Noncritical Holomorphic Functions On Stein Manifolds

The main theme of this book is the homotopy principle for holomorphic mappings from Stein manifolds to the newly introduced class of Oka manifolds. The book contains the first complete account of Oka-Grauert theory and its modern extensions, initiated by Mikhail Gromov and developed in the last decade by the author and his collaborators. Included is the first systematic presentation of the theory of holomorphic automorphisms of complex Euclidean spaces, a survey on Stein neighborhoods, connections between the geometry of Stein surfaces and Seiberg-Witten theory, and a wide variety of applications ranging from classical to contemporary.

This second extended edition of the classic reference on the extension problem of holomorphic functions in pluricomplex analysis contains a wealth of additional material, organized under the original chapter structure, and covers in a self-contained way all new and recent developments and theorems that appeared since the publication of the first edition about twenty years ago.

This monograph offers the first systematic treatment of the theory of minimal surfaces in Euclidean spaces by complex analytic methods, many of which have been developed in recent decades as part of the theory of Oka manifolds (the h-principle in complex analysis). It places particular emphasis on the study of the global theory of minimal surfaces with a given complex structure. Advanced methods of holomorphic approximation, interpolation, and homotopy classification of manifold-valued maps, along with elements of convex integration theory, are implemented for the first time in the theory of minimal surfaces. The text also presents newly developed methods for constructing minimal surfaces in minimally convex domains of Rn, based on the Riemann–Hilbert boundary value problem adapted to minimal surfaces and holomorphic null curves. These methods also provide major advances in the classical Calabi–Yau problem, yielding in particular minimal surfaces with the conformal structure of any given bordered Riemann surface. Offering new directions in the field and several challenging open problems, the primary audience of the book are researchers (including postdocs and PhD students) in differential geometry and complex analysis. Although not primarily intended as a textbook, two introductory chapters surveying background material and the classical theory of minimal surfaces also make it suitable for preparing Masters or PhD level courses.

This book contains contributions by an impressive list of leading mathematicians. The articles include high-level survey and research papers exploring contemporary issues in geometric analysis, differential geometry, and several complex variables. Many of the articles will provide graduate students with a good entry point into important areas of modern research. The material is intended for researchers and graduate students interested in several complex variables and complex geometry.

The KSCV Symposium, the Korean Conference on Several Complex Variables, started in 1997 in an effort to promote the study of complex analysis and geometry. Since then, the conference met semi-regularly for about 10 years and then settled on being held biannually. The sixth and tenth conferences were held in 2002 and 2014 as satellite conferences to the Beijing International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) and the Seoul ICM, respectively. The purpose of the KSCV Symposium is to organize the research talks of many leading scholars in the world, to provide an opportunity for communication, and to promote new researchers in this field.