Fields Institute Monographs – serie
Visar alla böcker i serien Fields Institute Monographs. Handla med fri frakt och snabb leverans.
46 produkter
46 produkter
Inbunden, Engelska, 1996
795 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This book is a compendium of survey lectures presented at a conference on Riemannian Geometry sponsored by The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (Waterloo, Canada) in August 1993. Attended by over 80 participants, the aim of the conference was to promote research activity in Riemannian geometry. A select group of internationally established researchers in the field were invited to discuss and present current developments in a selection of contemporary topics in Riemannian geometry. This volume contains four of the five survey lectures presented at the conference. The book features basic notions of volume and entropy and the difficult and deep relations of these invariants to curvature. It also features $LP$ cohomology, in which the methods combine various areas of mathematics going beyond Riemannian geometry. It covers curvature inequalities from a general point of view, leading to the study of general spaces.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1994
660 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
Galois module structure deals with the construction of algebraic invariants from a Galois extension of number fields with group $G$. Typically these invariants lie in the class-group of some group-ring of $G$ or of a related order. These class-groups have 'Hom-descriptions' in terms of idelic-valued functions on the complex representations of $G$. Following a theme pioneered by A. Frolich, T. Chinburg constructed several invariants whose Hom-descriptions are (conjecturally) given in terms of Artin root numbers. For a tame extension, the second Chinburg invariant is given by the ring of integers, and M. J. Taylor proved the conjecture in this case.The first published graduate course on the Chinburg conjectures, this book provides the necessary background in algebraic and analytic number theory, cohomology, representation theory, and Hom-descriptions. The computation of Hom-descriptions is facilitated by Snaith's Explicit Brauer Induction technique in representation theory. In this way, illustrative special cases of the main results and new examples of the conjectures are proved and amplified by numerous exercises and research problems. The final chapter introduces a new invariant constructed from algebraic $K$-theory, whose Hom-description is related to the $L$-function value at $s = -1$.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1996
660 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This book is the result of a short course on the Galois structure of $S$-units that was given at The Fields Institute in the fall of 1993. Offering a new angle on an old problem, the main theme is that this structure should be determined by class field theory, in its cohomological form, and by the behavior of Artin $L$-functions at $s=0$. A proof of this - or even a precise formulation - is still far away, but the available evidence all points in this direction. The work brings together the current evidence that the Galois structure of $S$-units can be described.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1995
1 652 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
Inbunden, Engelska, 1996
741 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
The nature of $C^*$-algebras is such that one cannot study perturbation without also studying the theory of lifting and the theory of extensions. Approximation questions involving representations of relations in matrices and $C^*$-algebras are the central focus of this volume. A variety of approximation techniques are unified by translating them into lifting problems: from classical questions about transitivity of algebras of operators on Hilbert spaces to recent results in linear algebra. One chapter is devoted to Lin's theorem on approximating almost normal matrices by normal matrices.The techniques of universal algebra are applied to the category of $C^*$-algebras. An important difference, central to this book, is that one can consider approximate representations of relations and approximately commuting diagrams. Moreover, the highly algebraic approach does not exclude applications to very geometric $C^*$-algebras. $K$-theory is avoided, but universal properties and stability properties of specific $C^*$-algebras that have applications to $K$-theory are considered. Index theory arises naturally, and very concretely, as an obstruction to stability for almost commuting matrices. Multiplier algebras are studied in detail, both in the setting of rings and of $C^*$-algebras. Recent results about extensions of $C^*$-algebras are discussed, including a result linking amalgamated products with the Busby/Hochshild theory.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1998
1 339 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
The common topic of the eleven articles in this volume is ordered aperiodic systems realized either as point sets with the Delone property or as tilings of a Euclidean space. This emerging field of study is found at the crossroads of algebra, geometry, Fourier analysis, number theory, crystallography, and theoretical physics. The volume brings together contributions by leading specialists. Important advances in understanding the foundations of this new field are presented.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1999
