This book presents a broad, user-friendly introduction to the Langlands program, that is, the theory of automorphic forms and its connection with the theory of L-functions and other fields of mathematics. Each of the twelve chapters focuses on a particular topic devoted to special cases of the program. The book is suitable for graduate students and researchers.
For the past several decades the theory of automorphic forms has become a major focal point of development in number theory and algebraic geometry, with applications in many diverse areas, including combinatorics and mathematical physics.
The twelve chapters of this monograph present a broad, user-friendly introduction to the Langlands program, that is, the theory of automorphic forms and its connection with the theory of L-functions and other fields of mathematics.
Key features of this self-contained presentation:
A variety of areas in number theory from the classical zeta function up to the Langlands program are covered.
The exposition is systematic, with each chapter focusing on a particular topic devoted to special cases of the program:
- Basic zeta function of Riemann and its generalizations to Dirichlet and Hecke L-functions, class field theory and some topics on classical automorphic functions (E. Kowalski)
- A study of the conjectures of Artin and Shimura-Taniyama-Weil (E. de Shalit)
- An examination of classical modular (automorphic) L-functions as GL(2) functions, bringing into play the theory of representations (S.S. Kudla)
- Selberg's theory of the trace formula, which is a way to study automorphic representations (D. Bump)
- Discussion of cuspidal automorphic representations of GL(2, (A)) leads to Langlands theory for GL(n) and the importance of the Langlands dual group (J.W. Cogdell)
- An introduction to the geometric Langlands program, a new and active area of research that permits using powerful methods of algebraic geometry to construct automorphic sheaves (D. Gaitsgory)
Graduate students and researchers will benefit from this beautifultext.