Hopf Algebras and Generalizations AMS Special Session on Hopf Algebras at the Crossroads of Algebra, Category Theory, and Topology, October 23-24, 2004, Evanston, Illinois

Hopf algebras have proved to be very interesting structures with deep connections to various areas of mathematics, particularly through quantum groups. Indeed, the study of Hopf algebras, their representations, their generalizations, and the categories related to all these objects has an interdisciplinary nature. It finds methods, relationships, motivations and applications throughout algebra, category theory, topology, geometry, quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and also combinatorics, logic, and theoretical computer science. This volume portrays the vitality of contemporary research in Hopf algebras. Altogether, the articles in the volume explore essential aspects of Hopf algebras and some of their best-known generalizations by means of a variety of approaches and perspectives. They make use of quite different techniques that are already consolidated in the area of quantum algebra. This volume demonstrates the diversity and richness of its subject. Most of its papers introduce the reader to their respective contexts and structures through very expository preliminary sections.