Collected papers of Raoul Bott. Vol. 4: Mathematics related to physics. Ed. by Robert D. MacPherson. (English) Zbl 0823.01011

Bott, Raoul

Contemporary Mathematicians. Basel: Birkhäuser. xvii, 484 p., Set: DM 678,00; öS 5.288,40; sFr 598,00; £265,00 (1995).

The present volume is the fourth and last of the Collected papers of Raoul Bott, [for Vol. 2 (1994), see Zbl 0807.01033]. In the interesting introductory section “Comments on some of the papers in volume 4” the author comments that “Most of the papers in this volume deal with two themes: the Yang-Mills equations and the rigidity phenomena of vector bundles.” The following section, “Appreciation for Raoul Bott and his mathematics/physics career” by Clifford Taubes, provides an excellent overview of the papers contained in this volume along with very useful recommendations regarding the expository articles contained here. As he notes, they (the expository articles) are exquisite. Of the ninety-three numbered items in the bibliography of Raoul Bott, items seventy-two through ninety-three are included here (except for item seventy-nine, an apparent numbering error, and item ninety, “On topological constraints of analysis”).

Reviewer: F.J.Papp (Ypsilanti)

MSC:

01A75

Collected or selected works; reprintings or translations of classics

Keywords:

Yang-Mills equations; Morse theory; fixed points; rigidity; mathematical physics

Citations:

Zbl 0807.01033