We give a complete classification of umbilical submanifolds of arbitrary dimension and codimension of $\mathbb{S}^n\times \mathbb{R}$, extending the classification of umbilical surfaces in $\mathbb{S}^2\times \mathbb{R}$ by Souam and Toubiana as well as the local description of umbilical hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{S}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ by Van der Veken and Vrancken. We prove that, besides small spheres in a slice, up to isometries of the ambient space they come in a two-parameter family of rotational submanifolds whose substantial codimension is either one or two and whose profile is a curve in a totally geodesic $\mathbb{S}^1\times \mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{S}^2\times \mathbb{R}$, respectively, the former case arising in a one-parameter family. All of them are diffeomorphic to a sphere, except for a single element that is diffeomorphic to Euclidean space. We obtain explicit parametrizations of all such submanifolds. We also study more general classes of submanifolds of $\mathbb{S}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{H}^n\times \mathbb{R}$. In particular, we give a complete description of all submanifolds in those product spaces for which the tangent component of a unit vector field spanning the factor $\mathbb{R}$ is an eigenvector of all shape operators. We show that surfaces with parallel mean curvature vector in $\mathbb{S}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{H}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ having this property are rotational surfaces, and use this fact to improve some recent results by Alencar, do Carmo, and Tribuzy. We also obtain a Dajczer-type reduction of codimension theorem for submanifolds of $\mathbb{S}^n\times \mathbb{R}$ and $\mathbb{H}^n\times \mathbb{R}$.

Sur une surface de Riemann, l'énergie d'une application à valeurs dans une variété riemannienne est une fonctionnelle invariante conforme, ses points critiques sont les applications harmoniques. Nous proposons ici un analogue en dimension supérieure, en construisant une fonctionnelle invariante conforme pour les applications entre deux variétés riemanniennes, dont la variété de départ est de dimension $n$ paire. Ses points critiques satisfont une EDP elliptique d'ordre $n$ non-linéaire qui est covariante conforme par rapport à la variété de départ, on les appelle les applications conforme-harmoniques. Dans le cas des fonctions, on retrouve l'opérateur GJMS, dont le terme principal est une puissance $n/2$ du laplacien. Quand $n$ est impaire, les mêmes idées permettent de montrer que le terme constant dans le développement asymptotique de l'énergie d'une application asymptotiquement harmonique sur une variété AHE est indépendant du choix du représentant de l'infini conforme.

We define partial differential (PD in the following), i.e., field theoretic analogues of Hamiltonian systems on abstract symplectic manifolds and study their main properties, namely, PD Hamilton equations, PD Noether theorem, PD Poisson bracket, etc.. Unlike in standard multisymplectic approach to Hamiltonian field theory, in our formalism, the geometric structure (kinematics) and the dynamical information on the ``phase space'' appear as just different components of one single geometric object.

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.

The squared distance curvature is a kind of two-point curvature the sign of which turned out crucial for the smoothness of optimal transportation maps on Riemannian manifolds. Positivity properties of that new curvature have been established recently for all the simply connected compact rank one symmetric spaces, except the Cayley plane. Direct proofs were given for the sphere, an indirect one via the Hopf fibrations) for the complex and quaternionic projective spaces. Here, we present a direct proof of a property implying all the preceding ones, valid on every positively curved Riemannian locally symmetric space.

In this paper we give an explicit formula for the flag curvature of homogeneous Randers spaces of Douglas type and apply this formula to obtain some interesting results. We first deduce an explicit formula for the flag curvature of an arbitrary left invariant Randers metric on a two-step nilpotent Lie group. Then we obtain a classification of negatively curved homogeneous Randers spaces of Douglas type. This results, in particular, in many examples of homogeneous non-Riemannian Finsler spaces with negative flag curvature. Finally, we prove a rigidity result that a homogeneous Randers space of Berwald type whose flag curvature is everywhere nonzero must be Riemannian.

We study the geometry of non-reductive $4$-dimensional homogeneous spaces. In particular, after describing their Levi-Civita connection and curvature properties, we classify homogeneous Ricci solitons on these spaces, proving the existence of shrinking, expanding and steady examples. For all the non-trivial examples we find, the Ricci operator is diagonalizable.

