We prove that the existence of one horosphere in the universal cover of a closed Riemannian manifold of dimension $n \geq 3$ with strongly $1/4$-pinched or relatively $1/2$-pinched sectional curvature, on which the stable holonomy along one horosphere coincides with the Riemannian parallel transport, implies that the manifold is homothetic to a real hyperbolic manifold.

Given an open, bounded set $\Omega $ in $\mathbb {R}^N$, we consider the minimization of the anisotropic Cheeger constant $h_K(\Omega )$ with respect to the anisotropy K, under a volume constraint on the associated unit ball. In the planar case, under the assumption that K is a convex, centrally symmetric body, we prove the existence of a minimizer. Moreover, if $\Omega $ is a ball, we show that the optimal anisotropy K is not a ball and that, among all regular polygons, the square provides the minimal value.

We investigate quantum lens spaces, $C(L_q^{2n+1}(r;\underline {m}))$, introduced by Brzeziński and Szymański as graph $C^*$-algebras. We give a new description of $C(L_q^{2n+1}(r;\underline {m}))$ as graph $C^*$-algebras amending an error in the original paper by Brzeziński and Szymański. Furthermore, for $n\leq 3$, we give a number-theoretic invariant, when all but one weight are coprime to the order of the acting group r. This builds upon the work of Eilers, Restorff, Ruiz, and Sørensen.

We prove that every symplectic manifold is a coadjoint orbit of the group of automorphisms of its integration bundle, acting linearly on its space of momenta, for any group of periods of the symplectic form. This result generalizes the Kirilov–Kostant–Souriau theorem when the symplectic manifold is homogeneous under the action of a Lie group and the symplectic form is integral.

Fundamental group of a manifold gives a deep effect on its underlying smooth structure. In this paper we introduce a new variant of the Donaldson invariant in Yang–Mills gauge theory from twisting by the Picard group of a 4-manifold in the case when the fundamental group is free abelian. We then generalise it to the general case of fundamental groups by use of the framework of non commutative geometry. We also verify that our invariant distinguishes smooth structures between some homeomorphic 4-manifolds.

Given a unital inductive limit of C*-algebras for which each C*-algebra of the inductive sequence comes equipped with a Rieffel compact quantum metric, we produce sufficient conditions to build a compact quantum metric on the inductive limit from the quantum metrics on the inductive sequence by utilizing the completeness of the dual Gromov–Hausdorff propinquity of Latrémolière on compact quantum metric spaces. This allows us to place new quantum metrics on all unital approximately finite-dimensional (AF) algebras that extend our previous work with Latrémolière on unital AF algebras with faithful tracial state. As a consequence, we produce a continuous image of the entire Fell topology on the ideal space of any unital AF algebra in the dual Gromov–Hausdorff propinquity topology.

Let $\mathbb{G}$ be a locally compact quantum group and let $I$ be a closed ideal of $L^{1}(\mathbb{G})$ with $y|_{I}\neq 0$ for some $y\in \text{sp}(L^{1}(\mathbb{G}))$. In this paper, we give a characterization for compactness of $\mathbb{G}$ in terms of the existence of a weakly compact left or right multiplier $T$ on $I$ with $T(f)(y|_{I})\neq 0$ for some $f\in I$. Using this, we prove that $I$ is an ideal in its second dual if and only if $\mathbb{G}$ is compact. We also study Arens regularity of $I$ whenever it has a bounded left approximate identity. Finally, we obtain some characterizations for amenability of $\mathbb{G}$ in terms of the existence of some $I$-module homomorphisms on $I^{\ast \ast }$ and on $I^{\ast }$.

In this paper, we consider projective deformation of the geodesic system of Finsler spaces by holonomy invariant functions. Starting with a Finsler spray $S$ and a holonomy invariant function ${\mathcal{P}}$, we investigate the metrizability property of the projective deformation $\widetilde{S}=S-2\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}{\mathcal{P}}{\mathcal{C}}$. We prove that for any holonomy invariant nontrivial function ${\mathcal{P}}$ and for almost every value $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}\in \mathbb{R}$, such deformation is not Finsler metrizable. We identify the cases where such deformation can lead to a metrizable spray. In these cases, the holonomy invariant function ${\mathcal{P}}$ is necessarily one of the principal curvatures of the geodesic structure.

We provide a systematic study of a non-commutative extension of the classical Anzai skew-product for the cartesian product of two copies of the unit circle to the non-commutative 2-tori. In particular, some relevant ergodic properties are proved for these quantum dynamical systems, extending the corresponding ones enjoyed by the classical Anzai skew-product. As an application, for a uniquely ergodic Anzai skew-product $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}$ on the non-commutative $2$-torus $\mathbb{A}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\in \mathbb{R}$, we investigate the pointwise limit, $\lim _{n\rightarrow +\infty }(1/n)\sum _{k=0}^{n-1}\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}^{-k}\unicode[STIX]{x1D6F7}^{k}(x)$, for $x\in \mathbb{A}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}$ a point in the unit circle, and show that there are examples for which the limit does not exist, even in the weak topology.

