We develop deformation theory for abelian invariant complex structures on a nilmanifold, and prove that in this case the invariance property is preserved by the Kuranishi process. A purely algebraic condition characterizes the deformations leading again to abelian structures, and we prove that such deformations are unobstructed. Various examples illustrate the resulting theory, and the behavior possible in three complex dimensions.

We prove that the quotient space of a variationally complete group action is a good Riemannian orbifold. The result is generalized to singular Riemannian foliations without horizontal conjugate points.

1 Preliminaries 3 1.1 Linear algebra 3 1.1. 1 Vectors and matrices 3 1.1. 2 Symmetric bilinear forms 5 1.1. 3 Vector subspaces 6 1.1. 4 Linear maps from Rn to Rn 7 1.1. 5 A convention 9 1.2 Vector calculus 9

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Continuing the program of [DS] and [U1], we introduce refinements of the Donaldson-Smith standard surface count which are designed to count nodal pseudoholomorphic curves and curves with a prescribed decomposition into reducible components. In cases where a corresponding analogue of the Gromov-Taubes invariant is easy to define, our invariants agree with those analogues. We also prove a vanishing result for some of the invariants that count nodal curves.