Preface, The Editors

Summary

These volumes grew out of the conference which we organized at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach in September, 1993, on the subject of “Novikov conjectures, index theorems and rigidity.” The aim of the meeting was to examine the Novikov conjecture, one of the central problems of the topology of manifolds, along with the vast assortment of refinements, generalizations, and analogues of the conjecture which have proliferated over the last 25 years. There were 38 participants, coming from Australia, Canada, Prance, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States, with interests in topology, analysis, and geometry. What made the meeting unusual were both its interdisciplinary scope and the lively and constructive interaction of experts from very different fields of mathematics. The success of the meeting led us to try to capture its spirit in print, and these two volumes are the result.

It was not our intention to produce the usual sort of conference proceedings volume consisting of research announcements by the participants. There are enough such tomes gathering dust on library shelves. Instead, we have hoped to capture a snapshot of the status of work on the Novikov conjecture and related topics, now that the subject is about 25 years old. We have also tried to produce volumes which will be helpful to beginners in the area (especially graduate students), and also to those working in some aspect of the subject who want to understand the connection between what they axe doing and what is going on in other fields.