Eigenvalues and capacitors. Let X be a Riemannian manifold and be the Laplace operator on X. It is well-known that if X is compact then the spectrum of is discrete and consists of an increasing sequence {k} k= 1 of the eigenvalues (counted with the multiplicities) where 1= 0 and k as k. Moreover, if n= dim X then Weyls asymptotic formula says that (1.1) k cn

The diameter of a disc filling a loop in the universal covering of a Riemannian manifold M may be measured extrinsically using the distance function on the ambient space or intrinsically using the induced length metric on the disc. Correspondingly, the diameter of a van Kampen diagram
filling a word that represents the identity in a finitely presented group 􀀀 can either be measured intrinsically in the 1–skeleton of
or extrinsically in the Cayley graph of 􀀀. We construct the first examples of closed manifolds M and finitely presented groups 􀀀 = π1M for which this choice — intrinsic versus extrinsic — gives rise to qualitatively different min–diameter filling functions.

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We study the question of local and global uniqueness of completions, based on null geodesics, of Lorentzian manifolds. We show local uniqueness of such boundary extensions. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for existence of unique maximal completions. The condition is verified in several situations of interest. This leads to existence and uniqueness of maximal spacelike conformal boundaries, of maximal strongly causal boundaries, as well as uniqueness of conformal boundary extensions for asymptotically simple space-times. Examples of applications include the definition of mass, or the classification of inequivalent extensions across a Cauchy horizon of the Taub space-time.

In this paper we start the classification of strongly bracket-generated sub-symmetric spaces. We prove a structure theorem and analyze the nilpotent case.