This book describes the interaction between several key aspects of Galois theory based on Iwasawa theory, fundamental groups and automorphic forms. These ideas encompass a large portion of mainstream number theory and ramifications that are of interest to graduate students and researchers in number theory, algebraic geometry, topology and physics.

Displays the intricate interplay between different foundations of non-commutative number theory.

Iwasawa theory began in the late 1950s with a series of papers by Kenkichi Iwasawa on ideal class groups in the cyclotomic tower of number fields and their relation to $p$-adic $L$-functions. The theory was later generalized by putting it in the context of elliptic curves and modular forms. The main motivation for writing this book was the need for a total perspective of Iwasawa theory that includes the new trends of generalized Iwasawa theory. Another motivation of this book is an update of the classical theory for class groups taking into account the changed point of view on Iwasawa theory. The goal of this first part of the two-part publication is to explain the theory of ideal class groups, including its algebraic aspect (the Iwasawa class number formula), its analytic aspect (Leopoldt–Kubota $L$-functions), and the Iwasawa main conjecture, which is a bridge between the algebraic and the analytic aspects. The second part of the book will be published as a separate volume in the same series, Mathematical Surveys and Monographs of the American Mathematical Society.

Iwasawa theory began in the late 1950s with a series of papers by Kenkichi Iwasawa on ideal class groups in the cyclotomic tower of number fields and their relation to $p$-adic $L$-functions. The theory was later generalized by putting it in the context of elliptic curves and modular forms. The main motivation for writing this book was the need for a total perspective of Iwasawa theory that includes the new trends of generalized Iwasawa theory. Another motivation is to update the classical theory for class groups, taking into account the changed point of view on Iwasawa theory. The goal of this second part of the three-part publication is to explain various aspects of the cyclotomic Iwasawa theory of $p$-adic Galois representations.

Celebrating one of the leading figures in contemporary number theory – John H. Coates – on the occasion of his 70th birthday, this collection of contributions covers a range of topics in number theory, concentrating on the arithmetic of elliptic curves, modular forms, and Galois representations. Several of the contributions in this volume were presented at the conference Elliptic Curves, Modular Forms and Iwasawa Theory, held in honour of the 70th birthday of John Coates in Cambridge, March 25-27, 2015. The main unifying theme is Iwasawa theory, a field that John Coates himself has done much to create. This collection is indispensable reading for researchers in Iwasawa theory, and is interesting and valuable for those in many related fields.