Higher Homotopy Structures in Topology and Mathematical Physics

Since the work of Stasheff and Sugawara in the 1960s on recognition of loop space structures on $H$-spaces, the notion of higher homotopies has grown to be a fundamental organizing principle in homotopy theory, differential graded homological algebra and even mathematical physics. This book presents the proceedings from a conference held on the occasion of Stasheff's 60th birthday at Vassar in June 1996. It offers a collection of very high quality papers and includes some fundamental essays on topics that open new areas. Features: Accessible to a broad audience interested in mathematics and physics. Offers a comprehensive overview of Stasheff's work. Contains papers on very current research topics, including operads, combinatorial polyhedra, and moduli spaces.