analysis, and with the theory of analytic functions. All else that is needed for reading this book is set down in the book where it is needed or is provided for by references to standard texts. The first two chapters are devoted to the algebraic aspects of the theory of representations and to representations of finite groups. Later chapters take up the principal facts about representations of topological groups, as well as the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras and their representations. We have arranged our material to help the reader to master first the easier parts of the theory and later the more difficult. In the author's opinion, however, it is algebra that lies at the heart of the whole theory. To keep the size of the book within reasonable bounds, we have limited ourselves to finite-dimensional representations. The author intends to devote another volume to a more general theory, which includes infinite­ dimensional representations.

book and to the publisher NOORDHOFF who made possible the appearance of the second edition and enabled the author to introduce the above-mentioned modifi­ cations and additions. Moscow M. A. NAIMARK August 1963 FOREWORD TO THE SECOND SOVIET EDITION In this second edition the initial text has been worked over again and improved, certain portions have been completely rewritten; in particular, Chapter VIII has been rewritten in a more accessible form. The changes and extensions made by the author in the Japanese, German, first and second (= first revised) American, and also in the Romanian (lithographed) editions, were hereby taken into account. Appendices II and III, which are necessary for understanding Chapter VIII, have been included for the convenience of the reader. The book discusses many new theoretical results which have been developing in­ tensively during the decade after the publication of the first edition. Of course, lim­ itations on the volume of the book obliged the author to make a tough selection and in many cases to limit himself to simply a formulation of the new results or to pointing out the literature. The author was also compelled to make a choice of the exceptionally extensive collection of new works in extending the literature list. Monographs and survey articles on special topics of the theory which have been published during the past decade have been included in this list and in the litera­ ture pointed out in the individual chapters.