The concept of symmetric space is of central importance in many branches of
mathematics. Compactifications of these spaces have been studied from the points
of view of representation theory, geometry, and random walks. This work is
devoted to the study of the interrelationships among these various
compactifications and, in particular, focuses on the martin compactifications.
It is the first exposition to treat compactifications of symmetric spaces
systematically and to uniformized the various points of view.
Key features:
* definition and detailed analysis of the Martin compactifications
* new geometric Compactification, defined in terms of the Tits building, that
coincides with the Martin Compactification at the bottom