Editorial introduction - LIBERTAS MATHEMATICA (new series)

Libertas Mathematica (new series) Volume 32(2012), No. 1, 1-3

Editorial introduction Vasile Staicu In the late seventies, for various reasons often mixed with politics, several Romanian scientists, and mathematicians in particular, defected to Western Europe, the USA, or Canada, hoping to continue their research there in freedom and at the highest level. Prof. Corduneanu had the beautiful idea to create a new mathematics journal, in which mathematicians of Romanian descent were invited to publish their research papers. Moreover, the newly created journal featured in every issue an updated list of mathematicians and computer scientists of Romanian extraction residing outside Romania, in addition to reviews of recent mathematics publications and notices concerning the ever increasing community of Romanian mathematicians from abroad. The journal, appropriately named Libertas Mathematica, has been published at the University of Texas at Arlington by the American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences (ARA). ARA is an internationally recognized academic research and educational institution, founded in California by a group of American-Romanians. The first issue was published in the summer of 1981, and Prof. Corduneanu found the strength and resources to issue the journal ever since. This enterprise helped many mathematicians of the Romanian diaspora to better integrate into the global mathematical community. I wish to express my deep gratitude to Prof. Corduneanu for his work in this direction. Answering Prof. Corduneanu’s call to relaunch Libertas Mathematica in a broader international context, I am pleased to introduce Libertas Mathematica (new series), a mathematics journal that aims to provide a forum for the publication of research papers of pure and applied mathematics, and a dissemination medium for new ideas and developments that originate in, or are of interest to the world’s mathematical community. Although times have changed, we decided to keep the name Libertas Mathematica for the journal. This is because, first of all, we want to preserve the community of mathematicians who during the past thirty-one years have been interested in the journal, either as contributors of research papers or simply as readers. Secondly, because the old beautiful title alludes to political freedom, which is always threatened somewhere in the world, and also to the boundless freedom of mathematical thinking. 1

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Vasile Staicu

Libertas Mathematica (new series) has a prestigious international editorial board, which covers a broad spectrum of mathematical areas, and features research papers of the highest quality in all areas of pure and applied mathematics. To be published, a research paper must be correct, new, and significant, as deemed through a rigorous and consistent peer review process. Further, it must be well written and of interest to a substantial number of mathematicians. We address the invitation to submit high quality papers to Libertas Mathematica (new series) not only to mathematicians born in Romania but to researchers of the international mathematical community. The language of the journal is English. Apart from research papers, the journal will have a Miscellanea section, with notices from and of interest to the mathematical community, including book reviews, published only by invitation. One volume of Libertas Mathematica (new series), with two issues, will appear every year, in printed and electronic form. The first issue of every volume will appear in June and the second in November of each year. As an exception, the two issues of the first volume of the new series (vol. 32 overall) will come together by the end of the year. Occasionally, a special issue will be devoted to a survey of the state of the art in some specific area of mathematics where fundamental progress has occurred. Other issues will celebrate the scientific contributions of eminent mathematicians, either of Romanian origin or perceived as having strong ties to the Romanian school of mathematics. Starting from the List of mathematicians and computer scientists of Romanian extraction residing outside Romania, which will appear only on the website of the journal (at http://www.lm-ns.org), we intend to further improve this list by using a wiki websystem. We thus aim to create the Libertas Mathematica Community, where those interested will have the possibility to interact with colleagues that nurture similar research interests. This inaugural volume includes eleven research papers, distributed in the two issues on the date of acceptance criterion. I would like to thank all contributors for setting a high standard, which we aim to preserve from now on. For the Miscellanea section of this inaugural issue, Professor Corduneanu accepted to write a short history of (the thirty-one years of) Libertas Mathematica. This article is followed by the note Henri Cartan, Libertas Mathematica and Romanian mathematicians, which contains a letter from the renowned French mathematician about the publication of the first volume of Libertas Mathematica, together with some photos and comments related to his visit in Romania and the talk he delivered on that occasion. Finally, we include a brief introduction of the editorial board, which features the fields of interest of each member.

Editorial introduction

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During the process of preparing the launching of Libertas Mathematica (new series), I had exchanges with many colleagues and friends, in addition to Professor Corduneanu. To all of them, my heartfelt thanks for their support. Special thanks also go to the coordinator and to the designers from Image Office (GIF) of Jo˜ ao Jacinto Magalh˜ aes foundation for their help in preparing the cover of Libertas Mathematica (new series), especially to Filipa Gomes who designed it. Many thanks also go to Eug´enio M. Rocha for having designed and implemented the website of the journal (at http://www.lm-ns.org) and the submission and review system (at http://system.lm-ns.org) and for assisting us to exploit both of them. Last but not least, I gratefully acknowledge Professor Manuel Antonio Cot˜ao de Assun¸c˜ao, the Rector of the University of Aveiro, for approving the financial support necessary for the printing of this inaugural volume, despite the financial crisis we are facing, and to the rectory staff for the kind cooperation.

Vasile Staicu - Editor-in-Chief Libertas Mathematica (new series) Department of Mathematics University of Aveiro 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal Tel: +351 234370679 Fax:+351 234370066 E-mail: [email protected]