Lectures On Complex Approximation

The theory of General Relativity, after its invention by Albert Einstein, remained for many years a monument of mathemati cal speculation, striking in its ambition and its formal beauty, but quite separated from the main stream of modern Physics, which had centered, after the early twenties, on quantum mechanics and its applications. In the last ten or fifteen years, however, the situation has changed radically. First, a great deal of significant exper~en tal data became available. Then important contributions were made to the incorporation of general relativity into the framework of quantum theory. Finally, in the last three years, exciting devel opments took place which have placed general relativity, and all the concepts behind it, at the center of our understanding of par ticle physics and quantum field theory. Firstly, this is due to the fact that general relativity is really the "original non-abe lian gauge theory," and that our description of quantum field in teractions makes extensive use of the concept of gauge invariance. Secondly, the ideas of supersymmetry have enabled theoreticians to combine gravity with other elementary particle interactions, and to construct what is perhaps the first approach to a more finite quantum theory of gravitation, which is known as super gravity.

The international conference entitled "New Trends in Approximation Theory" was held at the Fields Institute, in Toronto, from July 25 until July 29, 2016. The conference was fondly dedicated to the memory of our unique friend and colleague, André Boivin, who gave tireless service in Canada until his very last moment of his life in October 2014. The impact of his warm personality and his fine work on Complex Approximation Theory was reflected by the mathematical excellence and the wide research range of the 37 participants. In total there were 27 talks, delivered by well-established mathematicians and young researchers. In particular, 19 invited lectures were delivered by leading experts of the field, from 8 different countries. The wide variety of presentations composed a mosaic of aspects of approximation theory, highlighting interesting connections with important contemporary areas of Analysis. Primary topics discussed include application of approximation theory (isoperimetric inequalities, construction of entire order-isomorphisms, dynamical sampling); approximation by harmonic and holomorphic functions (especially uniform and tangential approximation), polynomial and rational approximation; zeros of approximants and zero-free approximation; tools used in approximation theory; approximation on complex manifolds, in product domains, and in function spaces; and boundary behaviour and universality properties of Taylor and Dirichlet series.

Hermann Weyl considered value distribution theory to be the greatest mathematical achievement of the first half of the 20th century. The present lectures show that this beautiful theory is still growing. An important tool is complex approximation and some of the lectures are devoted to this topic. Harmonic approximation started to flourish astonishingly rapidly towards the end of the 20th century, and the latest development, including approximation manifolds, are presented here. Since de Branges confirmed the Bieberbach conjecture, the primary problem in geometric function theory is to find the precise value of the Bloch constant. After more than half a century without progress, a breakthrough was recently achieved and is presented. Other topics are also presented, including Jensen measures. A valuable introduction to currently active areas of complex analysis and potential theory. Can be read with profit by both students of analysis and research mathematicians.

First comprehensive treatment in book form of shape-preserving approximation by real or complex polynomials in one or several variables Of interest to grad students and researchers in approximation theory, mathematical analysis, numerical analysis, Computer Aided Geometric Design, robotics, data fitting, chemistry, fluid mechanics, and engineering Contains many open problems to spur future research Rich and updated bibliography

This volume from the series Séminaire de Mathématiques Supérieures from the Départment de Mathématiques et de Statistique at the Université de Montréal focus on approximation theory and value distribution.

The papers in this book, first presented at a 1986 AMS Short Course, give a brief introduction to approximation theory and some of its current areas of active research, both theoretical and applied. The first lecture describes and illustrates the basic concerns of the field. Topics highlighted in the other lectures include the following: approximation in the complex domain, $N$-width, optimal recovery, interpolation, algorithms for approximation, and splines, with a strong emphasis on a multivariate setting for the last three topics. The book is aimed at mathematicians interested in an introduction to areas of current research and to engineers and scientists interested in exploring the field for possible applications to their own fields. The book is best understood by those with a standard first graduate course in real and complex analysis, but some of the presentations are accessible with the minimal requirements of advanced calculus and linear algebra.