In this paper, we establish a universal volume comparison theorem for Finsler manifolds and give the Berger-Kazdan inequality and Santaló's formula in Finsler geometry. Being based on these, we derive a Berger-Kazdan type comparison theorem and a Croke type isoperimetric inequality for Finsler manifolds.

We classify all genuine unitary representations of the metaplectic group whose infinitesimal character is real and at least as regular as that of the oscillator representation. In a previous paper we exhibited a certain family of representations satisfying these conditions, obtained by cohomological induction from the tensor product of a one-dimensional representation and an oscillator representation. Our main theorem asserts that this family exhausts the genuine omega-regular unitary dual of the metaplectic group.

A borderline case function $f$ for $ Q_{\alpha}({\mathbb R^n})$ spaces is defined as a Haar wavelet decomposition, with the coefficients depending on a fixed parameter $\beta>0$. On its support $I_0=[0, 1]^n$, $f(x)$ can be expressed by the binary expansions of the coordinates of $x$. In particular, $f=f_{\beta}\in Q_{\alpha}({\mathbb R^n})$ if and only if $\alpha<\beta<\frac{n}{2}$, while for $\beta=\alpha$, it was shown by Yue and Dafni that $f$ satisfies a John--Nirenberg inequality for $ Q_{\alpha}({\mathbb R^n})$. When $\beta\neq 1$, $f$ is a self-affine function. It is continuous almost everywhere and discontinuous at all dyadic points inside $I_0$. In addition, it is not monotone along any coordinate direction in any small cube. When the parameter $\beta\in (0, 1)$, $f$ is onto from $I_0$ to $[-\frac{1}{1-2^{-\beta}}, \frac{1}{1-2^{-\beta}}]$, and the graph of $f$ has a non-integer fractal dimension $n+1-\beta$.

For a positive finite measure $d\mu(\mathbf{u})$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$ normalized to satisfy $\int_{\mathbb{R}^d}d\mu(\mathbf{u})=1$, the dilated average of $f( \mathbf{x})$ is given by \[ A_tf(\mathbf{x})=\int_{\mathbb{R}^d}f(\mathbf{x}-t\mathbf{u})d\mu(\mathbf{u}). \] It will be shown that under some mild assumptions on $d\mu(\mathbf{u})$ one has the equivalence \[ \|A_tf-f\|_B\approx \inf \{ (\|f-g\|_B+t^2 \|P(D)g\|_B): P(D)g\in B\}\quad\text{for }t>0, \] where $\varphi(t)\approx \psi(t)$ means $c^{-1}\le\varphi(t)/\psi(t)\le c$, $B$ is a Banach space of functions for which translations are continuous isometries and $P(D)$ is an elliptic differential operator induced by $\mu$. Many applications are given, notable among which is the averaging operator with $d\mu(\mathbf{u})= \frac{1}{m(S)}\chi_S(\mathbf{u})d\mathbf{u}$, where $S$ is a bounded convex set in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with an interior point, $m(S)$ is the Lebesgue measure of $S$, and $\chi_S(\mathbf{u})$ is the characteristic function of $S$. The rate of approximation by averages on the boundary of a convex set under more restrictive conditions is also shown to be equivalent to an appropriate $K$-functional.

A set of necessary and sufficient conditions for the Brascamp--Lieb inequality to hold has recently been found by Bennett, Carbery, Christ, and Tao. We present an analysis of these conditions. This analysis allows us to give a concise description of the set where the inequality holds in the case where each of the linear maps involved has co-rank $1$. This complements the result of Barthe concerning the case where the linear maps all have rank $1$. Pushing our analysis further, we describe the case where the maps have either rank $1$ or rank $2$. A separate but related problem is to give a list of the finite number of conditions necessary and sufficient for the Brascamp--Lieb inequality to hold. We present an algorithm which generates such a list.

Let $\mathbb G$ be a step-two nilpotent group of H-type with Lie algebra $\mathfrak G=V\oplus \mathfrak t$. We define a class of vector fields $X=\{X_j\}$ on $\mathbb G$ depending on a real parameter $k\ge 1$, and we consider the corresponding $p$-Laplacian operator $L_{p,k} u= \operatorname{div}_X (|\nabla_{X} u|^{p-2} \nabla_X u)$. For $k=1$ the vector fields $X=\{X_j\}$ are the left invariant vector fields corresponding to an orthonormal basis of $V$; for $\mathbb G$ being the Heisenberg group the vector fields are the Greiner fields. In this paper we obtain the fundamental solution for the operator $L_{p,k}$ and as an application, we get a Hardy type inequality associated with $X$.

A homogeneous real polynomial $p$ is {\em hyperbolic} with respect to a given vector $d$ if the univariate polynomial $t \mapsto p(x-td)$ has all real roots for all vectors $x$. Motivated by partial differential equations, G{\aa}rding proved in 1951 that the largest such root is a convex function of $x$, and showed various ways of constructing new hyperbolic polynomials. We present a powerful new such construction, and use it to generalize G{\aa}rding's result to arbitrary symmetric functions of the roots. Many classical and recent inequalities follow easily. We develop various convex-analytic tools for such symmetric functions, of interest in interior-point methods for optimization problems over related cones.

We consider a class of fractal subsets of $\R^d$ formed in a manner analogous to the construction of the Sierpinski carpet. We prove a uniform Harnack inequality for positive harmonic functions; study the heat equation, and obtain upper and lower bounds on the heat kernel which are, up to constants, the best possible; construct a locally isotropic diffusion $X$ and determine its basic properties; and extend some classical Sobolev and Poincar\'e inequalities to this setting.

In this article, we derive a Brunn-Minkowski type theorem for sets bearing some relation to the causal structure on the Minkowski spacetime $\mathbb{L}^{n+1}$. We also present an isoperimetric inequality in the Minkowski spacetime $\mathbb{L}^{n+1}$ as a consequence of this Brunn-Minkowski type theorem.

This paper considers the rational system ${\cal P}_n (a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n):= \bigl\{ {P(x) \over \prod_{k=1}^n (x-a_k)}, P\in {\cal P}_n\bigr\}$ with nonreal elements in $\{a_k\}_{k=1}^{n}\subset\Bbb{C}\setminus [-1,1]$ paired by complex conjugation. It gives a sharp (to constant) Markov-type inequality for real rational functions in ${\cal P}_n (a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n)$. The corresponding Markov-type inequality for high derivatives is established, as well as Nikolskii-type inequalities. Some sharp Markov- and Bernstein-type inequalities with curved majorants for rational functions in ${\cal P}_n(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_n)$ are obtained, which generalize some results for the classical polynomials. A sharp Schur-type inequality is also proved and plays a key role in the proofs of our main results.