Estimates of holomorphic functions in zero-free domains

We study functions f(z) holomorphic in having the property f(z) ≠ 0 for 0 < Im z < 1 and we obtain lower bounds for |f(z)| for 0 < Im z < 1. In our analysis we deal with scalar functions f(z) as well as with operator valued holomorphic functions I + A(z) assuming that A(z) is a trace class operator for and I + A(z) is invertible for 0 < Im z < 1 and is unitary for . A. Borichev was partially supported by the ANR project DYNOP.     

Invariants of knot diagrams

We construct a new order 1 invariant for knot diagrams. We use it to determine the minimal number of Reidemeister moves needed to pass between certain pairs of knot diagrams. J. Hass was partially supported by an NSF grant.     

Local embeddability of CR manifolds into spheres

In this paper we solve local CR embeddability problem of smooth CR manifolds into spheres under a certain nondegeneracy condition on the Chern–Moser’s curvature tensor. We state necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of CR embeddings as finite number of equations and rank conditions on the Chern–Moser’s curvature tensors and their derivatives. We also discuss the rigidity of those embeddings. J.-W. Oh was partially supported by BK21-Yonsei University.     

Covering spheres of Banach spaces by balls

If the unit sphere of a Banach space X can be covered by countably many balls no one of which contains the origin, then, as an easy consequence of the separation theorem, X* is w*-separable. We prove the converse under suitable renorming. Moreover, the balls of the countable covering can be chosen as translates of the same ball. Research of V. P. Fonf was supported in part by Israel Science Foundation, Grant # 139/02 and by the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica of Italy. Research of C. Zanco was supported in part by the Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica of Italy and by the Center for Advanced Studies in Mathematics at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.     

Fixed point indices and periodic points of holomorphic mappings

Let Δ ⁿ be the ball |x| <  1 in the complex vector space , let be a holomorphic mapping and let M be a positive integer. Assume that the origin is an isolated fixed point of both f and the Mth iteration f ^M of f. Then for each factor m of M, the origin is again an isolated fixed point of f ^m and the fixed point index of f ^m at the origin is well defined, and so is the (local) Dold’s index [Invent. Math. 74(3), 419–435 (1983)] at the origin:

Fibred multilinks and singularities $${f \overline g}$$

In this article we extend Milnor’s fibration theorem to the case of functions of the form with f, g holomorphic, defined on a complex analytic (possibly singular) germ (X, 0). We further refine this fibration theorem by looking not only at the link of , but also at its multi-link structure, which is more subtle. We mostly focus on the case when X has complex dimension two. Our main result (Theorem 4.4) gives in this case the equivalence of the following three statements:

The reflexivity of a Segre product of projective varieties

We study the reflexivity of a Segre product of a projective space and a projective variety Y, and give a criterion for to be reflexive in terms of m, the dimension of Y, the rank of the general Hessian of Y and the characteristic of the ground field. Our study is closely related to a question raised by Kleiman and Piene on the relationship between the conormal map and the Gauss map.     

Separate holomorphic extension of CR functions

We consider a real analytic foliation of by complex analytic manifolds of dimension m issued transversally from a CR generic submanifold of codimension m. We prove that a continuous CR function f on M which has separate holomorphic extension along each leaf, is holomorphic. When the leaves are cartesian straight planes, separate holomorphic extension along suitable selections of these planes suffices and f turns out to be holomorphic in a neighbourhood of their union. If M is a hypersurface we can also specify the side of the extension, regardless the leaves are straight or not.     

Boundary structure of hyperbolic 3-manifolds admitting toroidal fillings at large distance

We show that if a hyperbolic 3-manifold M has two toroidal Dehn fillings with distance at least 3, then ∂M consists of at most three tori. As a result, we can obtain an optimal estimate for the number of exceptional slopes on hyperbolic 3-manifolds with boundary a union of at least 4 tori. S. Lee was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2007-314-C00024). M. Teragaito was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 19540089.     

Constant mean curvature spheres in Riemannian manifolds

We prove the existence of embedded spheres with large constant mean curvature in any compact Riemannian manifold (M, g). This result partially generalizes a result of R. Ye which handles the case where the scalar curvature function of the ambient manifold (M, g) has non-degenerate critical points.     

On connectedness of sets in the real spectra of polynomial rings

Let R be a real closed field. The Pierce–Birkhoff conjecture says that any piecewise polynomial function f on R ⁿ can be obtained from the polynomial ring R[x ₁,..., x _n ] by iterating the operations of maximum and minimum. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we state a new conjecture, called the Connectedness conjecture, which asserts, for every pair of points , the existence of connected sets in the real spectrum of R[x ₁,..., x _n ], satisfying certain conditions. We prove that the Connectedness conjecture implies the Pierce–Birkhoff conjecture. Secondly, we construct a class of connected sets in the real spectrum which, though not in itself enough for the proof of the Pierce–Birkhoff conjecture, is the first and simplest example of the sort of connected sets we really need, and which constitutes the first step in our program for a proof of the Pierce–Birkhoff conjecture in dimension greater than 2. Thirdly, we apply these ideas to give two proofs that the Connectedness conjecture (and hence also the Pierce–Birkhoff conjecture in the abstract formulation) holds locally at any pair of points , one of which is monomial. One of the proofs is elementary while the other consists in deducing this result as an immediate corollary of the main connectedness theorem of this paper.     

