A comparison of deformations and geometric study of varieties of associative algebras. (Q925368)

In this paper, the author compares different deformation theories of algebraic structures. He first considers Gerstenhaber's formal deformation theory for rings and algebras, which uses formal power series and links the theory of deformations to Hochschild cohomology. He then looks at a noncommutative version, where the parameter no longer commutes with the elements of the original algebra, which was introduced by Pinczon and generalized by Nadaud. Finally, he considers global deformation theory which was introduced by Fialowski, following Schlessinger, for Lie algebras. After comparing these different deformation theories, the author describes the connection between degenerations and deformations and studies rigidity.