1 108 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This book resulted from the lectures held at The Fields Institute (Waterloo, ON, Canada). Leading international experts presented current results on the theory of $C^*$-algebras and von Neumann algebras, together with recent work on the classification of $C^*$-algebras. Much of the material in the book is appearing here for the first time and is not available elsewhere in the literature.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1999
823 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
Model theoretic algebra has witnessed remarkable progress in the last few years. It has found profound applications in other areas of mathematics, notably in algebraic geometry and in singularity theory. Since Wilkie's results on the o-minimality of the expansion of the reals by the exponential function, and most recently even by all Pfaffian functions, the study of o-minimal expansions of the reals has become a fascinating topic. The quest for analogies between the semi-algebraic case and the o-minimal case has set a direction to this research. Through the Artin-Schreier Theory of real closed fields, the structure of the non-archimedean models in the semi-algebraic case is well understood. For the o-minimal case, so far there has been no systematic study of the non-archimedean models. The goal of this monograph is to serve this purpose.The author presents a detailed description of the non-archimedean models of the elementary theory of certain o-minimal expansions of the reals in which the exponential function is definable. The example of exponential Hardy fields is worked out with particular emphasis. The basic tool is valuation theory, and a sufficient amount of background material on orderings and valuations is presented for the convenience of the reader.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1998
1 283 kr
Skickas inom 11-20 vardagar
This book contains recent results about the global dynamics defined by a class of delay differential equations which model basic feedback mechanisms and arise in a variety of applications such as neural networks. The authors describe in detail the geometric structure of a fundamental invariant set, which in special cases is the global attractor, and the asymptotic behavior of solution curves on it. The approach makes use of advanced tools which in recent years have been developed for the investigation of infinite-dimensional dynamical systems: local invariant manifolds and inclination lemmas for noninvertible maps, Floquet theory for delay differential equations, a priori estimates controlling the growth and decay of solutions with prescribed oscillation frequency, a discrete Lyapunov functional counting zeros, methods to represent invariant sets as graphs, and Poincare-Bendixson techniques for classes of delay differential systems.Several appendices provide the general results needed in the case study, so the presentation is self-contained. Some of the general results are not available elsewhere, specifically on smooth infinite-dimensional center-stable manifolds for maps. Results in the appendices will be useful for future studies of more complicated attractors of delay and partial differential equations.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2001
524 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
In recent years, model theory has had remarkable success in solving important problems as well as in shedding new light on our understanding of them. The three lectures collected here present recent developments in three such areas: Anand Pillay on differential fields, Patrick Speissegger on o-minimality and Matthias Clasen and Matthew Valeriote on tame congruence theory.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2002
795 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
The theory of graph coloring has existed for more than 150 years. Historically, graph coloring involved finding the minimum number of colors to be assigned to the vertices so that adjacent vertices would have different colors. From this modest beginning, the theory has become central in discrete mathematics with many contemporary generalizations and applications. Generalization of graph coloring-type problems to mixed hypergraphs brings many new dimensions to the theory of colorings. A main feature of this book is that in the case of hypergraphs, there exist problems on both the minimum and the maximum number of colors. This feature pervades the theory, methods, algorithms, and applications of mixed hypergraph coloring.The book has broad appeal. It will be of interest to both pure and applied mathematicians, particularly those in the areas of discrete mathematics, combinatorial optimization, operations research, computer science, software engineering, molecular biology, and related businesses and industries. It also makes a nice supplementary text for courses in graph theory and discrete mathematics. This is especially useful for students in combinatorics and optimization. Since the area is new, students will have the chance at this stage to obtain results that may become classic in the future.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2003
