This is the second revised and extended edition of the successful book on the algebraic structure of the Stone-Čech compactification of a discrete semigroup and its combinatorial applications, primarily in the field known as Ramsey Theory. There has been very active research in the subject dealt with by the book in the 12 years which is now included in this edition. This book is a self-contained exposition of the theory of compact right semigroups for discrete semigroups and the algebraic properties of these objects. The methods applied in the book constitute a mosaic of infinite combinatorics, algebra, and topology. The reader will find numerous combinatorial applications of the theory, including the central sets theorem, partition regularity of matrices, multidimensional Ramsey theory, and many more. |