Let Σ be a closed surface (i.e. a 2-dimensional Riemannian manifold) satisfying the following condition: the first eigenvalue of the elliptic operator -Δ+βK is nonnegative, where K is the Gauss curvature and β is a positive constant . This condition was mainly motivated by the studies of positive scalar curvature in dimension three, and soon…
In this talk I will show that the Morse index of the critical Moebius band in the 4-dimensional Euclidean ball equals 5. This result makes use of the quartic Hopf differential technique and a comparison theorem between the index of a free boundary minimal surface in the Euclidean ball and its spectral index. The latter also enables us to reprove…
In this talk, we will survey G2-structures, which are cross product structures on 7-manifolds, and we will discuss recent developments on a natural geometric flow of G2-structures called Laplacian flow. The Laplacian flow was introduced by Robert Bryant as a tool to explore the geometry of G2-structures on 7-manifolds and to construct examples of G2-holonomy…