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This series consists of textbooks aimed at advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students. It covers the whole range of pure mathematics, as well as topics in applied mathematics and mathematical physics that involve a substantial use of modern mathematical methods. Topics not of a standard nature though of current interest are also covered by volumes in this series.

  • Managing Editors: Ian J. Leary, University of Southampton
  • Associate Editors: Timothy C. Burness, University of Bristol, Kevin M. Buzzard, Imperial College London, Christina Goldschmidt, University of Oxford, Jean-François Lafont, Ohio State University, Jonathan R. Partington, University of Leeds, John R. Parker, Durham University

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99 results in London Mathematical Society Student Texts

Page 1 of 5

ADE
  • Patterns in Mathematics
  • Peter J. Cameron, Pierre-Philippe Dechant, Yang-Hui He, John McKay
  • Coming soon
  • Expected online publication date:
    August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 August 2025
  • John McKay's remarkable insights unveiled a connection between the 'double covers' of the groups of regular polyhedra, known since ancient Greek times, and the exceptional Lie algebras, recognized since the late nineteenth century. The correspondence involves certain diagrams, the ADE diagrams, which can be interpreted in different ways: as quivers associated with the groups, and Dynkin diagrams of root systems of Lie algebras. The ADE diagrams arise in many areas of mathematics, including topics in relativity and string theory, spectral theory of graphs and cluster algebras. Accessible to students, this book explains these connections with exercises and examples throughout. An excellent introduction for students and researchers wishing to learn more about this unifying principle of mathematics.

Künneth Geometry
  • Symplectic Manifolds and their Lagrangian Foliations
  • M. J. D. Hamilton, D. Kotschick
  • Published online:
    07 December 2023
    Print publication:
    21 December 2023
  • This clear and elegant text introduces Künneth, or bi-Lagrangian, geometry from the foundations up, beginning with a rapid introduction to symplectic geometry at a level suitable for undergraduate students. Unlike other books on this topic, it includes a systematic development of the foundations of Lagrangian foliations. The latter half of the text discusses Künneth geometry from the point of view of basic differential topology, featuring both new expositions of standard material and new material that has not previously appeared in book form. This subject, which has many interesting uses and applications in physics, is developed ab initio, without assuming any previous knowledge of pseudo-Riemannian or para-complex geometry. This book will serve both as a reference work for researchers, and as an invitation for graduate students to explore this field, with open problems included as inspiration for future research.

Inverse Problems and Data Assimilation
  • Daniel Sanz-Alonso, Andrew Stuart, Armeen Taeb
  • Published online:
    27 July 2023
    Print publication:
    10 August 2023
  • This concise introduction provides an entry point to the world of inverse problems and data assimilation for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in the mathematical sciences. It will also appeal to researchers in science and engineering who are interested in the systematic underpinnings of methodologies widely used in their disciplines. The authors examine inverse problems and data assimilation in turn, before exploring the use of data assimilation methods to solve generic inverse problems by introducing an artificial algorithmic time. Topics covered include maximum a posteriori estimation, (stochastic) gradient descent, variational Bayes, Monte Carlo, importance sampling and Markov chain Monte Carlo for inverse problems; and 3DVAR, 4DVAR, extended and ensemble Kalman filters, and particle filters for data assimilation. The book contains a wealth of examples and exercises, and can be used to accompany courses as well as for self-study.

Compact Matrix Quantum Groups and Their Combinatorics
  • Amaury Freslon
  • Published online:
    13 July 2023
    Print publication:
    27 July 2023
  • An organised step-by-step introduction to the theory of compact quantum groups, starting with examples coming from quantum physics, which stems from the basic undergraduate mathematics curriculum. Introducing more abstract concepts along the way when needed, the reader is led from the fundamentals of the theory to recent research results. The emphasis is put on the combinatorics underlying compact quantum groups, which is very elementary to describe but leads to profound results. This book includes many exercises to help students work through new concepts and ideas and consolidate their understanding. The theory itself is illustrated by an array of examples, some related to other fields of Mathematics such as free probability theory or graph theory. The book is intended for graduate students, motivated undergraduate students and researchers.

