In this paper, we present two kinds of total Chern forms c(E,G) and c(E,G) as well as a total Segre form c(E,G) of a holomorphic Finsler vector bundle c(E,G) expressed by the Finsler metric c(E,G), which answers a question of Faran [The equivalence problem for complex Finsler Hamiltonians, in <i>Finsler Geometry</i>, Contemporary Mathematics, Vol. 196 (American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1996), pp. 133144] to some extent. As some applications, we show that the signed Segre forms c(E,G) are positive c(E,G)-forms on c(E,G) when c(E,G) is of positive Kobayashi curvature; we prove, under an extra assumption, that a FinslerEinstein vector bundle in the sense of Kobayashi is semi-stable; we introduce a new definition of a flat Finsler metric, which is weaker than Aikous one [Finsler geometry on complex vector bundles, in <i>A Sampler of RiemannFinsler Geometry</i>, MSRI Publications, Vol. 50 (Cambridge

We prove several rigidity theorems for elliptic genera associated to Toeplitz operators on odd dimensional spin manifolds. We also prove an equivariant odd index theorem for Dirac operators with involution parity and the Atiyah-Hirzebruch vanishing theorems for odd dimensional spin manifolds.

We carry out the programme of R. Liouville [19] to construct an explicit local obstruction to the existence of a Levi–Civita connection within a given projective structure [..] on a surface. The obstruction is of order 5 in the components of a connection in a projective class. It can be expressed as a point invariant for a second order ODE whose integral curves are the geodesics of [..] or as a weighted scalar projective invariant of the projective class. If the obstruction vanishes we find the sufficient conditions for the existence of a metric in the real analytic case. In the generic case they are expressed by the vanishing of two invariants of order 6 in the connection. In degenerate cases the sufficient obstruction is of order at most 8.

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the discreteness of the Laplacian on a noncompact Riemannian manifold M are established in terms of the isocapacitary function of M. The relevant capacity takes a different form according to whether M has finite or infinite volume. Conditions involving the more standard isoperimetric function of M can also be derived, but they are only sufficient in general, as we demonstrate by concrete examples.

Quasilocal mass in general relativity is a notion defined for a closed space like 2-surface in spacetime. In this note, we explain the definition in [23] and [24] from a mathematical viewpoint, emphasizing the connection to differential geometry and nonlinear partial differential equations. We also discuss a minimax interpretation of the definition and compare with other notions of quasilocal mass.