We consider the Randers space $(V^n,F_b)$ obtained by perturbing the Euclidean metric by a translation, $F_b=\alpha+\beta$, where $\alpha$ is the Euclidean metric and $\beta$ is a $1$-form with norm $b$, $0\leq b\lt 1$. We introduce the concept of a hypersurface with constant mean curvature in the direction of a unitary normal vector field. We obtain the ordinary differential equation that characterizes the rotational surfaces $(V^3,F_b)$ of constant mean curvature (cmc) in the direction of a unitary normal vector field. These equations reduce to the classical equation of the rotational cmc surfaces in Euclidean space, when $b=0$. It also reduces to the equation that characterizes the minimal rotational surfaces in $(V^3,F_b)$ when $H=0$, obtained by M. Souza and K. Tenenblat. Although the differential equation depends on the choice of the normal direction, we show that both equations determine the same rotational surface, up to a reflection. We also show that the round cylinders are cmc surfaces in the direction of the unitary normal field. They are generated by the constant solution of the differential equation. By considering the equation as a nonlinear dynamical system, we provide a qualitative analysis, for $0\lt b\lt \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3}$. Using the concept of stability and considering the linearization around the single equilibrium point (the constant solution), we verify that the solutions are locally asymptotically stable spirals. This is proved by constructing a Lyapunov function for the dynamical system and by determining the basin of stability of the equilibrium point. The surfaces of rotation generated by such solutions tend asymptotically to one end of the cylinder.

Perelman established a differential Li--Yau--Hamilton (LYH) type inequality for fundamental solutions of the conjugate heat equation corresponding to the Ricci flow on compact manifolds. As an application of the LYH inequality, Perelman proved a pseudolocality result for the Ricci flow on compact manifolds. In this article we provide the details for the proofs of these results in the case of a complete noncompact Riemannian manifold. Using these results we prove that under certain conditions, a finite time singularity of the Ricci flow must form within a compact set. The conditions are satisfied by asymptotically flat manifolds. We also prove a long time existence result for the K\"ahler--Ricci flow on complete nonnegatively curved K\"ahler manifolds.

Let $L$ be an oriented Lagrangian submanifold in an $n$-dimensional Kähler manifold~$M$. Let $u \colon D \to M$ be a minimal immersion from a disk $D$ with $u(\partial D) \subset L$ such that $u(D)$ meets $L$ orthogonally along $u(\partial D)$. Then the real dimension of the space of admissible holomorphic variations is at least $n+\mu(E,F)$, where $\mu(E,F)$ is a boundary Maslov index; the minimal disk is holomorphic if there exist $n$ admissible holomorphic variations that are linearly independent over $\mathbb{R}$ at some point $p \in \partial D$; if $M = \mathbb{C}P^n$ and $u$ intersects $L$ positively, then $u$ is holomorphic if it is stable, and its Morse index is at least $n+\mu(E,F)$ if $u$ is unstable.

{Correspondence} between torsion-free connections with {nilpotent skew-symmetric curvature operator} and IP Riemann extensions is shown. Some consequences are derived in the study of four-dimensional IP metrics and locally homogeneous affine surfaces.

In this paper, we introduce a new algebraic notion, weakly symmetric Lie algebras, to give an algebraic description of an interesting class of homogeneous Riemann--Finsler spaces, weakly symmetric Finsler spaces. Using this new definition, we are able to give a classification of weakly symmetric Finsler spaces with dimensions $2$ and $3$. Finally, we show that all the non-Riemannian reversible weakly symmetric Finsler spaces we find are non-Berwaldian and with vanishing S-curvature. This means that reversible non-Berwaldian Finsler spaces with vanishing S-curvature may exist at large. Hence the generalized volume comparison theorems due to Z. Shen are valid for a rather large class of Finsler spaces.

The space of Monge-Ampère functions, introduced by J. H. G. Fu, is a space of rather rough functions in which the map $u\mapsto \operatorname{Det} D^2 u$ is well defined and weakly continuous with respect to a natural notion of weak convergence. We prove a rigidity theorem for Lagrangian integral currents that allows us to extend the original definition of Monge-Ampère functions. We also prove that if a Monge-Ampère function $u$ on a bounded set $\Omega\subset\mathcal{R}^2$ satisfies the equation $\operatorname{Det} D^2 u=0$ in a particular weak sense, then the graph of $u$ is a developable surface, and moreover $u$ enjoys somewhat better regularity properties than an arbitrary Monge-Ampère function of $2$ variables.

Let $( X,g) $ be a complete noncompact Kähler manifold, of dimension $n\geq2,$ with positive Ricci curvature and of standard type (see the definition below). N. Mok proved that $X$ can be compactified, \emph{i.e.,} $X$ is biholomorphic to a quasi-projective variety$.$ The aim of this paper is to prove that the $L^{2}$ holomorphic sections of the line bundle $K_{X}^{-q}$ and the volume form of the metric $g$ have no essential singularities near the divisor at infinity. As a consequence we obtain a comparison between the volume forms of the Kähler metric $g$ and of the Fubini--Study metric induced on $X$. In the case of $\dim_{\mathbb{C} }X=2,$ we establish a relation between the number of components of the divisor $D$ and the dimension of the groups $H^{i}( \overline{X}, \Omega_{\overline{X}}^{1}( \log D) )$.