Lectures on Lagrangian Torus Fibrations
  • Jonny Evans
  • Published online:
    06 July 2023
    Print publication:
    20 July 2023
  • Symington's almost toric fibrations have played a central role in symplectic geometry over the past decade, from Vianna's discovery of exotic Lagrangian tori to recent work on Fibonacci staircases. Four-dimensional spaces are of relevance in Hamiltonian dynamics, algebraic geometry, and mathematical string theory, and these fibrations encode the geometry of a symplectic 4-manifold in a simple 2-dimensional diagram. This text is a guide to interpreting these diagrams, aimed at graduate students and researchers in geometry and topology. First the theory is developed, and then studied in many examples, including fillings of lens spaces, resolutions of cusp singularities, non-toric blow-ups, and Vianna tori. In addition to the many examples, students will appreciate the exercises with full solutions throughout the text. The appendices explore select topics in more depth, including tropical Lagrangians and Markov triples, with a final appendix listing open problems. Prerequisites include familiarity with algebraic topology and differential geometry.

Differential and Low-Dimensional Topology
  • András Juhász
  • Published online:
    13 April 2023
    Print publication:
    20 April 2023
  • The new student in differential and low-dimensional topology is faced with a bewildering array of tools and loosely connected theories. This short book presents the essential parts of each, enabling the reader to become 'literate' in the field and begin research as quickly as possible. The only prerequisite assumed is an undergraduate algebraic topology course. The first half of the text reviews basic notions of differential topology and culminates with the classification of exotic seven-spheres. It then dives into dimension three and knot theory. There then follows an introduction to Heegaard Floer homology, a powerful collection of modern invariants of three- and four-manifolds, and of knots, that has not before appeared in an introductory textbook. The book concludes with a glimpse of four-manifold theory. Students will find it an exhilarating and authoritative guide to a broad swathe of the most important topics in modern topology.

A Course in Stochastic Game Theory
  • Eilon Solan
  • Published online:
    05 May 2022
    Print publication:
    26 May 2022
  • Stochastic games have an element of chance: the state of the next round is determined probabilistically depending upon players' actions and the current state. Successful players need to balance the need for short-term payoffs while ensuring future opportunities remain high. The various techniques needed to analyze these often highly non-trivial games are a showcase of attractive mathematics, including methods from probability, differential equations, algebra, and combinatorics. This book presents a course on the theory of stochastic games going from the basics through to topics of modern research, focusing on conceptual clarity over complete generality. Each of its chapters introduces a new mathematical tool – including contracting mappings, semi-algebraic sets, infinite orbits, and Ramsey's theorem, among others – before discussing the game-theoretic results they can be used to obtain. The author assumes no more than a basic undergraduate curriculum and illustrates the theory with numerous examples and exercises, with solutions available online.

Notes on Hamiltonian Dynamical Systems
  • Antonio Giorgilli
  • Published online:
    21 April 2022
    Print publication:
    05 May 2022
  • Starting with the basics of Hamiltonian dynamics and canonical transformations, this text follows the historical development of the theory culminating in recent results: the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem, Nekhoroshev's theorem and superexponential stability. Its analytic approach allows students to learn about perturbation methods leading to advanced results. Key topics covered include Liouville's theorem, the proof of Poincaré's non-integrability theorem and the nonlinear dynamics in the neighbourhood of equilibria. The theorem of Kolmogorov on persistence of invariant tori and the theory of exponential stability of Nekhoroshev are proved via constructive algorithms based on the Lie series method. A final chapter is devoted to the discovery of chaos by Poincaré and its relations with integrability, also including recent results on superexponential stability. Written in an accessible, self-contained way with few prerequisites, this book can serve as an introductory text for senior undergraduate and graduate students.

Classical and Discrete Functional Analysis with Measure Theory
  • Martin Buntinas
  • Published online:
    06 January 2022
    Print publication:
    20 January 2022
  • Functional analysis deals with infinite-dimensional spaces. Its results are among the greatest achievements of modern mathematics and it has wide-reaching applications to probability theory, statistics, economics, classical and quantum physics, chemistry, engineering, and pure mathematics. This book deals with measure theory and discrete aspects of functional analysis, including Fourier series, sequence spaces, matrix maps, and summability. Based on the author's extensive teaching experience, the text is accessible to advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students. It can be used as a basis for a one-term course or for a one-year sequence, and is suitable for self-study for readers with an undergraduate-level understanding of real analysis and linear algebra. More than 750 exercises are included to help the reader test their understanding. Key background material is summarized in the Preliminaries.

