Mathematics Past and Present: Fourier Integral Operators

What is the true mark of inspiration? Ideally it may mean the originality, freshness and enthusiasm of a new breakthrough in mathematical thought. The reader will feel this inspiration in all four seminal papers by Duistermaat, Guillemin and Hörmander presented here for the first time ever in one volume. However, as time goes by, the price researchers have to pay is to sacrifice simplicity for the sake of a higher degree of abstraction. Thus the original idea will only be a foundation on which more and more abstract theories are being built. It is the unique feature of this book to combine the basic motivations and ideas of the early sources with knowledgeable and lucid expositions on the present state of Fourier Integral Operators, thus bridging the gap between the past and present. A handy and useful introduction that will serve novices in this field and working mathematicians equally well.