Strasbourg Master Class on Geometry

Book excerpt: This book contains carefully revised and expanded versions of eight courses that were presented at the University of Strasbourg during two geometry master classes in 2008 and 2009. The aim of the master classes was to give fifth-year students and Ph.D. students in mathematics the opportunity to learn new topics that lead directly to the current research in geometry and topology. The courses were taught by leading experts. The subjects treated include hyperbolic geometry, three-manifold topology, representation theory of fundamental groups of surfaces and of three-manifolds, dynamics on the hyperbolic plane with applications to number theory, Riemann surfaces, Teichmuller theory, Lie groups, and asymptotic geometry. The text is aimed at graduate students and research mathematicians. It can also be used as a reference book and as a textbook for short courses on geometry.