The Calculus of Braids
  • Patrick Dehornoy
  • Published online:
    27 August 2021
    Print publication:
    09 September 2021
  • Everyone knows what braids are, whether they be made of hair, knitting wool, or electrical cables. However, it is not so evident that we can construct a theory about them, i.e. to elaborate a coherent and mathematically interesting corpus of results concerning them. This book demonstrates that there is a resoundingly positive response to this question: braids are fascinating objects, with a variety of rich mathematical properties and potential applications. A special emphasis is placed on the algorithmic aspects and on what can be called the 'calculus of braids', in particular the problem of isotopy. Prerequisites are kept to a minimum, with most results being established from scratch. An appendix at the end of each chapter gives a detailed introduction to the more advanced notions required, including monoids and group presentations. Also included is a range of carefully selected exercises to help the reader test their knowledge, with solutions available.

A Gentle Introduction to Homological Mirror Symmetry
  • Raf Bocklandt
  • Published online:
    20 August 2021
    Print publication:
    19 August 2021
  • Homological mirror symmetry has its origins in theoretical physics but is now of great interest in mathematics due to the deep connections it reveals between different areas of geometry and algebra. This book offers a self-contained and accessible introduction to the subject via the representation theory of algebras and quivers. It is suitable for graduate students and others without a great deal of background in homological algebra and modern geometry. Each part offers a different perspective on homological mirror symmetry. Part I introduces the A-infinity formalism and offers a glimpse of mirror symmetry using representations of quivers. Part II discusses various A- and B-models in mirror symmetry and their connections through toric and tropical geometry. Part III deals with mirror symmetry for Riemann surfaces. The main mathematical ideas are illustrated by means of simple examples coming mainly from the theory of surfaces, helping the reader connect theory with intuition.

Fast Track to Forcing
  • Mirna Džamonja
  • Published online:
    28 September 2020
    Print publication:
    15 October 2020
  • This quick yet detailed introduction to set theory and forcing builds the reader's intuition about it as much as the mathematical detail. Intuition, rather absent from the existing literature on the subject, here plays a large role. The reader will not only learn the facts, but will understand why they are true and will be brought to ask: what else could be true? Having presented forcing in Part I, the second part of the book discusses contemporary issues in the theory of forcing. It includes known and some previously unpublished results as well as many open questions. This is ideal for those who want to start a research career in forcing but do not have a personal interlocutor. Obviously, not everything about forcing is in this book. Many references are included to help the reader further explore the vast amount of research literature available on the subject.

Topics in Cyclic Theory
  • Daniel G. Quillen, Gordon Blower
  • Published online:
    19 June 2020
    Print publication:
    09 July 2020
  • Noncommutative geometry combines themes from algebra, analysis and geometry and has significant applications to physics. This book focuses on cyclic theory, and is based upon the lecture courses by Daniel G. Quillen at the University of Oxford from 1988–92, which developed his own approach to the subject. The basic definitions, examples and exercises provided here allow non-specialists and students with a background in elementary functional analysis, commutative algebra and differential geometry to get to grips with the subject. Quillen's development of cyclic theory emphasizes analogies between commutative and noncommutative theories, in which he reinterpreted classical results of Hamiltonian mechanics, operator algebras and differential graded algebras into a new formalism. In this book, cyclic theory is developed from motivating examples and background towards general results. Themes covered are relevant to current research, including homomorphisms modulo powers of ideals, traces on noncommutative differential forms, quasi-free algebras and Chern characters on connections.

Representations of Finite Groups of Lie Type
  • 2nd edition
  • François Digne, Jean Michel
  • Published online:
    14 February 2020
    Print publication:
    05 March 2020
  • On its original publication, this book provided the first elementary treatment of representation theory of finite groups of Lie type in book form. This second edition features new material to reflect the continuous evolution of the subject, including entirely new chapters on Hecke algebras, Green functions and Lusztig families. The authors cover the basic theory of representations of finite groups of Lie type, such as linear, unitary, orthogonal and symplectic groups. They emphasise the Curtis–Alvis duality map and Mackey's theorem and the results that can be deduced from it, before moving on to a discussion of Deligne–Lusztig induction and Lusztig's Jordan decomposition theorem for characters. The book contains the background information needed to make it a useful resource for beginning graduate students in algebra as well as seasoned researchers. It includes exercises and explicit examples.

Tensor Products of C*-Algebras and Operator Spaces
  • The Connes–Kirchberg Problem
  • Gilles Pisier
  • Published online:
    10 February 2020
    Print publication:
    27 February 2020
  • Based on the author's university lecture courses, this book presents the many facets of one of the most important open problems in operator algebra theory. Central to this book is the proof of the equivalence of the various forms of the problem, including forms involving C*-algebra tensor products and free groups, ultraproducts of von Neumann algebras, and quantum information theory. The reader is guided through a number of results (some of them previously unpublished) revolving around tensor products of C*-algebras and operator spaces, which are reminiscent of Grothendieck's famous Banach space theory work. The detailed style of the book and the inclusion of background information make it easily accessible for beginning researchers, Ph.D. students, and non-specialists alike.

