Related papers: The Smale conjecture and min-max theory

Given a Riemannian $\mathbb{RP}^3$ with a bumpy metric or a metric of positive Ricci curvature, we show that there either exist four distinct minimal real projective planes, or exist one minimal real projective plane together with two…

The original Smale Conjecture asserted that the inclusion of the group O(4) of isometries of the round 3-sphere S into the full diffeomorphism group Diff(S) is a homotopy equivalence. The (Generalized) Smale Conjecture asserts that the…

We show that the space of metrics of positive scalar curvature on any 3-manifold is either empty or contractible. Second, we show that the diffeomorphism group of every 3-dimensional spherical space form deformation retracts to its isometry…

We complete the proof of the Generalized Smale Conjecture, apart from the case of $RP^3$, and give a new proof of Gabai's theorem for hyperbolic 3-manifolds. We use an approach based on Ricci flow through singularities, which applies…

The elliptic 3-manifolds are the closed 3-manifolds that admit a Riemannian metric of constant positive curvature, that is, those that have finite fundamental group. The (Generalized) Smale Conjecture asserts that for any elliptic…

In this article, we recapture the Smale conjecture on a Sasakian $3$-sphere via the Legendrian mean curvature flow. More precisely,~we deform the area-preserving contactomorphism (symplectomorphism) of Sasakian $3$-spheres to an isometry…

We prove that in the three dimensional sphere with a bumpy metric or a metric with positive Ricci curvature, there exist at least four distinct embedded minimal two-spheres. This confirms a conjecture of S. T. Yau in 1982 for bumpy metrics…

The Generalized Smale Conjecture asserts that if M is a closed 3-manifold with constant positive curvature, then the inclusion of the group of isometries into the group of diffeomorphisms is a homotopy equivalence. For the 3-sphere, this…

We present a proof of Milnor conjecture in dimension 3 based on Cheeger-Colding theory on limit spaces of manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded below. It is different from [Liu] that relies on minimal surface theory.

In this paper, we give the full proof of a conjecture of R.Hamilton that for $(M^3, g)$ being a complete Riemannian 3-manifold with bounded curvature and with the Ricci pinching condition $Rc\geq \ep R g$, where $R>0$ is the positive scalar…

In 1965, T. J. Willmore conjectured that the integral of the square of the mean curvature of a torus immersed in Euclidean three-space is at least 2\pi^2. We prove this conjecture using the min-max theory of minimal surfaces.

We present a proof of the generalized Nitsche's conjecture proposed by W.H.Meeks III and H. Rosenberg: For $t\ge 0$, let $P_t$ denote the horizontal plane of height $t$ over the $x_1,x_2$ plane. Suppose that $M \subset R^3$ is a minimal…

In the early 1980s, S. T. Yau conjectured that any compact Riemannian three-manifold admits an infinite number of closed immersed minimal surfaces. We use min-max theory for the area functional to prove this conjecture in the positive Ricci…

In this paper we prove that the generalized version of the Minimal Resolution Conjecture stated by Mustata holds for certain general sets of points on a smooth cubic surface $X \subset \mathbb{P}^3$. The main tool used is Gorenstein liaison…

I will talk about my recent work with Fernando Marques where we used Almgren-Pitts Min-max Theory to settle some open questions in Geometry: The Willmore conjecture, the Freedman-He-Wang conjecture for links (jointly with Ian Agol), and the…

Certain six-dimensional (1,0) supersymmetric little string theories, when compactified on $T^3$, have moduli spaces of vacua given by smooth K3 surfaces. Using ideas of Gaiotto-Moore-Neitzke, we show that this provides a systematic…

In 1989, B. White conjectured that every Riemannian 3-sphere has at least 5 embedded minimal tori. We confirm this conjecture for 3-spheres of positive Ricci curvature. While our proof uses min-max theory, the underlying heuristics are…

The aim of this paper is to give a proof the Frankel conjecture by using the Kahler Ricci flow alone without assuming apriori the existence of Kahler Einstein metrics. However, there is an essential difference between the real case and the…

We prove an enumerative min-max theorem that relates the number of genus g minimal surfaces in 3-manifolds of positive Ricci curvature to topological properties of the set of embedded surfaces of genus $\leq g$, possibly with finitely many…

We develop an equivariant min-max theory as proposed by Pitts-Rubinstein in 1988 and then show that it can produce many of the known minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{S}^3$ up to genus and symmetry group. We also produce several new infinite…