Michael F. Singer - Böcker

This book is a collection of three introductory tutorials coming out of three courses given at the CIMPA Research School ``Galois Theory of Difference Equations'' in Santa Marta, Columbia, July 23-August 1, 2012. The aim of these tutorials is to introduce the reader to three Galois theories of linear difference equations and their interrelations. Each of the three articles addresses a different galoisian aspect of linear difference equations. The authors motivate and give elementary examples of the basic ideas and techniques, providing the reader with an entry to current research. In addition each article contains an extensive bibliography that includes recent papers; the authors have provided pointers to these articles allowing the interested reader to explore further.

This volume gives an up-to-date review of the subject Integration in Finite Terms.

This volume gives an up-to-date review of the subject Integration in Finite Terms.

Linear differential equations form the central topic of this volume, Galois theory being the unifying theme. A large number of aspects are presented: algebraic theory especially differential Galois theory, formal theory, classification, algorithms to decide solvability in finite terms, monodromy and Hilbert's 21st problem, asymptotics and summability, the inverse problem and linear differential equations in positive characteristic. The appendices aim to help the reader with concepts used, from algebraic geometry, linear algebraic groups, sheaves, and tannakian categories that are used. This volume will become a standard reference for all mathematicians in this area of mathematics, including graduate students.

This book lays the algebraic foundations of a Galois theory of linear difference equations and shows its relationship to the analytic problem of finding meromorphic functions asymptotic to formal solutions of difference equations. Classically, this latter question was attacked by Birkhoff and Tritzinsky and the present work corrects and greatly generalizes their contributions. In addition results are presented concerning the inverse problem in Galois theory, effective computation of Galois groups, algebraic properties of sequences, phenomena in positive characteristics, and q-difference equations. The book is aimed at advanced graduate researchers and researchers.