Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations in Differential Geometry

What distinguishes differential geometry in the last half of the twentieth century from its earlier history is the use of nonlinear partial differential equations in the study of curved manifolds, submanifolds, mapping problems, and function theory on manifolds, among other topics. The differential equations appear as tools and as objects of study, with analytic and geometric advances fueling each other in the current explosion of progress in this area of geometry in the last twenty years. This book contains lecture notes of minicourses at the Regional Geometry Institute at Park City, Utah, in July 1992. Presented here are surveys of breaking developments in a number of areas of nonlinear partial differential equations in differential geometry. The authors of the articles are not only excellent expositors, but are also leaders in this field of research. All of the articles provide in-depth treatment of the topics and require few prerequisites and less background than current research articles.