$n$-Valued Groups, Kronecker Sums, and Wendt Matrices
Talk, 5th Conference of Mathematical Centers of Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
In 1971, V.,M. Buchstaber and S.,P. Novikov proposed a construction motivated by the theory of characteristic classes. This construction describes a multiplication in which the product of any pair of elements is a multiset of $n$ points. The axiomatic definition of $n$-valued groups and the first results of their algebraic theory were obtained in a subsequent series of works by V.,M. Buchstaber. At present, the theory of $n$-valued (formal, finite, discrete, topological, and algebro-geometric) groups and its applications in various areas of mathematics and mathematical physics is being developed by a number of authors.