Description
Book SynopsisThis book explains how to use simple 2-dimensional pictures to understand the geometry and topology of 4-dimensional spaces. These spaces are of relevance in Hamiltonian dynamics, in algebraic geometry, and in mathematical string theory. It is suitable for graduate students and researchers in geometry and topology.
Trade Review'Lagrangian torus fibrations are an interesting source of examples in symplectic geometry, since their symplectic features are encoded by the geometry of certain half-dimensional base diagrams. Enriched by many pictures and exercises with solutions, this book provides an accessible and well-written introduction to this topic, which is of interest to a broad audience through its connections with integrable systems and algebraic geometry. This work will be appreciated by students and experts alike, since it fills a crucial gap in the literature by giving an excellent discussion of almost toric fibrations, which have attracted a lot of attention in recent years.' Felix Schlenk, Université de Neuchatel
'This is a lucid and engaging introduction to the fascinating world of (almost) toric geometry, in which one can understand the properties of Lagrangian and symplectic submanifolds in four dimensions simply by drawing suitable two-dimensional diagrams. The book has many illustrations and intricate examples.' Dusa McDuff, Barnard College, Columbia University
Table of Contents1. The Arnold–Liouville theorem; 2. Lagrangian fibrations; 3. Global action-angle coordinates and torus actions; 4. Symplectic reduction; 5. Visible Lagrangian submanifolds; 6. Focus-focus singularities; 7. Examples of focus-focus systems; 8. Almost toric manifolds; 9. Surgery; 10. Elliptic and cusp singularities; A. Symplectic linear algebra; B. Lie derivatives; C. Complex projective spaces; D. Cotangent bundles; E. Moser's argument; F. Toric varieties revisited; G. Visible contact hypersurfaces and Reeb flows; H. Tropical Lagrangian submanifolds; I. Markov triples; J. Open problems; References; Index.
