We prove that the second positive Neumann eigenvalue of a bounded simply-connected planar domain of a given area does not exceed the first positive Neumann eigenvalue on a disk of half this area. The estimate is sharp and attained by a sequence of domains degenerating to a union of two identical disks. In particular, this result implies the P´olya conjecture for the second Neumann eigenvalue. The proof is based on a combination of analytic and topological arguments. As a by-product of our method we obtain an upper bound on the second eigenvalue for conformally round metrics on odd-dimensional spheres.

We introduce new finite-dimensional cohomologies on symplectic manifolds. Each exhibits Lefschetz decomposition and contains a unique harmonic representative within each class. Associated with each cohomology is a primitive cohomology defined purely on the space of primitive forms. We identify the dual currents of lagrangians and more generally coisotropic submanifolds with elements of a primitive cohomology, which dualizes to a homology on coisotropic chains.

We study how conserved quantities such as angular momentum and center of mass evolve with respect to the retarded time at null infinity, which is described in terms of a Bondi-Sachs coordinate system. These evolution formulae complement the classical Bondi mass loss formula for gravitational radiation. They are further expressed in terms of the potentials of the shear and news tensors. The consequences that follow from these formulae are (1) Supertranslation invariance of the fluxes of the CWY conserved quantities. (2) A conservation law of angular momentum \`a la Christodoulou. (3) A duality paradigm for null infinity. In particular, the supertranslation invariance distinguishes the CWY angular momentum and center of mass from the classical definitions.

We derive large time upper bounds for heat kernels on vector bundles of differential forms on a class of non-compact Riemannian manifolds under certain curvature conditions.

In this paper, we classify n-dimensional (n ≥ 3) complete non-compact locally conformally flat gradient steady solitons. In particular, we prove that a complete noncompact nonflat locally conformally flat gradient steady Ricci soliton is, up to scaling, the Bryant soliton.