Related papers: An $HP^2$-bundle over $S^4$ with nontrivial $\hat{…
We construct smooth bundles with base and fiber products of two spheres whose total spaces have non-vanishing $\hat{A}$-genus. We then use these bundles to locate non-trivial rational homotopy groups of spaces of Riemannian metrics with…
The moduli space of stable vector bundles on a Riemann surface is smooth when the rank and degree are coprime, and is diffeomorphic to the space of unitary connections of central constant curvature. A classic result of Newstead and…
We prove that a circle bundle over a closed oriented aspherical manifold with hyperbolic fundamental group admits a self-map of absolute degree greater than one if and only if it is virtually trivial. This generalizes in every dimension the…
We develop a general theory for irreducible homogeneous spaces $M= G/H$, in relation to the nullity $\nu$ of their curvature tensor. We construct natural invariant (different and increasing) distributions associated with the nullity, that…
We study the topology of the space of positive scalar curvature metrics on high dimensional spheres and other spin manifolds. Our main result provides elements of infinite order in higher homotopy and homology groups of these spaces, which,…
We prove that every locally conformally flat metric on a closed, oriented hyperbolic 4-manifold with scalar curvature bounded below by -12 satisfies Schoen's conjecture. We also classify all closed Riemannian 4-manifolds of positive scalar…
In this note, we answer positively a question by Belegradek and Kapovitch about the relation between rational homotopy theory and a problem in Riemannian geometry which asks that total spaces of which vector bundles over compact nonnegative…
We construct examples of flat fiber bundles over the Hopf surface such that the total spaces have no pseudoconvex neighborhood basis, admit a complete K\"ahler metric, or are hyperconvex but have no nonconstant holomorphic functions. For…
In this note we show that every (real or complex) vector bundle over a compact rank one symmetric space carries, after taking the Whitney sum with a trivial bundle of sufficiently large rank, a metric with nonnegative sectional curvature.…
Let $G/H$ be a closed, simply connected homogeneous manifold. Suppose every stable class of real vector bundles over $G/H$ contains a homogeneous bundle. Then, for any closed, simply connected smooth manifold $M$ homotopy equivalent to…
For a simple, simply connected, complex group G, we prove the existence of a flat projective connection on the bundle of nonabelian theta functions on the moduli space of semistable parabolic G-bundles over families of smooth projective…
Let $M$ be a closed 4-manifold with $\pi_2(M)\cong{Z}$. Then $M$ is homotopy equivalent to either $CP^2$, or the total space of an orbifold bundle with general fibre $S^2$ over a 2-orbifold $B$, or the total space of an $RP^2$-bundle over…
Let $M$ be a simply connected spin manifold of dimension at least six which admits a metric of positive scalar curvature. We show that the observer moduli space of positive scalar curvature metrics on $M$ has non-trivial higher homotopy…
We define Hitchin's moduli space for a principal bundle $P$, whose structure group is a compact semisimple Lie group $K$, over a compact non-orientable Riemannian manifold $M$. We use the Donaldson-Corlette correspondence, which identifies…
We describe a construction of Riemannian metrics of nonnegative sectional curvature on a closed smooth nonorientable 4-manifold with fundamental group of order two that realizes a homotopy class that was not previously known to contain…
We construct examples of $S^1$-manifolds with finite second homotopy group and non-vanishing $\hat A$-genus. This is related to the classification of positive quaternionic Kaehler manifolds.
We prove that for many degrees in a stable range the homotopy groups of the moduli space of metrics of positive scalar curvature on S^n and on other manifolds are non-trivial. This is achieved by further developing and then applying a…
A reductive homogeneous space $G/H$ is always diffeomorphic to the normal bundle of an orbit of a maximal compact subgroup of $G$. We prove that if $G/H$ admits compact quotients, then the sphere bundle associated to this normal bundle is…
We present a survey on the moduli spaces of rank 2 quadric bundles over a compact Riemann surface X. These are objects which generalise orthogonal bundles and which naturally occur through the study of the connected components of the moduli…
We use an index-theoretic technique of Hitchin to show that the space of complete Riemannian metrics of nonnegative sectional curvature on certain open spin manifolds has nontrivial homotopy groups in infinitely many degrees. A new…