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We determine all helix surfaces with parallel mean curvature vector field which are not minimal or pseudo-umbilical in spaces of type $M^{n}(c)\times\mathbb{R}$ , where$M$^{$n$}($c$) is a simply connected$n$-dimensional manifold with constant sectional curvature$c$.

We construct a new equivariant cohomology theory for a certain class of differential vertex algebras, which we call the chiral equivariant cohomology. A principal example of a differential vertex algebra in this class is the chiral de Rham complex of Malikov-Schechtman-Vaintrob of a manifold with a group action. The main idea in this paper is to synthesize the algebraic approach to classical equivariant cohomology due to H. Cartan, with the theory of differential vertex algebras, by using an appropriate notion of invariant theory. We also construct the vertex algebra analogues of the Mathai-Quillen isomorphism, the Weil and the Cartan models for equivariant cohomology, and the Chern-Weil map. We give interesting cohomology classes in the new theory that have no classical analogues.

The Wess-Zumino-Witten term was first introduced in the low energy σ-model which describes pions, the Goldstone bosons for the broken flavor symmetry in quantum chromodynamics. We introduce a new definition of this term in arbitrary gravitational backgrounds. It matches several features of the fundamental gauge theory, including the presence of fermionic states and the anomaly of the flavor symmetry. To achieve this matching, we use a certain generalized differential cohomology theory. We also prove a formula for the determinant line bundle of special families of Dirac operators on 4-manifolds in terms of this cohomology theory. One consequence is that there are no global anomalies in the Standard Model (in arbitrary gravitational backgrounds).

We prove a structure theorem for compact aspherical Lorentz manifolds with abundant local symmetry. If M is a compact, aspherical, real-analytic, complete Lorentz manifold such that the isometry group of the universal cover has semisimple identity component, then the local isometry orbits in M are roughly ¯bers of a¯ber bundle. A corollary is that if M has an open, dense, locally homogeneous subset, then M is locally homogeneous.