Toric Topology

Book excerpt: Toric topology is the study of algebraic, differential, symplectic-geometric, combinatorial, and homotopy-theoretic aspects of a particular class of torus actions whose quotients are highly structured. The combinatorial properties of this quotient and the equivariant topology of the original manifold interact in a rich variety of ways, thus illuminating subtle aspects of both the combinatorics and the equivariant topology. Many of the motivations and guiding principles of the fieldare provided by (though not limited to) the theory of toric varieties in algebraic geometry as well as that of symplectic toric manifolds in symplectic geometry.This volume is the proceedings of the International Conference on Toric Topology held in Osaka in May-June 2006. It contains about 25 research and survey articles written by conference speakers, covering many different aspects of, and approaches to, torus actions, such as those mentioned above. Some of the manuscripts are survey articles, intended to give a broad overview of an aspect of the subject; all manuscripts consciously aim to be accessible to a broad reading audience of students andresearchers interested in the interaction of the subjects involved. We hope that this volume serves as an enticing invitation to this emerging field.