In this paper we study constant mean curvature surfaces  in a product space, M2 × R, where M2 is a complete Riemannian manifold. We assume the angle function ν = hN, @ @t i does not change sign on . We classify these surfaces according to the infimum c() of the Gaussian curvature of the projection of . When H 6= 0 and c() ≥ 0, then  is a cylinder over a complete curve with curvature 2H. If H = 0 and c() ≥ 0, then  must be a vertical plane or  is a slice M2 ×{t}, or M2 ≡ R2 with the flat metric and  is a tilted plane (after possibly passing to a covering space). When c() < 0 and H > p −c()/2, then  is a vertical cylinder over a complete curve of M2 of constant geodesic curvature 2H. This result is optimal. We also prove a non-existence result concerning complete multigraphs in M2 × R, when c(M2) < 0.

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.

We describe a new family of representations of 1() in PU(2,1), where  is a hyperbolic Riemann surface with at least one deleted point. This family is obtained by a bending process associated to an ideal triangulation of . We give an explicit description of this family by describing a coordinates system in the spirit of shear coordinates on the Teichm¨uller space. We identify within this family new examples of discrete, faithful, and type-preserving representations of 1(). In turn, we obtain a 1-parameter family of embeddings of the Teichm¨uller space of  in the PU(2,1)-representation variety of 1(). These results generalise to arbitrary  the results obtained in [42] for the 1-punctured torus.

We derive a gradient estimate for positive functions, in particular for positive solutions to the heat equation, on finite or locally finite graphs. Unlike the well known Li-Yau estimate, which is based on the maximum principle, our estimate follows from the graph structure of the gradient form and the Laplacian operator. Though our assumption on graphs is slightly stronger than that of Bauer et al. (J Differ Geom 99:359–405, 2015), our estimate can be easily applied to nonlinear differential equations, as well as differential inequalities. As applications, we estimate the greatest lower bound of Cheng’s eigenvalue and an upper bound of the minimal heat kernel, which is recently studied by Bauer et al. (Preprint, 2015) by the Li-Yau estimate. Moreover, generalizing an earlier result of Lin and Yau (Math Res Lett 17:343–356, 2010), we derive a lower bound of nonzero eigenvalues by our gradient estimate.

We prove flatness of complete Riemannian planes and cylinders without conjugate points under optimal conditions on the area growth.