Einstein structures: Existence versus uniqueness

Two well-known questions in differential geometry are “Does every compact manifold of dimension greater than four admit an Einstein metric?” and “Does an Einstein metric of a negative scalar curvature exist on a sphere?” We demonstrate that these questions are related: For everyn≥5 the existence of metrics for which the deviation from being Einstein is arbitrarily small on every compact manifold of dimensionn (or even on every smooth homology sphere of dimensionn) implies the existence of metrics of negative Ricci curvature on the sphereS ⁿ for which the deviation from being Einstein is arbitrarily small. Furthermore, assuming either a version of the Palais-Smale condition or the plausible looking existence of an algorithm deciding when a given metric on a compact manifold is close to an Einstein metric, we show for anyn≥5 that: 1) If everyn-dimensional smooth homology sphere admits an Einstein metric thenS ⁿ admits infinitely many Einstein structures of volume one and of negative scalar curvature; 2) If every compactn-dimensional manifold admits an Einstein metric then every compactn-dimensional manifold admits infinitely many distinct Einstein structures of volume one and of negative scalar curvature.     

Detecting codimension one manifold factors with 0-stitched disks

The 0-stitched disks property is introduced and shown to detect codimension one manifold factors of dimension n?4. It is shown that if a space X is an ANR and has the 0-stitched disks property, then X has the disjoint homotopies property. It follows that if a space X is a resolvable generalized manifold of dimension n?4 with the 0-stitched disks property, then X is a codimension one manifold factor. Whether or not the 0-stitched disks property is equivalent to the disjoint homotopies property remains an open question.     

Dynamical borel-cantelli lemma for hyperbolic spaces

We prove that almost every (resp. almost no) geodesic rays in a finite volume hyperbolic manifold of real dimensionn intersects for arbitrary large timest a decreasing family of balls of radiusr _t, provided the integral ∫ ₀ ^∞ r _t ⁿ −1 dt diverges (resp. converges).     

Low dimensional actions of semisimple groups

For a simple non-compact Lie groupG with finite center we determine the smallest integern(G) such thatG has an almost effective action on a compact manifold of dimensionn(G) and characterize the compact manifolds of dimensionn(G) on whichG acts. We study actions of a semisimple groupG on compact manifolds of dimensionn(G)+1 and determine the orbit structure of the action ofG and its maximal compact subgroup. We give several examples to illustrate the results. This work was supported by an NSF postdoctoral Research Fellowship. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Metrics with harmonic spinors

We show that every closed spin manifold of dimensionn 3 mod 4 with a fixed spin structure can be given a Riemannian metric with harmonic spinors, i.e. the corresponding Dirac operator has a non-trivial kernel (Theorem A). To prove this we first compute the Dirac spectrum of the Berger spheresS ⁿ ,n odd (Theorem 3.1). The second main ingredient is Theorem B which states that the Dirac spectrum of a connected sumM ₁#M ₂ with certain metrics is close to the union of the spectra ofM ₁ and ofM ₂.Partially supported by SFB 256 and by the GADGET program of the EU     

On Analytic Interpolation Manifolds in Boundaries of Weakly Pseudoconvex Domains

Let Ω be a bounded, weakly pseudoconvex domain in C ⁿ , n ≤ 2, with real-analytic boundary. A real-analytic submanifold M ? ?Ω is called an analytic interpolation manifold if every real-analytic function on M extends to a function belonging to (Ω¯). We provide sufficient conditions for M to be an analytic interpolation manifold. We give examples showing that neither of these conditions can be relaxed, as well as examples of analytic interpolation manifolds lying entirely within the set of weakly pseudoconvex points of ?Ω.     

Affine immersion ofn-dimensional manifold intoR n+n(n+1)/2 and affine minimality

We formulate an affine theory of immersions of ann-dimensional manifold into the Euclidean space of dimensionn+n(n+1)/2 and give a characterization of critical immersions relative to the induced volume functional in terms of the affine shape operator.     

