We extend recent existence results for compact constant mean curvature normal geodesic graphs with boundary in space forms in a unified way to a large class of ambient spaces. That extension is achieved by solving a constant mean curvature existence problem in a general setting presented in two isometrically equivalent versions.

We show that, for all nonnegative integers k, Г, m and n, theYamabe invariant of #k(RP3)#Г(RP2 】 S1)#m(S2 】 S1)#n(S2. 】S1) is equal to the Yamabe invariant of RP3, provided k + Г ∶ 1. We then complete the classification (started by Bray and the second author) of all closed 3-manifolds with Yamabe invariant greater than that of RP3. More precisely, we show that such manifolds are either S3 or finite connected sums #m(S2 】 S1)#n(S2. 】S1),where S2. 】S1 is the nonorientable S2-bundle over S1. A key ingredient is Aubin’s Lemma [3], which says that if the Yamabe constant is positive, then it is strictly less than the Yam- abe constant of any of its non-trivial finite conformal coverings. This lemma, combined with inverse mean curvature flow and with analysis of the Green’s function for the conformal Laplacians on specific finite and normal infinite Riemannian coverings, will allow us to construct a family of nice test functions on the finite coverings and thus prove the desired result.

In this paper we prove a new matrix Li-Yau-Hamilton (LYH) estimate for K¨ahler-Ricci flow on manifolds with nonnegative bi- sectional curvature. The form of this new LYH estimate is obtained by the interpolation consideration originated in [Ch] by Chow. This new inequality is shown to be connected with Perelman’s entropy formula through a family of differential equalities. In the rest of the paper, we show several applications of this new estimate and its corresponding estimate for linear heat equation. These include a sharp heat kernel comparison theorem, generalizing the earlier result of Li and Tian [LT], a manifold version of Stoll’s theorem [St] on the characterization of ‘algebraic divisors’, and a localized monotonicity formula for analytic subvari- eties, which sharpens the Bishop volume comparison theorem. Motivated by the connection between the heat kernel estimate and the reduced volume monotonicity of Perelman [P], we prove a sharp lower bound of the fundamental solution to the forward conjugate heat equation, which in a certain sense dual to Perelman’s monotonicity of the reduced volume. As an application of this new monotonicity formula, we show that the blow-down limit of a certain type of long-time solution is a gradient expanding soliton, generalizing an earlier result of Cao. We also illustrate the connection between the new LYH estimate and the Hessian comparison theorem of [FIN] on the forward reduced distance. Localized monotonicity formulae on entropy and forward reduced volume are also derived.

Making use of the extended flux homomorphism defined in [13] on the group Symp§g of symplectomorphisms of a closed ori- ented surface §g of genus g ≥ 2, we introduce new characteristic classes of foliated surface bundles with symplectic, equivalently area-preserving, total holonomy. These characteristic classes are stable with respect to g and we show that they are highly non- trivial. We also prove that the second homology of the group Ham§g of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of §g, equipped with the discrete topology, is very large for all g ≥ 2.

In this paper we construct infinitely many families of Einstein metrics on the connected sums of arbitrary number of copies of S2 × S3. We realize these 5-manifolds as total spaces of Seifert bundles over Del Pezzo orbifolds. A K¨ahler–Einstein metric on the Del Pezzo orbifold is then lifted to an Einstein metric using the Kobayashi–Boyer–Galicki method.