Hyperbolic 3-manifolds, the Bloch group, and the work of Walter Neumann

Abstract

This is an article about the work of Walter Neumann on hyperbolic geometry, ideal triangulations of 3-manifolds, the volume and Chern-Simons invariants of 3-manifolds and their elements of the the Bloch group. The article focuses on the relations of these classical invariants and the impact of Neumann's work to quantum topology and to mathematical physics.