Related papers: Flat bundles and commutator lengths

An $(\alpha,\beta)$-spanner of an $n$-vertex graph $G=(V,E)$ is a subgraph $H$ of $G$ satisfying that $dist(u, v, H) \leq \alpha \cdot dist(u, v, G)+\beta$ for every pair $(u, v)\in V \times V$, where $dist(u,v,G')$ denotes the distance…

Recently the Euler forms on numerical Grothendieck groups of rank 4 whose properties mimick that of the Euler form of a smooth projective surface have been classified. This classification depends on a natural number $m$, and suggests the…

Let $S$ be a surface with $p_g(S)=0$, $q(S)=1$ and endowed with a very ample line bundle $\mathcal O_S(h)$ such that $h^1\big(S,\mathcal O_S(h)\big)=0$. We show that such an $S$ supports families of dimension $p$ of pairwise non-isomorphic,…

This article deals with two topics: the first, which has a general character, is a variation formula for the the determinant line bundle in non-K\"ahlerian geometry. This formula, which is a consequence of the non-K\"ahlerian version of the…

We prove under the Bombieri-Lang conjecture for surfaces that there is an absolute bound on the length of sequences of integer squares with constant second differences, for sequences which are not formed by the squares of integers in…

We prove a surface embedding theorem for 4-manifolds with good fundamental group in the presence of dual spheres, with no restriction on the normal bundles. The new obstruction is a Kervaire-Milnor invariant for surfaces and we give a…

Generalising work of La Bret\`eche, Browning and Peyre and of the author, we describe the geometry required by Manin's principle and Peyre's conjecture for a family of conic bundle surfaces containing Ch\^atelet surfaces. These surfaces…

We study the Morse theory of the Yang-Mills-Higgs functional on the space of pairs $(A,\Phi)$, where $A$ is a unitary connection on a rank 2 hermitian vector bundle over a compact Riemann surface, and $\Phi$ is a holomorphic section of $(E,…

For a line bundle L on a smooth surface S, it is now known that the degree of the Severi variety of cogenus-d curves is given by a universal polynomial in the Chern classes of L and S if L is d-very ample. For S rational, we relax the…

This paper contains a purely topological theorem and a geometric application. The topological theorem states that if M is a simple closed orientable 3-manifold such that \pi_1(M) contains a genus g surface group and H_1(M;Z/2Z) has rank at…

Let M be a surface with conical singularities, and consider a degenerating family of surfaces obtained from M by removing disks of smaller and smaller radius around a subset of the conical singularities. Such families arise naturally in the…

Let G be a simple Lie group of real rank one, and S the ideal boundary of the corresponding symmetric space of noncompact type (H^n_R, H^n_C, H^n_H or H^2_O). We show the finiteness of the possible values of the secondary characteristic…

Let LG be an algebraic loop group associated to a reductive group G. A fundamental stratum is a triple consisting of a point x in the Bruhat-Tits building of LG, a nonnegative real number r, and a character of the corresponding depth r…

Generalizing our ideas in [arXiv:1006.3313], we explain how topologically-twisted N=2 gauge theory on a four-manifold with boundary, will allow us to furnish purely physical proofs of (i) the Atiyah-Floer conjecture, (ii) Munoz's theorem…

The Kauffman bracket skein module $K(M)$ of a $3$-manifold $M$ is the quotient of the $\mathbb{Q}(A)$-vector space spanned by isotopy classes of links in $M$ by the Kauffman relations. A conjecture of Witten states that if $M$ is closed…

A degree $d$ genus $g$ cover of the complex projective line by a smooth irreducible curve $C$ yields a vector bundle on the projective line by pushforward of the structure sheaf. We classify the bundles that arise this way when $d = 5$.…

We prove that if $X$ is a complex projective K3 surface and $g>0$, then there exist infinitely many families of curves of geometric genus $g$ on $X$ with maximal, i.e., $g$-dimensional, variation in moduli. In particular every K3 surface…

The convexity theorem of Atiyah and Guillemin-Sternberg says that any connected compact manifold with Hamiltonian torus action has a moment map whose image is the convex hull of the image of the fixed point set. Sjamaar-Lerman proved that…

We introduce a general strategy for proving quantitative and uniform bounds on the number of common points of height zero for a pair of inequivalent height functions on $\mathbb{P}^1(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}).$ We apply this strategy to prove…

We investigate the existence of 4-torsion in the integral cohomology of oriented Grassmannians. We prove a general criterion for the appearance of 4-torsion classes based on (twisted) Steenrod squares and show that there are many cases…