768 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This volume describes for the first time in monograph form important applications in numerical methods of linear algebra. The author presents new material and extended results from recent papers in a very readable style. The main goal of the book is to study the behavior of the resolvent of a matrix under the perturbation by low rank matrices. Whereas the eigenvalues (the poles of the resolvent) and the pseudospectra (the sets where the resolvent takes large values) can move dramatically under such perturbations, the growth of the resolvent as a matrix-valued meromorphic function remains essentially unchanged. This has practical implications to the analysis of iterative solvers for large systems of linear algebraic equations.First, the book introduces the basics of value distribution theory of meromorphic scalar functions. It then introduces a new nonlinear tool for linear algebra, the total logarithmic size of a matrix, which allows for a nontrivial generalization of Rolf Nevanlinna's characteristic function from the scalar theory to matrix- and operator-valued functions. In particular, the theory of perturbations by low rank matrices becomes possible. As an example, if the spectrum of a normal matrix collapses under a low rank perturbation, there is always a compensation in terms of the loss of orthogonality of the eigenvectors.This qualitative phenomenon is made quantitative by using the new tool. Applications are given to rational approximation, to the Kreiss matrix theorem, and to convergence of Krylov solvers. The book is intended for researchers in mathematics in general and especially for those working in numerical linear algebra. Much of the book is understandable if the reader has a good background in linear algebra and a first course in complex analysis.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2005
809 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This monograph is concerned with Galois theoretical embedding problems of so-called Brauer type with a focus on 2-groups and on finding explicit criteria for solvability and explicit constructions of the solutions. The advantage of considering Brauer type embedding problems is their comparatively simple condition for solvability in the form of an obstruction in the Brauer group of the ground field. The book presupposes knowledge of classical Galois theory and the attendant algebra. Before considering questions of reducing the embedding problems and reformulating the solvability criteria, the author provides the necessary theory of Brauer groups, group cohomology and quadratic forms. The book will be suitable for students seeking an introduction to embedding problems and inverse Galois theory. It will also be a useful reference for researchers in the field.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2005
918 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This book discusses the connection between Calabi-Yau threefolds and modular forms. It presents the general theory and brings together the known results. Hundreds of new examples are given of rigid and non-rigid Calabi-Yau threefolds, and the construction of correspondences between them leads to conjectures about the modular forms involved. The author has compiled tables of newforms of weight four and large levels, which are included in the appendix. The great variety of new examples as well as the tables of newforms makes this volume a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers interested in algebraic geometry and arithmetic algebraic geometry.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2008
863 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This book presents a systematic approach to conformal field theory with gauge symmetry from the point of view of complex algebraic geometry. After presenting the basic facts of the theory of compact Riemann surfaces and the representation theory of affine Lie algebras in Chapters 1 and 2, conformal blocks for pointed Riemann surfaces with coordinates are constructed in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4 the sheaf of conformal blocks associated to a family of pointed Riemann surfaces with coordinates is constructed, and in Chapter 5 it is shown that this sheaf supports a projective flat connection-one of the most important facts of conformal field theory. Chapter 6 is devoted to the study of the detailed structure of the conformal field theory over $\mathbb{P}1$. Recently it was shown that modular functors can be constructed from conformal field theory, giving an interesting relationship between algebraic geometry and topological quantum field theory.This book provides a timely introduction to an intensively studied topic of conformal field theory with gauge symmetry by a leading algebraic geometer, and includes all the necessary techniques and results that are used to construct the modular functor.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2011
1 366 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
Orthogonal, symplectic and unitary representations of finite groups lie at the crossroads of two more traditional subjects of mathematics--linear representations of finite groups, and the theory of quadratic, skew symmetric and Hermitian forms --and thus inherit some of the characteristics of both.This book is written as an introduction to the subject and not as an encyclopaedic reference text. The principal goal is an exposition of the known results on the equivalence theory, and related matters such as the Witt and Witt-Grothendieck groups, over the “classical” fields--algebraically closed, real closed, finite, local and global. A detailed exposition of the background material needed is given in the first chapter.It was A. Frohlich who first gave a systematic organisation of this subject, in a series of papers beginning in 1969. His paper Orthogonal and symplectic representations of groups represents the culmination of his published work on orthogonal and symplectic representations. The author has included most of the work from that paper, extending it to include unitary representations, and also providing new approaches, such as the use of the equivariant Brauer-Wall group in describing the principal invariants of orthogonal representations and their interplay with each other.