In this paper, we study a long existing open problem on Landsberg metrics in Finsler geometry. We consider Finsler metrics defined by a Riemannian metric and a $1$-form on a manifold. We show that a \emph{regular} Finsler metric in this form is Landsbergian if and only if it is Berwaldian. We further show that there is a two-parameter family of functions, $\phi=\phi(s)$, for which there are a Riemannian metric $\alpha$ and a $1$-form $\beta$ on a manifold $M$ such that the scalar function $F=\alpha \phi (\beta/\alpha)$ on $TM$ is an almost regular Landsberg metric, but not a Berwald metric.

A Riemannian manifold $(M,\rho)$ is called Einstein if the metric $\rho$ satisfies the condition \linebreak$\Ric (\rho)=c\cdot \rho$ for some constant $c$. This paper is devoted to the investigation of $G$-invariant Einstein metrics, with additional symmetries, on some homogeneous spaces $G/H$ of classical groups. As a consequence, we obtain new invariant Einstein metrics on some Stiefel manifolds $\SO(n)/\SO(l)$. Furthermore, we show that for any positive integer $p$ there exists a Stiefel manifold $\SO(n)/\SO(l)$ that admits at least $p$ $\SO(n)$-invariant Einstein metrics.

We discuss the subRiemannian geometry induced by two noncommutative vector fields which are left invariant on the Lie group $\mathbb{S}^3$.

Given a complete CAT(0) space $X$ endowed with a geometric action of a group $\Gamma$, it is known that if $\Gamma$ contains a free abelian group of rank $n$, then $X$ contains a geometric flat of dimension $n$. We prove the converse of this statement in the special case where $X$ is a convex subcomplex of the CAT(0) realization of a Coxeter group $W$, and $\Gamma$ is a subgroup of $W$. In particular a convex cocompact subgroup of a Coxeter group is Gromov-hyperbolic if and only if it does not contain a free abelian group of rank 2. Our result also provides an explicit control on geometric flats in the CAT(0) realization of arbitrary Tits buildings.

For an isotropic submanifold $M^n\,(n\geqq3)$ of a space form $\widetilde{M}^{n+p}(c)$ of constant sectional curvature $c$, we show that if the mean curvature vector of $M^n$ is parallel and the sectional curvature $K$ of $M^n$ satisfies some inequality, then the second fundamental form of $M^n$ in $\widetilde{M}^{n+p}$ is parallel and our manifold $M^n$ is a space form.

We consider a complete noncompact Riemannian manifold $M$ and give conditions on a compact submanifold $K \subset M$ so that the outward normal exponential map off the boundary of $K$ is a diffeomorphism onto $\MlK$. We use this to compactify $M$ and show that pinched negative sectional curvature outside $K$ implies $M$ has a compactification with a well-defined H\"older structure independent of $K$. The H\"older constant depends on the ratio of the curvature pinching. This extends and generalizes a 1985 result of Anderson and Schoen.

Maximum principles for subharmonic functions in the framework of quasi-regular local semi-Dirichlet forms admitting lower bounds are presented. As applications, we give weak and strong maximum principles for (local) subsolutions of a second order elliptic differential operator on the domain of Euclidean space under conditions on coefficients, which partially generalize the results by Stampacchia.

We consider the $p$-Yang--Mills functional $(p\geq 2)$ defined as $\YM_p(\nabla):=\frac 1 p \int_M \|\rn\|^p$. We call critical points of $\YM_p(\cdot)$ the $p$-Yang--Mills connections, and the associated curvature $\rn$ the $p$-Yang--Mills fields. In this paper, we prove gap properties and instability theorems for $p$-Yang--Mills fields over submanifolds in $\mathbb{R}^{n+k}$ and $\mathbb{S}^{n+k}$.

The first eigenvalue of the Laplacian on a surface can be viewed as a functional on the space of Riemannian metrics of a given area. Critical points of this functional are called extremal metrics. The only known extremal metrics are a round sphere, a standard projective plane, a Clifford torus and an equilateral torus. We construct an extremal metric on a Klein bottle. It is a metric of revolution, admitting a minimal isometric embedding into a sphere ${\mathbb S}^4$ by the first eigenfunctions. Also, this Klein bottle is a bipolar surface for Lawson's $\tau_{3,1}$-torus. We conjecture that an extremal metric for the first eigenvalue on a Klein bottle is unique, and hence it provides a sharp upper bound for $\lambda_1$ on a Klein bottle of a given area. We present numerical evidence and prove the first results towards this conjecture.

A method, due to \'Elie Cartan, is used to give an algebraic classification of the non-reductive homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of dimension four. Only one case with Lorentz signature can be Einstein without having constant curvature, and two cases with $(2,2)$ signature are Einstein of which one is Ricci-flat. If a four-dimensional non-reductive homogeneous pseudo-Riemannian manifold is simply connected, then it is shown to be diffeomorphic to $\reals^4$. All metrics for the simply connected non-reductive Einstein spaces are given explicitly. There are no non-reductive pseudo-Riemannian homogeneous spaces of dimension two and none of dimension three with connected isotropy subgroup.

The aim here is to define connections on a parabolic principal bundle. Some applications are given.