The papers collected in this volume are contributions to the 43rd session of the
Seminaire de math ´ ematiques sup ´ erieures (SMS) on “Morse Theoretic Methods ´
in Nonlinear Analysis and Symplectic Topology.” This session took place at the
Universite de Montr ´ eal in July 2004 and was a NATO Advanced Study Institute ´
(ASI).
The aim of the ASI was to bring together young researchers from various parts
of the world and to present to them some of the most significant recent advances
in these areas. More than 77 mathematicians from 17 countries followed the 12
series of lectures and participated in the lively exchange of ideas.
The lectures covered an ample spectrum of subjects which are reflected
in the present volume: Morse theory and related techniques in infinite dimensional
spaces, Floer theory and its recent extensions and generalizations, Morse
and Floer theory in relation to string topology, generating functions, structure
of the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms and related dynamical problems,
applications to robotics and many others.