Related papers: The Newlander-Nirenberg theorem for complex $b$-ma…

We develop the concept of integral Menger curvature for a large class of nonsmooth surfaces. We prove uniform Ahlfors regularity and a $C^{1,\lambda}$-a-priori bound for surfaces for which this functional is finite. In fact, it turns out…

We provide a framework for the study of structured manifolds with singularities and their locally determined invariants. This generalizes factorization homology, or topological chiral homology, to the setting of singular manifolds equipped…

This text is meant to be a brief overview of the topics announced in the title and is based on my talk in Vienna (August/September 2007). It does not contain new results (except probably for a remark concerning Q-manifold homology, which I…

Nirenberg and Spencer posed the question whether the germ of a compact complex submanifold in a complex manifold is determined by its infinitesimal neighborhood of finite order when the normal bundle is sufficiently positive. To study the…

The seminal theorem of I.J. Schoenberg characterizes positive definite (p.d.) kernels on the unit sphere $S^{n-1}$ invariant under the automorphisms of the sphere. We obtain two generalizations of this theorem for p.d. kernels on fiber…

Let ($M$, $\Omega$) be a smooth symplectic manifold and $f:M\rightarrow M$ be a symplectic diffeomorphism of class $C^l$ ($l\geq 3$). Let $N$ be a compact submanifold of $M$ which is boundaryless and normally hyperbolic for $f$. We suppose…

We study orbifolds of two-dimensional topological field theories using defects. If the TFT arises as the twist of a superconformal field theory, we recover results on the Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond sectors of the orbifold theory as well as…

The generalized Morita-Miller-Mumford classes of a smooth oriented manifold bundle are defined as the image of the characteristic classes of the vertical tangent bundle under the Gysin homomorphism. We show that if the dimension of the…

1) In 1976, looking at simple finite-dimensional complex Lie superalgebras, J.~Bernstein and I, and independently M.~Duflo, observed that certain divergence-free vectorial Lie superalgebras have deformations with odd parameters and…

In a previous work, the authors introduced the notion of `coherent tangent bundle', which is useful for giving a treatment of singularities of smooth maps without ambient spaces. Two different types of Gauss-Bonnet formulas on coherent…

Three-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories are constructed by compactifying M5-branes on three-manifolds. In the infrared the branes recombine, and the physics is captured by a single M5-brane on a branched cover of the original…

We continue our study of ends non-compact manifolds. The over-arching aim is to provide an appropriate generalization of Siebenmann's famous collaring theorem that applies to manifolds having non-stable fundamental group systems at…

In this paper, we are concerned with studying the existence of invariant complex manifolds of two-dimensional holomorphic systems. From the geometric singular perturbation theory we know that if a slow-fast system has associated a normally…

For a compact spinc manifold $X$ with boundary $b_1(\partial X)=0$, we consider moduli spaces of solutions to the Seiberg-Witten equations in a generalized double Coulomb slice in $L^2_1$ (i.e., $W^{1,2}$) Sobolev regularity. We prove they…

Real blow-up, including inhomogeneous versions, of boundary faces of a manifold (with corners) is an important tool for resolving singularities, degeneracies and competing notions of homogeneity. These constructions are shown to be…

Let A be a commutative ring, B a commutative A-algebra and M a complex of B-modules. We begin by constructing the square Sq_{B/A} M, which is also a complex of B-modules. The squaring operation is a quadratic functor, and its construction…

We construct a simple topological invariant of certain 3-manifolds, including quotients of the 3-sphere by finite groups, based on the fact that the tangent bundle of an orientable 3-manifold is trivialisable. This invariant is strong…

We identify a deformation of the N=2 supersymmetric sigma model on a Calabi-Yau manifold X which has the same effect on B-branes as a noncommutative deformation of X. We show that for hyperkahler X such deformations allow one to interpolate…

The twisted Alexander polynomials of a space, associated to a linear representation $\sigma$ of the fundamental group, are non-abelian refinements of the classical Alexander polynomial from knot theory. In this paper, we show that they…

We say that a Riemannian manifold M has rank at least k if every geodesic in M admits at least k parallel Jacobi fields. The Rank Rigidity Theorem of Ballmann and Burns-Spatzier, later generalized by Eberlein-Heber, states that a complete,…