Galois theory of differential equations, algebraic groups and Lie algebras (Q1974709)

The author provides a nice exposition of the Galois theory of linear differential equations, including full proofs. The connection with algebraic groups and their Lie algebras is given. As an application the inverse problem of differential Galois theory is discussed. There are many exercises in the text. The aim of this paper is to provide several things: (1) A quick and elementary introduction to differential Galois theory. (2) The relations between differential equations and algebraic Lie algebras. (3) Complete proofs for the differential Galois theory. (4) An introduction to the inverse problem and, in particular, a sketch of the solution of this problem by \textit{M. F. Singer} and \textit{C. Mitschi} [Proc. Workshop, Groningen 1995, Singapore World Scientific, 185-196 (1996; Zbl 0858.12003)]. (5) A collection of exercises for topics (1), (2) and (4). As a consequence the level of exposition varies considerably. In particular, some proofs and the Appendix require more mathematical background than the main body of the text. The reader is advised to study the paper without paying too much attention to those technical details. This gives sufficient information to complete the exercises. In the Appendix, the link between the Tannakian approach and Picard-Vessiot theory is given.