Häftad, Engelska, 2008
768 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This volume offers an introduction to large deviations. It is divided into two parts: theory and applications. Basic large deviation theorems are presented for i.i.d. sequences, Markov sequences, and sequences with moderate dependence. The rate function is computed explicitly. The theory is explained without too much emphasis on technicalities. Also included is an outline of general definitions and theorems. The goal is to expose the unified theme that gives large deviation theory its overall structure, which can be made to work in many concrete cases. The section on applications focuses on recent work in statistical physics and random media. This book contains 60 exercises (with solutions) that should elucidate the content and engage the reader. Prerequisites for the book are a strong background in probability and analysis and some knowledge of statistical physics. It would make an excellent textbook for a special topics course in large deviations.
Häftad, Engelska, 2008
867 kr
Skickas inom 11-20 vardagar
This text is based on a one-semester graduate course taught by the author at The Fields Institute in fall 1995 as part of the homotopy theory program which constituted the Institute's major program that year. The intent of the course was to bring graduate students who had completed a first course in algebraic topology to the point where they could understand research lectures in homotopy theory and to prepare them for the other, more specialized graduate courses being held in conjunction with the program. The notes are divided into two parts: prerequisites and the course proper. Part I, the prerequisites, contains a review of material often taught in a first course in algebraic topology. It should provide a useful summary for students and non-specialists who are interested in learning the basics of algebraic topology. Included are some basic category theory, point set topology, the fundamental group, homological algebra, singular and cellular homology, and Poincare duality. Part II covers fibrations and cofibrations, Hurewicz and cellular approximation theorems, topics in classical homotopy theory, simplicial sets, fiber bundles, Hopf algebras, spectral sequences, localization, generalized homology and cohomology operations. This book collects in one place the material that a researcher in algebraic topology must know. The author has attempted to make this text a self-contained exposition. Precise statements and proofs are given of 'folk' theorems which are difficult to find or do not exist in the literature.
Häftad, Engelska, 2009
959 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
Ottawa Lectures offers researchers and graduate students a rare introduction to some of the major modern themes in the representation theory of p-adic groups: the classification and construction of their (complex) admissible representations, the calculation of their characters, and the realization of the celebrated local Langlands correspondence. Recent years have seen significant and rapid progress made toward each of these goals; the purpose of this book is to help bridge the gap from the classical literature to the forefront of research. The first part of this volume is devoted to the tools and techniques used to classify and construct smooth representations of p-adic groups: the Bernstein decomposition, Bruhat - Tits theory and filtrations of subgroups, and an overview of J.K. Yu's construction of supercuspidal representations, together with J.L. Kim's proof that it is exhaustive. The second part begins with a historical overview of character computations and continues with an introduction to motivic integration. The volume concludes, in the third part, with an introduction to the local Langlands programme and a proof of the local Langlands correspondence for algebraic tori. The chapters, written by leaders in this field, arose from lecture notes of mini-courses delivered at workshops held at the University of Ottawa in 2004 and 2007.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2009
918 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
These lecture notes take the reader from Lennart Carleson's first deep results on interpolation and corona problems in the unit disk to modern analogues in the disk and ball. The emphasis is on introducing the diverse array of techniques needed to attack these problems rather than producing an encyclopedic summary of achievements. Techniques from classical analysis and operator theory include duality, Blaschke product constructions, purely Hilbert space arguments, bounded mean oscillation, best approximation, boundedness of the Beurling transform, the Koszul complex, use of trees, the complete Pick property, and the Toeplitz corona theorem. An extensive appendix on background material in functional analysis and function theory on the disk is included for the reader's convenience.
Häftad, Engelska, 2012
823 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
An important idea in the work of G.-C. Rota is that certain combinatorial objects give rise to Hopf algebras that reflect the manner in which these objects compose and decompose. Recent work has seen the emergence of several interesting Hopf algebras of this kind, which connect diverse subjects such as combinatorics, algebra, geometry, and theoretical physics. This monograph presents a novel geometric approach using Coxeter complexes and the projection maps of Tits for constructing and studying many of these objects as well as new ones. The first three chapters introduce the necessary background ideas making this work accessible to advanced graduate students. The later chapters culminate in a unified and conceptual construction of several Hopf algebras based on combinatorial objects which emerge naturally from the geometric viewpoint. This work lays a foundation and provides new insights for further development of the subject.
