We prove the classical Yano-Obata conjecture by showing that the connected component of the group of h-projective transformations of a closed, connected Riemannian K¨ahler manifold consists of isometries unless the manifold is the complex projective space with the standard Fubini-Study metric (up to a constant).

This is the second in a series of papers on a new equivariant cohomology that takes values in a vertex algebra. In an earlier paper, the first two authors gave a construction of the cohomology functor on the category of O(sg) algebras. The new cohomology theory can be viewed as a kind of "chiralization'' of the classical equivariant cohomology, the latter being defined on the category of $G^*$ algebras a la H. Cartan. In this paper, we further develop the chiral theory by first extending it to allow a much larger class of algebras which we call sg[t] algebras. In the geometrical setting, our principal example of an O(sg) algebra is the chiral de Rham complex Q(M) of a G manifold M. There is an interesting subalgebra of Q(M) which does not admit a full O(sg) algebra structure but retains the structure of an sg[t] algebra, enough for us to define its chiral equivariant cohomology. The latter then turns out to have many surprising features that allows us to delineate a number of interesting geometric aspects of the G manifold M, sometimes in ways that are quite different from the classical theory.

In G2 manifolds, 3-dimensional associative submanifolds (instantons) play a role similar to J-holomorphic curves in symplectic geometry. In [21], instantons in G2 manifolds were constructed from regular J-holomorphic curves in coassociative submanifolds. In this exposition paper, after reviewing the background of G2 geometry, we explain the main ingredients in the proofs in [21]. We also construct new examples of instantons.

We prove that Mark Gross’ [8] topological Calabi-Yau compactifications can be made into symplectic compactifications. To prove this we develop a method to construct singular Lagrangian 3-torus fibrations over certain a priori given integral affine manifolds with singularities, which we call simple. This produces pairs of compact symplectic 6-manifolds homeomorphic to mirror pairs of Calabi-Yau 3-folds together with Lagrangian fibrations whose underlying integral affine structures are dual.

By a special symplectic connection we mean a torsion free connection which is either the Levi-Civita connection of a Bochner-K¨ahler metric of arbitrary signature, a Bochner-bi-Lagrangian connection, a connection of Ricci type or a connection with special symplectic holonomy. A manifold or orbifold with such a connection is called special symplectic. We show that the symplectic reduction of (an open cell of) a parabolic contact manifold by a symmetry vector field is special symplectic in a canonical way. Moreover, we show that any special symplectic manifold or orbifold is locally equivalent to one of these symplectic reductions. As a consequence, we are able to prove a number of global properties, including a classification in the compact simply connected case.