Semiclassical analysis provides PDE techniques based on the classical-quantum (particle-wave) correspondence. These techniques include such well-known tools as geometric optics and the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation. Examples of problems studied in this subject are high energy eigenvalue asymptotics and effective dynamics for solutions of evolution equations. From the mathematical point of view, semiclassical analysis is a branch of microlocal analysis which, broadly speaking, applies harmonic analysis and symplectic geometry to the study of linear and nonlinear PDE. The book is intended to be a graduate level text introducing readers to semiclassical and microlocal methods in PDE. It is augmented in later chapters with many specialized advanced topics which provide a link to current research literature.

Maciej Zworski is Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.