Related papers: Morse functions on the moduli space of $G_2$ struc…

This paper is concerned with the geometry of the moduli space $\mathscr{M}$ of torsion-free $G_2$-structures on a compact $G_2$-manifold $M$, equipped with the volume-normalised $L^2$-metric $\mathscr{G}$. When $b^1(M) = 0$, this metric is…

Given a Morse function on a manifold whose moduli spaces of gradient flow lines for each action window are compact up to breaking one gets a bidirect system of chain complexes. There are different possibilities to take limits of such a…

Let G be a torus of dimension n > 1 and M a compact Hamiltonian G-manifold with $M^G$ finite. A circle, $S^1$, in G is generic if $M^G = M^{S^1}$. For such a circle the moment map associated with its action on M is a perfect Morse function.…

Using pluricomplex Green functions we introduce a compactification of a complex manifold $M$ invariant with respect to biholomorphisms similar to the Martin compactification in the potential theory. For this we show the existence of a…

Let $M$ be a closed connected smooth manifold and $G=\textmd{Diff}_0(M)$ denote the connected component of the diffeomorphism group of $M$ containing the identity. The natural action of $G$ on $M$ induces the trace homomorphism on homology.…

Let $T$ be a torus of dimension $n>1$ and $M$ a compact $T-$manifold. $M$ is a GKM manifold if the set of zero dimensional orbits in the orbit space $M/T$ is zero dimensional and the set of one dimensional orbits in $M/T$ is one…

It was proven by Hitchin that any solution of his evolution equations for a half-flat SU(3)-structure on a compact six-manifold M defines an extension of M to a seven-manifold with holonomy in G_2. We give a new proof, which does not…

A smooth curve $\gamma: [0,1] \to S^2$ is locally convex if its geodesic curvature is positive at every point. J. A. Little showed that the space of all locally positive curves $\gamma$ with $\gamma(0) = \gamma(1) = e_1$ and $\gamma'(0) =…

The shape of homogeneous, generic, smooth convex bodies as described by the Euclidean distance with nondegenerate critical points, measured from the center of mass represents a rather restricted class M_C of Morse-Smale functions on S^2.…

We identify the smooth metrics $\mc{M}(M)$ on a manifold $M^n$ with the smooth isometric embeddings $f_g: (M,g) \rightarrow (\mb{S}^{\tn}, \tg)$ into a standard sphere of large dimension $\tn=\tn(n)$, and their Palais isotopic deformations,…

We prove that any smooth harmonic map from $S^3$ into $S^2$ of Morse index less or equal than $4$ has to be an harmonic morphism, that is the successive composition of an isometry of $S^3$, the Hopf fibration and an holomorphic map from…

Let $X$ be a compact Riemann surface of genus $g \geq 2$ and $D\subset X$ be a fixed finite subset. Let $\xi$ be a line bundle of degree $d$ over $X$. Let $\mathcal{M}(\alpha, r, \xi)$ (respectively, $\mathcal{M}_{\mathrm{conn}}(\alpha, r,…

This is a slightly altered version of the authors thesis from 2014. In the first main part we show that the quotient space of a compact, simply connected and nonnegatively curved Riemannian 4-manifold by an effective, isometric…

We define a notion of Morse function and establish Morse theory-like theorems over offsets of any compact set in a Euclidean space at regular values of their distance function. Using non-smooth analysis and tools from geometric measure…

We show that if $M$ is any closed, orientable hyperbolic $3$-manifold with ${\rm vol}\ M\le3.69$, we have ${\rm dim}\ H_1(M;{\bf F}_2)\le7$. This may be regarded as a qualitative improvement of a result due to Culler and Shalen, because the…

We develop a theory of Morse homology and cohomology with coefficients in a derived local system, for manifolds and also more generally for colimits of spaces that have the homotopy type of manifolds, with a view towards Floer theory. The…

Given a $G$-toric, folded-symplectic manifold with co-orientable folding hypersurface, we show that its orbit space is naturally a manifold with corners $W$ equipped with a smooth map $\psi: W \to \frak{g}^*$, where $\frak{g}^*$ is the dual…

Using the L^2 norm of the Higgs field as a Morse function, we study the moduli spaces of U(p,q)-Higgs bundles over a Riemann surface. We require that the genus of the surface be at least two, but place no constraints on (p,q). A key step is…

On a closed connected oriented manifold $M$ we study the space $\mathcal{M}_\|(M)$ of all Riemannian metrics which admit a non-zero parallel spinor on the universal covering. Such metrics are Ricci-flat, and all known Ricci-flat metrics are…

Let G be a compact Lie group. By work of Chataur and Menichi, the homology of the space of free loops in the classifying space of G is known to be the value on the circle in a homological conformal field theory. This means in particular…