Inbunden, Engelska, 1993
660 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
This monograph, which grew out a series of lectures delivered by Stephen Wiggins at the Fields Institute in early 1993, is concerned with the geometrical viewpoint of the global dynamics of nonlinear dynamical systems. With appropriate examples and concise explanations, Wiggins unites many different topics into one volume and makes a unique contribution to the field. Engineers, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians who work on issues related to the global dynamics of nonlinear dynamical systems will find these lectures very useful.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2020
1 079 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This monograph has arisen out of a number of attempts spanning almost five decades to understand how one might examine the evolution of densities in systems whose dynamics are described by differential delay equations. Though the authors have no definitive solution to the problem, they offer this contribution in an attempt to define the problem as they see it, and to sketch out several obvious attempts that have been suggested to solve the problem and which seem to have failed. They hope that by being available to the general mathematical community, they will inspire others to consider–and hopefully solve–the problem. Serious attempts have been made by all of the authors over the years and they have made reference to these where appropriate.
Häftad, Engelska, 2021
1 079 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This monograph has arisen out of a number of attempts spanning almost five decades to understand how one might examine the evolution of densities in systems whose dynamics are described by differential delay equations. Though the authors have no definitive solution to the problem, they offer this contribution in an attempt to define the problem as they see it, and to sketch out several obvious attempts that have been suggested to solve the problem and which seem to have failed. They hope that by being available to the general mathematical community, they will inspire others to consider–and hopefully solve–the problem. Serious attempts have been made by all of the authors over the years and they have made reference to these where appropriate.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2012
1 293 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This book collects some recent developments in stochastic control theory with applications to financial mathematics. We first address standard stochastic control problems from the viewpoint of the recently developed weak dynamic programming principle. A special emphasis is put on the regularity issues and, in particular, on the behavior of the value function near the boundary. We then provide a quick review of the main tools from viscosity solutions which allow to overcome all regularity problems. We next address the class of stochastic target problems which extends in a nontrivial way the standard stochastic control problems. Here the theory of viscosity solutions plays a crucial role in the derivation of the dynamic programming equation as the infinitesimal counterpart of the corresponding geometric dynamic programming equation. The various developments of this theory have been stimulated by applications in finance and by relevant connections with geometric flows. Namely, the secondorder extension was motivated by illiquidity modeling, and the controlled loss version was introduced following the problem of quantile hedging. The third part specializes to an overview of Backward stochastic differential equations, and their extensions to the quadratic case.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2012
1 079 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This book addresses the need for an accessible comprehensive exposition of the theory of uniform measures; the need that became more critical when recently uniform measures reemerged in new results in abstract harmonic analysis. Until now, results about uniform measures have been scattered through many papers written by a number of authors, some unpublished, written using a variety of definitions and notations. Uniform measures are certain functionals on the space of bounded uniformly continuous functions on a uniform space. They are a common generalization of several classes of measures and measure-like functionals studied in abstract and topological measure theory, probability theory, and abstract harmonic analysis. They offer a natural framework for results about topologies on spaces of measures and about the continuity of convolution of measures on topological groups and semitopological semigroups. The book is a reference for the theory of uniform measures. It includes a self-contained development of the theory with complete proofs, starting with the necessary parts of the theory of uniform spaces. It presents diverse results from many sources organized in a logical whole, and includes several new results. The book is also suitable for graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on selected topics in topology and functional analysis. The text contains a number of exercises with solution hints, and four problems with suggestions for further research.
Inbunden, Engelska, 2012
543 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
Inner functions form an important subclass of bounded analytic functions. Since they have unimodular boundary values, they appear in many extremal problems of complex analysis. They have been extensively studied since early last century, and the literature on this topic is vast. Therefore, this book is devoted to a concise study of derivatives of these objects, and confined to treating the integral means of derivatives and presenting a comprehensive list of results on Hardy and Bergman means. The goal is to provide rapid access to the frontiers of research in this field. This monograph will allow researchers to get acquainted with essentials on inner functions, and it is self-contained, which makes it accessible to graduate students.
