Spectral theory is an important part of functional analysis.It has numerous appli cations in many parts of mathematics and physics including matrix theory, func tion theory, complex analysis, differential and integral equations, control theory and quantum physics. In recent years, spectral theory has witnessed an explosive development. There are many types of spectra, both for one or several commuting operators, with important applications, for example the approximate point spectrum, Taylor spectrum, local spectrum, essential spectrum, etc. The present monograph is an attempt to organize the available material most of which exists only in the form of research papers scattered throughout the literature. The aim is to present a survey of results concerning various types of spectra in a unified, axiomatic way. The central unifying notion is that of a regularity, which in a Banach algebra is a subset of elements that are considered to be "nice". A regularity R in a Banach algebra A defines the corresponding spectrum aR(a) = {A E C : a - ,\ rJ. R} in the same way as the ordinary spectrum is defined by means of invertible elements, a(a) = {A E C : a - ,\ rJ. Inv(A)}. Axioms of a regularity are chosen in such a way that there are many natural interesting classes satisfying them. At the same time they are strong enough for non-trivial consequences, for example the spectral mapping theorem.weiterlesen