The dimension datum of a subgroup of a compact Lie group is a piece of spectral information about that subgroup. We find some new invariants and phenomena of the dimension data and apply them to construct the first example of a pair of isospectral, simply connected closed Riemannian manifolds which are of different homotopy types. We also answer questions proposed by Langlands.

We prove that generalized conifolds and orbifolded conifolds are mirror symmetric under the SYZ program with quantum corrections. Our work mathematically confirms the gaugetheoretic assertion of Aganagic–Karch–Lust–Miemiec, and also provides a supportive evidence to Morrison’s conjecture that geometric transitions are reversed under mirror symmetry.

On a compact K¨ahler manifold we introduce a cohomological obstruction to the solvability of the constant scalar curvature (cscK) equation twisted by a semipositive form, appearing in works of Fine and Song-Tian. As a special case we find an obstruction for a manifold to be the base of a holomorphic submersion carrying a cscK metric in certain “adiabatic” classes. We apply this to find new examples of general type threefolds with classes which do not admit a cscK representative. When the twist vanishes our obstruction extends the slope stability of Ross-Thomas to effective divisors on a K¨ahler manifold. Thus we find examples of non-projective slope unstable manifolds.

Let U(n) be the unitary group, and u(n)¤ the dual of its Lie algebra, equipped with the Kirillov Poisson structure. In their 1983 paper, Guillemin-Sternberg introduced a densely defined Hamiltonian action of a torus of dimension (n−1)n/2 on u(n)¤, with moment map given by the Gelfand-Zeitlin coordinates. A few years later, Flaschka-Ratiu described a similar, ‘multiplicative’ GelfandZeitlin system for the Poisson Lie group U(n)¤. By the Ginzburg-Weinstein theorem, U(n)¤ is isomorphic to u(n)¤ as a Poisson manifold. Flaschka-Ratiu conjectured that one can choose the Ginzburg-Weinstein diffeomorphism in such a way that it intertwines the linear and nonlinear Gelfand-Zeitlin systems. Our main result gives a proof of this conjecture, and produces a canonical Ginzburg-Weinstein diffeomorphism.

We prove that torsion-free G2 structures are (weakly) dynamically stable along the Laplacian flow for closed G2 structures. More precisely, given a torsion-free G2 structure φ on a compact 7-manifold, the Laplacian flow with initial value cohomologous and sufficiently close to φ will converge to a torsion-free G2 structure which is in the orbit of φ under diffeomorphisms isotopic to the identity. We deduce, from fundamental work of Joyce [18], that the Laplacian flow starting at any closed G2 structure with sufficiently small torsion will exist for all time and converge to a torsion-free G2 structure.