We use moduli spaces of instantons and Chern-Simons invariants of flat connections to prove that the Whitehead doubles of (2, 2n − 1) torus knots are independent in the smooth knot concordance group; that is, they freely generate a subgroup of infinite rank. 1.

Let n be an integer such that 25≤n≤51. We construct a smooth metric g on Sn with the property that the set of constant scalar curvature metrics in the conformal class of g is not compact.

In this paper, we investigate the geometric properties of random hyperbolic surfaces of large genus. We describe the relationship between the behavior of lengths of simple closed geodesics on a hyperbolic surface and properties of the moduli space of such surfaces. First, we study the asymptotic behavior of Weil-Petersson volume Vg,n of the moduli spaces of hyperbolic surfaces of genus g with n punctures as g → ∞. Then we discuss basic geometric properties of a random hyperbolic surface of genus g with respect to the Weil-Petersson measure as g → ∞.

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In this paper, we prove that, a compact complex manifold $X$ admits a smooth Hermitian metric with positive (resp., negative) scalar curvature if and only if $K_X$ (resp., $K_X^{-1}$) is not pseudo-effective. On the contrary, we also show that on an arbitrary compact complex manifold $X$ with complex dimension $\geq 2$, there exist smooth Hermitian metrics with positive total scalar curvature, and one of the key ingredients in the proof relies on a recent solution to the Gauduchon conjecture by G. Székelyhidi, V. Tosatti, and B. Weinkove.