Bücher von Robert Friedman

This book is based on courses given at Columbia University on vector bun- dles (1988) and on the theory of algebraic surfaces (1992), as well as lectures in the Park City lIAS Mathematics Institute on 4-manifolds and Donald- son invariants. The goal of these lectures was to acquaint researchers in 4-manifold topology with the classification of algebraic surfaces and with methods for describing moduli spaces of holomorphic bundles on algebraic surfaces with a view toward computing Donaldson invariants. Since that time, the focus of 4-manifold topology has shifted dramatically, at first be- cause topological methods have largely superseded algebro-geometric meth- ods in computing Donaldson invariants, and more importantly because of and Witten, which have greatly sim- the new invariants defined by Seiberg plified the theory and led to proofs of the basic conjectures concerning the 4-manifold topology of algebraic surfaces. However, the study of algebraic surfaces and the moduli spaces of bundles on them remains a fundamen- tal problem in algebraic geometry, and I hope that this book will make this subject more accessible. Moreover, the recent applications of Seiberg- Witten theory to symplectic 4-manifolds suggest that there is room for yet another treatment of the classification of algebraic surfaces. In particular, despite the number of excellent books concerning algebraic surfaces, I hope that the half of this book devoted to them will serve as an introduction to the subject.

Crime, corruption, and colonialism—as well as compassion, survival, and dark humor—are woven into The Puerto Rico Trilogy, which consists of three separate character-driven novels that focus on the Caribbean island and its complex political and social relationship with the U.S.Ulysses in San Juan, the concluding novel, relates the relationship between a Jewish concentration camp survivor and a Puerto Rican female drug addict. It takes the reader on a trip into the San Juan underworld, as well to other island sites to meet crooked and upright and poignant and colorful characters.As the personal and the political interconnect, it is revealed that several of the trilogy’s characters have had their lives marked by such 20th Century historical turning points as the Spanish Civil War, the Holocaust, the Cuban Revolution, and the Vietnamese War.

Crime, corruption, and colonialism—as well as compassion, survival, and dark humor—are woven into The Puerto Rico Trilogy, which consists of three separate character-driven novels that focus on the Caribbean island and its complex political and social relationship with the U.S.The Odyssey of Pablo Camino, the first book, was inspired by a real-life incident when a stateside doctor, sent to the island for research, claimed in a letter that he purposely killed eight of his patients because of his disgust with the “natives.” In the novel, the doctor’s fictional son, a well-known, but troubled Puerto Rican artist, goes on a search for the truth of his father’s possibly murderous past.

Crime, corruption, and colonialism—as well as compassion, survival, and dark humor—are woven into The Puerto Rico Trilogy, which consists of three separate character-driven novels that focus on the Caribbean island and its complex political and social relationship with the U.S.The Defining Sea. book two, was also sparked by U.S.-Puerto Rico history. Its plot is derived from the U.S, Navy’s decades-long live fire and bombing exercises on the inhabited offshore Puerto Rico island of Vieques, which caused death and serious illness. The story told concerns a 20-year-old University of Puerto Rico student who delivers drugs between the island and the states to raise money for a scholarship that will be named after his girlfriend, killed by police during a protest against the Navy’s maneuvers.

The theory behind the results for manifolds of dimension at least 5 does not carryover to manifolds of these low dimensions, essentially because there is no longer enough room to maneuver.

A novel feature of the book is its integrated approach to algebraic surface theory and the study of vector bundle theory on both curves and surfaces.