Painlevé transcendents and topological field theory

The Centre de recherches mathCmatiques (CRM) was created in 1968 by the Universite de Montreal to promote research in the mathematical sci- ences. It is now a national institute that hosts several groups, holds special theme years, summer schools, workshops, postdoctoral program. The focus of its scientific activities ranges from pure to applied mathematics, and includes satistics, theoretical computer science, mathematical methods in biology and life sciences, and mathematical and theoretical physics. The CRM also promotes collaboration between mathematicians and industry. It is subsidized by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Fonds FCAR od the Province of Quebec, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and has private endowments. Current ac- tivities, fellowships, and annual reports can be found on the CRM web page at http://www . CRM. UMontreal. CAl. The CRM Series in Mathematical Physics will publish monographs, lec- ture notes, and proceedings base on research pursued and events held at the Centre de recherches mathematiques. Yvan Saint-Aubin Montreal Preface The subject of this three-week school was the explicit integration, that is, analytical as opposed to numerical, of all kinds of nonlinear differential equations (ordinary differential, partial differential, finite difference). The result of such integration is ideally the "general solution," but there are numerous physical systems for which only a particular solution is accessible, for instance the solitary wave of the equation of Kuramoto and Sivashinsky in turbulence.