25 Years of Schur Analysis in Leipzig

Abstract

The “25Years of Schur Analysis in Leipzig” workshopwas held from September 29 to October 1 of 2009 in honour of the 25-year anniversary of Schur Analysis in Leipzig. The journal “Complex Analysis and Operator Theory” is celebrating this anniversary with this special issue on Schur Analysis. This brief introduction to the special issue is based, in large part, on the second author’s opening words to the workshop, with which he aimed to provide an overview of the turning points and topics most important to the evolution of Schur Analysis in Leipzig. Schur Analysis’ development and success in Leipzig stands as one of Bernd Fritzsche and Bernd Kirstein’s proudest achievements. This success was only made possible by the support and the cooperation of their longstanding colleagues from the former Soviet Union; foremost among them D. Z. Arov, V. E. Katsnelson and V. K. Dubovoj. The history of Schur Analysis in Leipzig is best told from the beginning. Its origins as a major field of research at the University of Leipzig go back to 1984; the year after B. Fritzsche and B. Kirstein successfully defended their thesis. Their thesis defense took place in December 1983. In their thesis, they focused on various aspects of the theory of multidimensional weakly stationary sequences. At this time, both B. Fritzsche and B. Kirstein were members of a work group, mainly concerned with applying mathematical methods to problems in microelectronics. B. Fritzsche and B. Kirstein were both, in particular, occupied with problems in best linear predictions. Now beginning their postdoctoralresearch and building on their previous