Publisher's Synopsis
This book contains Vassilyev's new definition of higher-dimensional classes analogous to the Maslov class using catastrophe theory. Opening with an introduction to symplectic and contact geometry, it goes on to describe the method used - the construction of a cochain complex generated by elements of the Thom-Arnol'd list of catastrophes, and shows how the designed characteristic classes correspond to the cohomology of this complex. This book should interest specialists in mathematical catastrophe theory, algebraic and differential topology, and geometrical and wave optics.