Introduction to Approximate Groups
  • Matthew C. H. Tointon
  • Published online:
    31 October 2019
    Print publication:
    14 November 2019
  • Approximate groups have shot to prominence in recent years, driven both by rapid progress in the field itself and by a varied and expanding range of applications. This text collects, for the first time in book form, the main concepts and techniques into a single, self-contained introduction. The author presents a number of recent developments in the field, including an exposition of his recent result classifying nilpotent approximate groups. The book also features a considerable amount of previously unpublished material, as well as numerous exercises and motivating examples. It closes with a substantial chapter on applications, including an exposition of Breuillard, Green and Tao's celebrated approximate-group proof of Gromov's theorem on groups of polynomial growth. Written by an author who is at the forefront of both researching and teaching this topic, this text will be useful to advanced students and to researchers working in approximate groups and related areas.

Semigroups of Linear Operators
  • With Applications to Analysis, Probability and Physics
  • David Applebaum
  • Published online:
    27 July 2019
    Print publication:
    15 August 2019
  • The theory of semigroups of operators is one of the most important themes in modern analysis. Not only does it have great intellectual beauty, but also wide-ranging applications. In this book the author first presents the essential elements of the theory, introducing the notions of semigroup, generator and resolvent, and establishes the key theorems of Hille–Yosida and Lumer–Phillips that give conditions for a linear operator to generate a semigroup. He then presents a mixture of applications and further developments of the theory. This includes a description of how semigroups are used to solve parabolic partial differential equations, applications to Levy and Feller–Markov processes, Koopmanism in relation to dynamical systems, quantum dynamical semigroups, and applications to generalisations of the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral. Along the way the reader encounters several important ideas in modern analysis including Sobolev spaces, pseudo-differential operators and the Nash inequality.

The Block Theory of Finite Group Algebras
  • Volume 1
  • Markus Linckelmann
  • Published online:
    31 May 2018
    Print publication:
    24 May 2018
  • This is a comprehensive introduction to the modular representation theory of finite groups, with an emphasis on block theory. The two volumes take into account classical results and concepts as well as some of the modern developments in the area. Volume 1 introduces the broader context, starting with general properties of finite group algebras over commutative rings, moving on to some basics in character theory and the structure theory of algebras over complete discrete valuation rings. In Volume 2, blocks of finite group algebras over complete p-local rings take centre stage, and many key results which have not appeared in a book before are treated in detail. In order to illustrate the wide range of techniques in block theory, the book concludes with chapters classifying the source algebras of blocks with cyclic and Klein four defect groups, and relating these classifications to the open conjectures that drive block theory.

Communication Theory
  • Charles M. Goldie, Richard G. E. Pinch
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    07 November 1991
  • This book is an introduction, for mathematics students, to the theories of information and codes. They are usually treated separately but, as both address the problem of communication through noisy channels (albeit from different directions), the authors have been able to exploit the connection to give a reasonably self-contained treatment, relating the probabilistic and algebraic viewpoints. The style is discursive and, as befits the subject, plenty of examples and exercises are provided. Some examples and exercises are provided. Some examples of computer codes are given to provide concrete illustrations of abstract ideas.

An Introduction to General Relativity
  • L. P. Hughston, K. P. Tod
  • Published online:
    28 May 2018
    Print publication:
    25 January 1991
  • This textbook provides an introduction to general relativity for mathematics undergraduates or graduate physicists. After a review of Cartesian tensor notation and special relativity the concepts of Riemannian differential geometry are introducted. More emphasis is placed on an intuitive grasp of the subject and a calculational facility than on a rigorous mathematical exposition. General relativity is then presented as a relativistic theory of gravity reducing in the appropriate limits to Newtonian gravity or special relativity. The Schwarzchild solution is derived and the gravitational red-shift, time dilation and classic tests of general relativity are discussed. There is a brief account of gravitational collapse and black holes based on the extended Schwarzchild solution. Other vacuum solutions are described, motivated by their counterparts in linearised general relativity. The book ends with chapters on cosmological solutions to the field equations. There are exercises attached to each chapter, some of which extend the development given in the text.

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