We study the long-standing problem of the existence of non-Berwaldian Landsberg spaces from the perspective of conformal transformations. We calculate the Berwald and Landsberg tensors in terms of the T-tensor and show that there are Landsberg spaces with nonvanishing T-tensor. We give a necessary condition for a Landsberg space to be Berwaldian. We find conditions under which the Landsberg spaces cannot be Berwaldian and give examples of ($y$-local) non-Berwaldian Landsberg spaces.

The main result of this paper is the following: any weighted Riemannian manifold $(M,g,\unicode[STIX]{x1D707})$, i.e., a Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ endowed with a generic non-negative Radon measure $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$, is infinitesimally Hilbertian, which means that its associated Sobolev space $W^{1,2}(M,g,\unicode[STIX]{x1D707})$ is a Hilbert space.

We actually prove a stronger result: the abstract tangent module (à la Gigli) associated with any weighted reversible Finsler manifold $(M,F,\unicode[STIX]{x1D707})$ can be isometrically embedded into the space of all measurable sections of the tangent bundle of $M$ that are $2$-integrable with respect to $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$.

By following the same approach, we also prove that all weighted (sub-Riemannian) Carnot groups are infinitesimally Hilbertian.

The modular Gromov–Hausdorff propinquity is a distance on classes of modules endowed with quantum metric information, in the form of a metric form of a connection and a left Hilbert module structure. This paper proves that the family of Heisenberg modules over quantum two tori, when endowed with their canonical connections, form a family of metrized quantum vector bundles, as a first step in proving that Heisenberg modules form a continuous family for the modular Gromov–Hausdorff propinquity.

Fix a von Neumann algebra ${\mathcal{N}}$ equipped with a suitable trace $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}$. For a path of self-adjoint Breuer–Fredholm operators, the spectral flow measures the net amount of spectrum that moves from negative to non-negative. We consider specifically the case of paths of bounded perturbations of a fixed unbounded self-adjoint Breuer–Fredholm operator affiliated with ${\mathcal{N}}$. If the unbounded operator is $p$-summable (that is, its resolvents are contained in the ideal $L^{p}$), then it is possible to obtain an integral formula that calculates spectral flow. This integral formula was first proved by Carey and Phillips, building on earlier approaches of Phillips. Their proof was based on first obtaining a formula for the larger class of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$-summable operators, and then using Laplace transforms to obtain a $p$-summable formula. In this paper, we present a direct proof of the $p$-summable formula that is both shorter and simpler than theirs.

In this paper we use tools from differential topology to give a geometric description of cohomology for Hilbert manifolds. Our model is Quillen’s geometric description of cobordism groups for finite-dimensional smooth manifolds [Quillen, ‘Elementary proofs of some results of cobordism theory using steenrod operations’, Adv. Math., 7 (1971)]. Quillen stresses the fact that this construction allows the definition of Gysin maps for ‘oriented’ proper maps. For finite-dimensional manifolds one has a Gysin map in singular cohomology which is based on Poincaré duality, hence it is not clear how to extend it to infinite-dimensional manifolds. But perhaps one can overcome this difficulty by giving a Quillen type description of singular cohomology for Hilbert manifolds. This is what we do in this paper. Besides constructing a general Gysin map, one of our motivations was a geometric construction of equivariant cohomology, which even for a point is the cohomology of the infinite-dimensional space $BG$, which has a Hilbert manifold model. Besides that, we demonstrate the use of such a geometric description of cohomology by several other applications. We give a quick description of characteristic classes of a finite-dimensional vector bundle and apply it to a generalized Steenrod representation problem for Hilbert manifolds and define a notion of a degree of proper oriented Fredholm maps of index $0$.

We consider the spectral behavior and noncommutative geometry of commutators $[P,f]$, where $P$ is an operator of order 0 with geometric origin and $f$ a multiplication operator by a function. When $f$ is Hölder continuous, the spectral asymptotics is governed by singularities. We study precise spectral asymptotics through the computation of Dixmier traces; such computations have only been considered in less singular settings. Even though a Weyl law fails for these operators, and no pseudodifferential calculus is available, variations of Connes’ residue trace theorem and related integral formulas continue to hold. On the circle, a large class of nonmeasurable Hankel operators is obtained from Hölder continuous functions $f$, displaying a wide range of nonclassical spectral asymptotics beyond the Weyl law. The results extend from Riemannian manifolds to contact manifolds and noncommutative tori.

A compact set K ⊂ ℝn is Whitney 1-regular if the geodesic distance in K is equivalent to the Euclidean distance. Let P be the Chevalley map defined by an integrity basis of the algebra of polynomials invariant by a reflection group. This paper gives the Whitney 1-regularity of the image by P of any closed ball centred at the origin. The proof uses the works of Givental', Kostov and Arnol'd on the symmetric group. It needs a generalization of a property of the Vandermonde determinants to the Jacobian of the Chevalley mappings.

We consider the problem of defining the structure of a smooth manifold on the various spaces of piecewise-smooth loops in a smooth finite-dimensional manifold. We succeed for a particular type of piecewise-smooth loops. We also examine the action of the diffeomorphism group of the circle. It is not a useful action on the manifold that we define. We consider how one might fix this problem and conclude that it can only be done by completing to the space of loops of bounded variation.