A cellation of the Grassmann manifold

Motivated by the computation of equilibria in economic models with incomplete asset markets, a cellation of the Grassmann manifold is constructed by restricting a common atlas. The Grassmann manifold ofm-planes inn-dimensional space is shown to be a union ofn choosem congruentm(n−m)-dimensional topological disks whose interiors are disjoint.     

Boundaries of right-angled Coxeter groups with manifold nerves

All abstract reflection groups act geometrically on non-positively curved geodesic spaces. Their natural space at infinity, consisting of (bifurcating) infinite geodesic rays emanating from a fixed base point, is called a boundary of the group.We will present a condition on right-angled Coxeter groups under which they have topologically homogeneous boundaries. The condition is that they have a nerve which is a connected closed orientable PL manifold.In the event that the group is generated by the reflections of one of Davis’ exotic open contractible n-manifolds (n?4), the group will have a boundary which is a homogeneous cohomology manifold. This group boundary can then be used to equivariantly Z-compactify the Davis manifold.If the compactified manifold is doubled along the group boundary, one obtains a sphere if n?5. The system of reflections extends naturally to this sphere and can be augmented by a reflection whose fixed point set is the group boundary. It will be shown that the fixed point set of each extended original reflection on the thus formed sphere is a tame codimension-one sphere.     

Generalized voronoi diagrams for moving a ladder. I: Topological analysis

Given a bounded open subset Ω of the plane whose boundary is the union of finitely many polygons, and a real number d > 0, a manifold FP (the [free placements]) may be defined as the set of placements of a closed oriented line-segment B (a [ladder]) of length d inside Ω. FP is a three-dimensional manifold. A [Voronoi complex] in this manifold, a two-dimensional cell complex, is defined by analogy with the classical geometric construction in the plane; within this complex a one-dimensional subcomplex N, called the skeleton, is defined. It is shown that every component of FP contains a unique component of N, and canonical motions are given to move the ladder to placements within N. In this way, general motion planning is reduced to searching in a suitable representation of N as a (combinatorial) graph. Efficient construction of N is described in a companion paper.     

Weak-heap sort

A data structure called aweak-heap is defined by relaxing the requirements for a heap. The structure can be implemented on a 1-dimensional array with one extra bit per data item and can be initialized withn items using exactlyn–1 data element compares. Theoretical analysis and empirical results indicate that it is a competitive structure for sorting. The worst case number of data element comparisons is strictly less than (n–1) logn+0.086013n and the expected number is conjectured to be approximately (n–0.5)logn–0.413n.     

The Geometry of the First Non-zero Stekloff Eigenvalue

Let (Mⁿ, g) be a compact Riemannian manifold with boundary and dimensionn2. In this paper we discuss the first non-zero eigenvalue problem \begin{align}\Delta\varphi & = & 0\qquad & on\quad M,\\ \frac{\partial\varphi}{\partial \eta} & = & \ u_1\varphi\qquad & on\quad\partial M.\end{align}\eqno (1) Problem (1) is known as the Stekloff problem because it was introduced by him in 1902, for bounded domains of the plane. We discuss estimates of the eigenvalueν₁in terms of the geometry of the manifold (Mⁿ, g). In the two-dimensional case we generalize Payne's Theorem [P] for bounded domains in the plane to non-negative curvature manifolds. In this case we show thatν₁k₀, wherek_gk₀andk_grepresents the geodesic curvature of the boundary. In higher dimensionsn3 for non-negative Ricci curvature manifolds we show thatν₁>k₀/2, wherek₀is a lower bound for any eigenvalue of the second fundamental form of the boundary. We introduce an isoperimetric constant and prove a Cheeger's type inequality for the Stekloff eigenvalue.     

