A Primer of Real Analytic Functions (Basler Lehrbucher)

The subject of real analytic functions is one of the oldest in mathe­ matical analysis. Today it is encountered early in ones mathematical the first taste usually comes in calculus. While most work­ ing mathematicians use real analytic functions from time to time in their work, the vast lore of real analytic functions remains obscure and buried in the literature. It is remarkable that the most accessible treatment of Puiseux's theorem is in Lefschetz's quite old Algebraic Geometry, that the clearest discussion of resolution of singularities for real analytic manifolds is in a book review by Michael Atiyah, that there is no comprehensive discussion in print of the embedding prob­ lem for real analytic manifolds. We have had occasion in our collaborative research to become ac­ quainted with both the history and the scope of the theory of real analytic functions. It seems both appropriate and timely for us to gather together this information in a single volume. The material presented here is of three kinds. The elementary topics, covered in Chapter 1, are presented in great detail. Even results like a real ana­ lytic inverse function theorem are difficult to find in the literature, and we take pains here to present such topics carefully. Topics of middling difficulty, such as separate real analyticity, Puiseux series, the FBI transform, and related ideas (Chapters 2-4), are covered thoroughly but rather more briskly. The subject of real analytic functions is one of the oldest in mathe­ matical analysis. Today it is encountered early in ones mathematical the first taste usually comes in calculus. While most work­ ing mathematicians use real analytic functions from time to time in their work, the vast lore of real analytic functions remains obscure and buried in the literature. It is remarkable that the most accessible treatment of Puiseux's theorem is in Lefschetz's quite old Algebraic Geometry, that the clearest discussion of resolution of singularities for real analytic manifolds is in a book review by Michael Atiyah, that there is no comprehensive discussion in print of the embedding prob­ lem for real analytic manifolds. We have had occasion in our collaborative research to become ac­ quainted with both the history and the scope of the theory of real analytic functions. It seems both appropriate and timely for us to gather together this information in a single volume. The material presented here is of three kinds. The elementary topics, covered in Chapter 1, are presented in great detail. Even results like a real ana­ lytic inverse function theorem are difficult to find in the literature, and we take pains here to present such topics carefully. Topics of middling difficulty, such as separate real analyticity, Puiseux series, the FBI transform, and related ideas (Chapters 2-4), are covered thoroughly but rather more briskly.

"This is the second, improved edition of the only existing monograph devoted to real-analytic functions, whose theory is rightly considered in the preface 'the wellspring of mathematical analysis.' Organized in six parts, [with] a very rich bibliography and an index, this book is both a map of the subject and its history. Proceeding from the most elementary to the most advanced aspects, it is useful for both beginners and advanced researchers. Names such as Cauchy-Kowalewsky (Kovalevskaya), Weierstrass, Borel, Hadamard, Puiseux, Pringsheim, Besicovitch, Bernstein, Denjoy-Carleman, Paley-Wiener, Whitney, Gevrey, Lojasiewicz, Grauert and many others are involved either by their results or by their concepts."

―MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

"Bringing together results scattered in various journals or books and presenting them in a clear and systematic manner, the book is of interest first of all for analysts, but also for applied mathematicians and researchers in real algebraic geometry."

―ACTA APPLICANDAE MATHEMATICAE