Del 32 - Fields Institute Monographs
Lectures on Sphere Arrangements – the Discrete Geometric Side
Inbunden, Engelska, 2013
543 kr
Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar
This monograph gives a short introduction to the relevant modern parts of discrete geometry, in addition to leading the reader to the frontiers of geometric research on sphere arrangements. The readership is aimed at advanced undergraduate and early graduate students, as well as interested researchers. It contains more than 40 open research problems ideal for graduate students and researchers in mathematics and computer science. Additionally, this book may be considered ideal for a one-semester advanced undergraduate or graduate level course. The core part of this book is based on three lectures given by the author at the Fields Institute during the thematic program on “Discrete Geometry and Applications” and contains four core topics. The first two topics surround active areas that have been outstanding from the birth of discrete geometry, namely dense sphere packings and tilings. Sphere packings and tilings have a very strong connection to number theory, coding, groups, and mathematical programming. Extending the tradition of studying packings of spheres, is the investigation of the monotonicity of volume under contractions of arbitrary arrangements of spheres. The third major topic of this book can be found under the sections on ball-polyhedra that study the possibility of extending the theory of convex polytopes to the family of intersections of congruent balls. This section of the text is connected in many ways to the above-mentioned major topics and it is also connected to some other important research areas as the one on coverings by planks (with close ties to geometric analysis). This fourth core topic is discussed under covering balls by cylinders.
Häftad, Engelska, 2016
1 067 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
Since the early 1960s, polyhedral methods have played a central role in both the theory and practice of combinatorial optimization. Since the early 1990s, a new technique, semidefinite programming, has been increasingly applied to some combinatorial optimization problems. The semidefinite programming problem is the problem of optimizing a linear function of matrix variables, subject to finitely many linear inequalities and the positive semidefiniteness condition on some of the matrix variables. On certain problems, such as maximum cut, maximum satisfiability, maximum stable set and geometric representations of graphs, semidefinite programming techniques yield important new results. This monograph provides the necessary background to work with semidefinite optimization techniques, usually by drawing parallels to the development of polyhedral techniques and with a special focus on combinatorial optimization, graph theory and lift-and-project methods. It allows the reader to rigorously develop the necessary knowledge, tools and skills to work in the area that is at the intersection of combinatorial optimization and semidefinite optimization. A solid background in mathematics at the undergraduate level and some exposure to linear optimization are required. Some familiarity with computational complexity theory and the analysis of algorithms would be helpful. Readers with these prerequisites will appreciate the important open problems and exciting new directions as well as new connections to other areas in mathematical sciences that the book provides.
Häftad, Engelska, 1996
986 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
The subject of C*-algebras received a dramatic revitalization in the 1970s by the introduction of topological methods through the work of Brown, Douglas, and Fillmore on extensions of C*-algebras and Elliott's use of $K$-theory to provide a useful classification of AF algebras. These results were the beginning of a marvelous new set of tools for analyzing concrete C*-algebras.This book is an introductory graduate level text which presents the basics of the subject through a detailed analysis of several important classes of C*-algebras. The development of operator algebras in the last twenty years has been based on a careful study of these special classes. While there are many books on C*-algebras and operator algebras available, this is the first one to attempt to explain the real examples that researchers use to test their hypotheses. Topics include AF algebras, Bunce-Deddens and Cuntz algebras, the Toeplitz algebra, irrational rotation algebras, group C*-algebras, discrete crossed products, abelian C*-algebras (spectral theory and approximate unitary equivalence) and extensions. It also introduces many modern concepts and results in the subject such as real rank zero algebras, topological stable rank, quasidiagonality, and various new constructions.These notes were compiled during the author's participation in the special year on C*-algebras at The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences during the 1994-1995 academic year. The field of C*-algebras touches upon many other areas of mathematics such as group representations, dynamical systems, physics, $K$-theory, and topology. The variety of examples offered in this text expose the student to many of these connections. Graduate students with a solid course in functional analysis should be able to read this book. This should prepare them to read much of the current literature. This book is reasonably self-contained, and the author has provided results from other areas when necessary.