Let $M$ be a closed Riemannian manifold. We consider the inner radius of a nodal domain for a large eigenvalue $\lambda$. We give upper and lower bounds on the inner radius of the type $C/\lambda^\alpha(\log\lambda)^\beta$. Our proof is based on a local behavior of eigenfunctions discovered by Donnelly and Fefferman and a Poincar\'{e} type inequality proved by Maz'ya. Sharp lower bounds are known only in dimension two. We give an account of this case too.

The behavior of the dynamical zeta function $Z_D(s)$ related to several strictly convex disjoint obstacles is similar to that of the inverse $Q(s) = \frac{1}{\zeta(s)}$ of the Riemann zeta function $\zeta(s)$. Let $\Pi(s)$ be the series obtained from $Z_D(s)$ summing only over primitive periodic rays. In this paper we examine the analytic singularities of $Z_D(s)$ and $\Pi(s)$ close to the line $\Re s = s_2$, where $s_2$ is the abscissa of absolute convergence of the series obtained by the second iterations of the primitive periodic rays. We show that at least one of the functions $Z_D(s), \Pi(s)$ has a singularity at $s = s_2$.

A sharp upper bound on the first $S^{1}$ invariant eigenvalue of the Laplacian for $S^1$ invariant metrics on $S^2$ is used to find obstructions to the existence of $S^1$ equivariant isometric embeddings of such metrics in $(\R^3,\can)$. As a corollary we prove: If the first four distinct eigenvalues have even multiplicities then the metric cannot be equivariantly, isometrically embedded in $(\R^3,\can)$. This leads to generalizations of some classical results in the theory of surfaces.