Prospects in Topology (AM-138), Volume 138

Book excerpt: This collection brings together influential papers by mathematicians exploring the research frontiers of topology, one of the most important developments of modern mathematics. The papers cover a wide range of topological specialties, including tools for the analysis of group actions on manifolds, calculations of algebraic K-theory, a result on analytic structures on Lie group actions, a presentation of the significance of Dirac operators in smoothing theory, a discussion of the stable topology of 4-manifolds, an answer to the famous question about symmetries of simply connected manifolds, and a fresh perspective on the topological classification of linear transformations. The contributors include A. Adem, A. H. Assadi, M. Bökstedt, S. E. Cappell, R. Charney, M. W. Davis, P. J. Eccles, M. H. Freedman, I. Hambleton, J. C. Hausmann, S. Illman, G. Katz, M. Kreck, W. Lück, I. Madsen, R. J. Milgram, J. Morava, E. K. Pedersen, V. Puppe, F. Quinn, A. Ranicki, J. L. Shaneson, D. Sullivan, P. Teichner, Z. Wang, and S. Weinberger.