Compactifications Of Symmetric Spaces

Introduces uniform constructions of most of the known compactifications of symmetric and locally symmetric spaces, with emphasis on their geometric and topological structures Relatively self-contained reference aimed at graduate students and research mathematicians interested in the applications of Lie theory and representation theory to analysis, number theory, algebraic geometry and algebraic topology

The concept of symmetric space is of central importance in many branches of mathematics. Compactifications of these spaces have been studied from the points of view of representation theory, geometry, and random walks. This work is devoted to the study of the interrelationships among these various compactifications and, in particular, focuses on the martin compactifications. It is the first exposition to treat compactifications of symmetric spaces systematically and to uniformized the various points of view. The work is largely self-contained, with comprehensive references to the literature. It is an excellent resource for both researchers and graduate students.

The new edition of this celebrated and long-unavailable book preserves the original book's content and structure and its unrivalled presentation of a universal method for the resolution of a class of singularities in algebraic geometry.

* Focuses on two fundamental questions related to semisimple Lie groups: the geometry of Riemannian symmetric spaces and their compactifications, and branching laws for unitary representations * Wide applications of compactification techniques * Concrete examples and relevant exercises engage the reader * Knowledge of basic representation theory of Lie groups, semisimple Lie groups and symmetric spaces is required

* Focuses on two fundamental questions related to semisimple Lie groups: the geometry of Riemannian symmetric spaces and their compactifications, and branching laws for unitary representations * Wide applications of compactification techniques * Concrete examples and relevant exercises engage the reader * Knowledge of basic representation theory of Lie groups, semisimple Lie groups and symmetric spaces is required

* Presents extensive surveys by van den Ban, Schlichtkrull, and Delorme of the recent progress in deriving the Plancherel theorem on reductive symmetric spaces * Well suited for both graduate students and researchers in semisimple Lie theory and neighboring fields, possibly even mathematical cosmology * Knowledge of basic representation theory of Lie groups as well as familiarity with semisimple Lie groups, symmetric spaces, and parabolic subgroups is required

This book is intended to introduce researchers and graduate students to the concepts of causal symmetric spaces. To date, results of recent studies considered standard by specialists have not been widely published. This book seeks to bring this information to students and researchers in geometry and analysis on causal symmetric spaces. Includes the newest results in harmonic analysis including Spherical functions on ordered symmetric space and the holmorphic discrete series and Hardy spaces on compactly casual symmetric spaces Deals with the infinitesimal situation, coverings of symmetric spaces, classification of causal symmetric pairs and invariant cone fields Presents basic geometric properties of semi-simple symmetric spaces Includes appendices on Lie algebras and Lie groups, Bounded symmetric domains (Cayley transforms), Antiholomorphic Involutions on Bounded Domains and Para-Hermitian Symmetric Spaces