Palle E.T. Jorgensen - Böcker

This text emphasizes the use of algebraic methods and techniques in the study of operators and their applications. It includes carefully selected articles aimed at bridging dfferent, but related, areas of mathematics which have only recently displayed unexpected interconnections, as well as new cross-fertilizations. The articles have been grouped into chapters on single operators and applications, non-selfadjoint algebras, C-algebras, von Neumann algebras and subfactors, representation of groups and algebras on Hilbert space, and geometry and topology. This has been done in an effort to stress the complementarity between diversity of topics on one hand, and unity of ideas on the other.

The theory of operators stands at the intersection of the frontiers of modern analysis and its classical counterparts; of algebra and quantum mechanics; of spectral theory and partial differential equations; of the modern global approach to topology and geometry; of representation theory and harmonic analysis; and of dynamical systems and mathematical physics. The present collection of papers represents contributions to a conference, and they have been carefully selected with a view to bridging different but related areas of mathematics which have only recently displayed an unexpected network of interconnections, as well as new and exciting cross-fertilizations. Our unify­ ing theme is the algebraic view and approach to the study of operators and their applications. The complementarity between the diversity of topics on the one hand and the unity of ideas on the other has been stressed. Some of the longer contributions represent material from lectures (in expanded form and with proofs for the most part). However, the shorter papers, as well as the longer ones, are an integral part of the picture; they have all been carefully refereed and revised with a view to a unity of purpose, timeliness, readability, and broad appeal. Raul Curto and Paile E. T.