We show that a compact Riemannian manifold with weakly pointwise 1/4-pinched sectional curvatures is either locally symmetric or diffeomorphic to a space form. More generally, we classify all compact, locally irreducible Riemannian manifolds$M$with the property that$M$×$R$^{2}has non-negative isotropic curvature.

Let$N$be a compact simply connected smooth Riemannian manifold and, for$p$∈ {2,3,...},$W$^{1,$p$}($R$^{$p$+1},$N$) be the Sobolev space of measurable maps from$R$^{$p$+1}into$N$whose gradients are in$L$^{$p$}. The restriction of$u$to almost every$p$-dimensional sphere$S$in$R$^{$p$+1}is in$W$^{1,$p$}($S$,$N$) and defines an homotopy class in π_{$p$}($N$) (White 1988). Evaluating a fixed element$z$of Hom(π_{$p$}($N$),$R$) on this homotopy class thus gives a real number Φ_{$z$,$u$}($S$). The main result of the paper is that any$W$^{1,$p$}-weakly convergent limit$u$of a sequence of smooth maps in$C$^{∞}($R$^{$p$+1},$N$), Φ_{$z$,$u$}has a$rectifiable Poincaré dual$ $ {\left( {\Gamma ,{\overrightarrow{\Gamma }} ,\theta } \right)} $ . Here Γ is a a countable union of$C$^{1}curves in$R$^{$p$+1}with Hausdorff $ {\user1{\mathcal{H}}}^{1} $ -measurable orientation $ {\overrightarrow{\Gamma }} :\Gamma \to S^{p} $ and density function$θ$: Γ→$R$. The intersection number between $ {\left( {\Gamma ,{\overrightarrow{\Gamma }} ,\theta } \right)} $ and$S$evaluates Φ_{$z$,$u$}($S$), for almost every$p$-sphere$S$. Moreover, we exhibit a non-negative integer$n$_{$z$}, depending only on homotopy operation$z$, such that $ {\int_\Gamma {{\left| \theta \right|}^{{p \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {p {{\left( {p + n_{z} } \right)}}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {{\left( {p + n_{z} } \right)}}}} d{\user1{\mathcal{H}}}^{1} < \infty } } $ even though the mass $ {\int_\Gamma {{\left| \theta \right|}d{\user1{\mathcal{H}}}^{1} } } $ may be infinite. We also provide cases of$N$,$p$and$z$for which this rational power$p$/($p$+$n$_{$z$}) is optimal. The construction of this Poincaré dual is based on 1-dimensional “bubbling” described by the notion of “scans” which was introduced in Hardt and Rivière (2003). We also describe how to generalize these results to$R$^{$m$}for any$m$⩾$p$+ 1, in which case the bubbling is described by an ($m$–$p$)-rectifiable set with orientation and density function determined by restrictions of the mappings to almost every oriented Euclidean$p$-sphere.

We consider amalgamated free product II_{1}factors$M$=$M$_{1*$B$}$M$_{2*$B$}… and use “deformation/rigidity” and “intertwining” techniques to prove that any relatively rigid von Neumann subalgebra$Q$⊂$M$can be unitarily conjugated into one of the$M$_{$i$}’s. We apply this to the case where the$M$_{$i$}’s are w-rigid II_{1}factors, with$B$equal to either$C$, to a Cartan subalgebra$A$in$M$_{$i$}, or to a regular hyperfinite II_{1}subfactor$R$in$M$_{$i$}, to obtain the following type of unique decomposition results, àla Bass–Serre: If$M$= ($N$_{1 * C}N_{2*$C$}…)^{$t$}, for some$t$> 0 and some other similar inclusions of algebras$C$⊂$N$_{$i$}then, after a permutation of indices, ($B$⊂$M$_{$i$}) is inner conjugate to ($C$⊂$N$_{$i$})^{$t$}, for all$i$. Taking$B$=$C$and $ M_{i} = {\left( {L{\left( {Z^{2} \rtimes F_{2} } \right)}} \right)}^{{t_{i} }} $ , with {$t$_{$i$}}_{$i$⩾1}=$S$a given countable subgroup of$R$_{+}^{*}, we obtain continuously many non-stably isomorphic factors$M$with fundamental group $ {\user1{\mathcal{F}}}{\left( M \right)} $ equal to$S$. For$B$=$A$, we obtain a new class of factors$M$with unique Cartan subalgebra decomposition, with a large subclass satisfying $ {\user1{\mathcal{F}}}{\left( M \right)} = {\left\{ 1 \right\}} $ and Out(M) abelian and calculable. Taking$B$=$R$, we get examples of factors with $ {\user1{\mathcal{F}}}{\left( M \right)} = {\left\{ 1 \right\}} $ , Out($M$) =$K$, for any given separable compact abelian group$K$.

We verify a conjecture of Rognes by establishing a localization cofiber sequence of spectra $K(\mathbb{Z})\to K(ku)\to K(KU) \to\Sigma K(\mathbb{Z})$ for the algebraic$K$-theory of topological$K$-theory. We deduce the existence of this sequence as a consequence of a dévissage theorem identifying the$K$-theory of the Waldhausen category of finitely generated finite stage Postnikov towers of modules over a connective $A_\infty$ ring spectrum$R$with the Quillen$K$-theory of the abelian category of finitely generated $\pi_{0}R$ -modules.

We establish the intrinsic Harnack inequality for non-negative solutions of a class of degenerate, quasilinear, parabolic equations, including equations of the$p$-Laplacian and porous medium type. It is shown that the classical Harnack estimate, while failing for degenerate parabolic equations, it continues to hold in a space-time geometry intrinsic to the degeneracy. The proof uses only measure-theoretical arguments, it reproduces the classical Moser theory, for non-degenerate equations, and it is novel even in that context. Hölder estimates are derived as a consequence of the Harnack inequality. The results solve a long standing problem in the theory of degenerate parabolic equations.

We consider random Schrödinger equations on$R$^{$d$}for$d$≽ 3 with a homogeneous Anderson–Poisson type random potential. Denote by λ the coupling constant and $\psi_t$ the solution with initial data $\psi_0$ . The space and time variables scale as $ x\sim\lambda ^{{ - 2 - \varkappa/2}} {\text{ and }}t\sim\lambda ^{{ - 2 - \varkappa}} {\text{ with }}0 < \varkappa < \varkappa_{0} {\left( d \right)} $ . We prove that, in the limit λ → 0, the expectation of the Wigner distribution of $\psi_t$ converges weakly to the solution of a heat equation in the space variable$x$for arbitrary$L$^{2}initial data.

We give a concrete and surprisingly simple characterization of compact sets $ K \subset \mathbb{R}^{{2 \times 2}} $ for which families of approximate solutions to the inclusion problem$Du$∈$K$are compact. In particular our condition is algebraic and can be tested algorithmically. We also prove that the quasiconvex hull of compact sets of 2 × 2 matrices can be localized. This is false for compact sets in higher dimensions in general.