Analytic Number Theory: Lectures given at the C.I.M.E. Summer School held in Cetraro, Italy, July 11-18, 2002

The four papers collected in this book discuss advanced results in analytic number theory, including recent achievements of sieve theory leading to asymptotic formulae for the number of primes represented by suitable polynomials; counting integer solutions to Diophantine equations, using results from algebraic geometry and the geometry of numbers; the theory of Siegel's zeros and of exceptional characters of L-functions; and an up-to-date survey of the axiomatic theory of L-functions introduced by Selberg.