The Forest Hiding Problem

Let Ω be a disk of radius R in the plane. A set F of unit disks contained in Ω forms a maximal packing if the unit disks are pairwise interior-disjoint and the set is maximal, i.e., it is not possible to add another disk to F while maintaining the packing property. A point p is hidden within the “forest” defined by F if any ray with apex p intersects some disk of F, that is, a person standing at p can hide without being seen from outside the forest. We show that if the radius R of Ω is large enough, one can find a hidden point for any maximal packing of unit disks in Ω. This proves a conjecture of Joseph Mitchell. We also present an O(n ^5/2log n)-time algorithm that, given a forest with n (not necessarily congruent) disks, computes the boundary illumination map of all disks in the forest.     

Translating Solutions of the Nonparametric Mean Curvature Flow with Nonzero Neumann Boundary Data in Product Manifold Mn × R*

In this paper, the authors can prove the existence of translating solutions to the nonparametric mean curvature flow with nonzero Neumann boundary data in a prescribed product manifold Mⁿ × R, where Mⁿ is an n-dimensional (n ≥ 2) complete Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature, and R is the Euclidean 1-space.     

Cohomology of open torus manifolds

The notion of an open torus manifold is introduced. A compact open torus manifold is a torus manifold introduced earlier. It is shown that the equivariant cohomology ring of an open torus manifold M is the face ring of a simplicial poset when every face of the orbit space Q is acyclic. This result extends an earlier result by Masuda and Panov, and the proof here is more direct. Reisner’s theorem is then applied to our setting, and a necessary and sufficient condition is given for the equivariant cohomology ring of M to be Cohen-Macaulay in terms of the orbit space Q.     

Arrangements of oriented hyperplanes

An arrangement ofn oriented hyperplanes or half-spaces dividesE ^d into a certain number of convex cells. We study the numberc _k of cells which are covered by exactlyk half-spaces and derive an upper bound onc _k for givenn andd.     

Density results relative to the Dirichlet energy of mappings into a manifold

Let ?? be a smooth, compact, oriented Riemannian manifold without boundary. Weak limits of graphs of smooth maps u_k:Bⁿ → ?? with an equibounded Dirichlet integral give rise to elements of the space cart^2,1 (Bⁿ × ??). Assume that ?? is 1‐connected and that its 2‐homology group has no torsion. In any dimension n we prove that every element T in cart^2,1 (Bⁿ × ??) with no singular vertical part can be approximated weakly in the sense of currents by a sequence of graphs of smooth maps u_k:Bⁿ → ?? with Dirichlet energies converging to the energy of T. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

On exactlym times covers

In this paper it is shown that if every integer is covered bya ₁+n ₁ℤ,…,a _k +n _k ℤ exactlym times then for eachn=1,…,m there exist at least ( _n ^m ) subsetsI of {1,…k} such that ∑ _{i ∈ I} 1/n _i equalsn. The bound ( _n ^m ) is best possible. Research supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of P.R. of China.     

Finite groups and hyperbolic manifolds

The isometry group of a compact n-dimensional hyperbolic manifold is known to be finite. We show that for every n≥2, every finite group is realized as the full isometry group of some compact hyperbolic n-manifold. The cases n=2 and n=3 have been proven by Greenberg (1974) and Kojima (1988), respectively. Our proof is non constructive: it uses counting results from subgroup growth theory to show that such manifolds exist.     

Cycle Covers of Planar 2-Edge-Connected Graphs

A graph with n vertices is said to have a small cycle cover provided its edges can be covered with at most (2n ? 1)/3 cycles. Bondy [2] has conjectured that every 2-connected graph has a small cycle cover. In [3] Lai and Lai prove Bondy’s conjecture for plane triangulations. In [1] the author extends this result to all planar 3-connected graphs, by proving that they can be covered by at most (n + 1)/2 cycles. In this paper we show that Bondy’s conjecture holds for all planar 2-connected graphs. We also show that all planar 2-edge-connected graphs can be covered by at most (3n ? 3)/4 cycles and we show an infinite family of graphs for which this bound is attained.