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A natural explicit condition is given ensuring that an action of the multiplicative monoid of non-negative reals on a manifold F comes from homotheties of a vector bundle structure on F, or, equivalently, from an Euler vector field. This is…
Let $X$ be a smooth quasi-projective algebraic surface and let $\Delta_n$ the big diagonal in the product variety $X^n$. We study cohomological properties of the ideal sheaves $\mathcal{I}^k_{\Delta_n}$ and their invariants…
In the open problem of classification of rational cuspidal plane curves it is essential to find good necessary conditions on the type of singularities of a curve C in order C to exit. Motivated by the study of the Seiberg-Witten invariant…
We construct infinite rank summands isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^\infty$ in the higher homotopy and homology groups of the diffeomorphism groups of certain $4$-manifolds. These spherical families become trivial in the homotopy and homology…
When two smooth manifold bundles over the same base are fiberwise tangentially homeomorphic, the difference is measured by a homology class in the total space of the bundle. We call this the relative smooth structure class. Rationally and…
Seiberg-Witten geometry of mass deformed $\mathcal N=2$ superconformal ADE quiver gauge theories in four dimensions is determined. We solve the limit shape equations derived from the gauge theory and identify the space $\mathfrak M$ of…
Using the symplectic geometry of certain manifolds which appear naturally in Lie theory, we define an invariant which assigns a graded abelian group to an oriented link. The relevant manifolds are transverse slices to certain nilpotent…
This paper unites the gauge-theoretic and hyperbolic-geometric perspectives on the asymptotic geometry of the character variety of SL(2,C) representations of a surface group. Specifically, we find an asymptotic correspondence between the…
We investigate the symplectic geometric and differential geometric aspects of the moduli space of connections on a compact Riemann surface $X$. Fix a theta characteristic $K^{1/2}_X$ on $X$; it defines a theta divisor on the moduli space…
A conic bundle is a contraction $X\to Z$ between normal varieties of relative dimension $1$ such that $-K_X$ is relatively ample. We prove a conjecture of Shokurov which predicts that, if $X\to Z$ is a conic bundle such that $X$ has…
The main goal of this article is to construct some geometric invariants for the topology of the set $\mathcal{F}$ of flat connections on a principal $G$-bundle $P\,\longrightarrow\, M$. Although the characteristic classes of principal…
There exists on each Teichm\"uller space $T_g$ (comprising compact Riemann surfaces of genus $g$), a natural sequence of determinant (of cohomology) line bundles, $DET_n$, related to each other via certain ``Mumford isomorphisms''. There is…
A theorem of Mumford states that, on complex surfaces, any normal isolated singularity whose link is diffeomorphic to a sphere is actually a smooth point. While this property fails in higher dimensions, McLean asks whether the contact…
We develop the theory of Chern-Simons bundle 2-gerbes and multiplicative bundle gerbes associated to any principal $G$-bundle with connection and a class in $H^4(BG, \ZZ)$ for a compact semi-simple Lie group $G$. The Chern-Simons bundle…
For a smooth compact submanifold $K$ of a Riemannian manifold $Q$, its unit conormal bundle $\Lambda_K$ is a Legendrian submanifold of the unit cotangent bundle of $Q$ with a canonical contact structure. Using pseudo-holomorphic curve…
This is the third installment in our series of articles (dg-ga/9712005, dg-ga/9710032) on the application of the PU(2) monopole equations to prove Witten's conjecture (hep-th/9411102) concerning the relation between the Donaldson and…
The Seiberg-Witten family of elliptic curves defines a Jacobian rational elliptic surface $\Z$ over $\mathbb{C}\mathrm{P}^1$. We show that for the $\bar{\partial}$-operator along the fiber the logarithm of the regularized determinant $-1/2…
The Hermitian symmetric space $M=\mathrm{EIII}$ appears in the classification of complete simply connected Riemannian manifolds carrying a parallel even Clifford structure. This means the existence of a real oriented Euclidean vector bundle…
We study symplectic varieties defined over fields of positive characteristics, especially the supersingular ones, generalizing the theory of supersingular K3 surfaces. In this work, we are mainly interested in the following two types of…
It is known that the fundamental group homomorphism $\pi_1(T^2) \to \pi_1(S^3\setminus K)$ induced by the inclusion of the boundary torus into the complement of a knot $K$ in $S^3$ is a complete knot invariant. Many classical invariants of…