The mapping class group and the Meyer function for plane curves

For each d ≥ 2, the mapping class group for plane curves of degree d will be defined and it is proved that there exists uniquely the Meyer function on this group. In the case of d = 4, using our Meyer function, we can define the local signature for four-dimensional fiber spaces whose general fibers are non-hyperelliptic compact Riemann surfaces of genus 3. Some computations of our local signature will be given.     

Rational surfaces in algebraic models of smooth manifolds

Every compact smooth manifold M is diffeomorphic to a nonsingular real algebraic set, called an algebraic model of M. We study modulo 2 homology classes represented by rational algebraic surfaces in X, as X runs through the class of all algebraic models of M. Received: 16 June 2007     

Cartan decomposition of the moment map

We investigate a class of actions of real Lie groups on complex spaces. Using moment map techniques we establish the existence of a quotient and a version of Luna’s slice theorem as well as a version of the Hilbert–Mumford criterion. A global slice theorem is proved for proper actions. We give new proofs of results of Mostow on decompositions of groups and homogeneous spaces.First author partially supported by the Sonderforschungsbereich SFB/TR12 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the DFG Schwerpunk program Globale Methoden in der komplexen Geometrie.Second author partially supported by NSA grant H98230–04–01–0070.     

On the Schwarz reflection principle for monogenic functions

Let ∑ be either an oriented hyperplane or the unit sphere in , let be open and connected and let be an open and connected domain in such that . If in is a null solution of the Dirac operator (also called a monogenic function in ) which is continuously extendable to , then conditions upon are given enabling the monogenic extension of across . In such a way Schwarz reflection type principles for monogenic functions are established in the Spin (1) and Spin cases. The Spin (1) case includes the classical Schwarz reflection principle for holomorphic functions in the plane. The Spin case deals with so-called “half boundary value problems” for the Dirac operator. Received: 2 February 2006     

Bi-Lipschitz geometry of weighted homogeneous surface singularities

We show that a weighted homogeneous complex surface singularity is metrically conical (i.e., bi-Lipschitz equivalent to a metric cone) only if its two lowest weights are equal. We also give an example of a pair of weighted homogeneous complex surface singularities that are topologically equivalent but not bi-Lipschitz equivalent. L. Birbrair was supported under CNPq grant no. 300985/93-2. A. Fernandes was supported under CNPq grant no. 300393/2005-9. W. D. Neumann was supported under NSA grant H98230-06-1-011 and NSF grant no. DMS-0206464.     

The period map for cubic fourfolds

The period map for cubic fourfolds takes values in a locally symmetric variety of orthogonal type of dimension 20. We determine the image of this period map (thus confirming a conjecture of Hassett) and give at the same time a new proof of the theorem of Voisin that asserts that this period map is an open embedding. An algebraic version of our main result is an identification of the algebra of SL (6,ℂ)-invariant polynomials on the representation space Sym ³(ℂ⁶)^* with a certain algebra of meromorphic automorphic forms on a symmetric domain of orthogonal type of dimension 20. We also describe the stratification of the moduli space of semistable cubic fourfolds in terms of a Vinberg-Dynkin diagram.     

Bounds and monotonicity for the generalized Robin problem

We consider the principal eigenvalue λ ₁^Ω(α) corresponding to Δu = λ (α) u in on ∂Ω, with α a fixed real, and a C ^0,1 bounded domain. If α > 0 and small, we derive bounds for λ ₁^Ω(α) in terms of a Stekloff-type eigenvalue; while for α > 0 large we study the behavior of its growth in terms of maximum curvature. We analyze how domain monotonicity of the principal eigenvalue depends on the geometry of the domain, and prove that domains which exhibit domain monotonicity for every α are calibrable. We conjecture that a domain has the domain monotonicity property for some α if and only if it is calibrable. Robert Smits: This author was partially supported by a grant of the National Security Agency, grant #H98230-05-1-0060.     

Minoration conforme du spectre du laplacien de Hodge-de Rham

Let M ⁿ be an n-dimensional compact manifold, with n ≥ 3. For any conformal class C of riemannian metrics on M, we set , where μ _p,k (M,g) is the kth eigenvalue of the Hodge laplacian acting on coexact p-forms. We prove that . We also prove that if g is a smooth metric such that , and n = 0,2,3 mod 4, then there is a non-zero corresponding eigenform of degree with constant length. As a corollary, on a four-manifold with non vanishing Euler characteristic, there is no such smooth extremal metric.     

Simplicity of principal eigenvalue for p-Laplace operator with singular indefinite weight

Given a connected open set and a function w ∈L^N/p(Ω) if 1 < p < N and w ∈L^r (Ω) for some r ∈(1, ∞) if p ≧ N, with we prove that the positive principal eigenvalue of the problem