Néron models were invented by A. Néron in the early 1960s in order to
study the integral structure of abelian varieties over number fields.
Since then, arithmeticians and algebraic geometers have applied the
theory of Néron models with great success. Quite recently, new
developments in arithmetic algebraic geometry have prompted a desire to
understand more about Néron models, and even to go back to the basics of
their construction. The authors have taken this as their incentive to
present a comprehensive treatment of Néron models. This volume of the
renowned "Ergebnisse" series provides a detailed demonstration of the
construction of Néron models from the point of view of Grothendieck's
algebraic geometry. In the second part of the book the relationship
between Néron models and the relative Picard functor in the case of
Jacobian varieties is explained. The authors helpfully remind the reader
of some important standard techniques of algebraic geometry. A special
chapter surveys the theory of the Picard functor.