We apply a study of orders in quaternion algebras, to the differential geometry of Riemann surfaces. The least length of a closed geodesic on a hyperbolic surface is called its systole,and denoted sysπ1. P. Buser and P. Sarnak constructed Riemann surfaces X whose systole behaves logarithmically in the genus g(X). The Fuchsian groups in their examples are principal congruence subgroups of a fixed arithmetic group with rational trace field. We generalize their construction to principal congruence subgroups of arbitrary arithmetic surfaces. The key tool is a new trace estimate valid for an arbitrary ideal in a quaternion algebra. We obtain a particularly sharp bound for a principal congruence tower of Hurwitz surfaces (PCH), namely the 4/3bound sysπ1(XPCH) ≥ 43 log(g(XPCH)). Similar results are obtained for the systole of hyperbolic 3-manifolds, relative to their simplicial volume.

We study moduli spaces of O’Grady’s ten-dimensional irreducible symplectic manifolds. These moduli spaces are covers of modular varieties of dimension 21, namely quotients of hermitian symmetric domains by a suitable arithmetic group. The interesting and new aspect of this case is that the group in question is strictly bigger than the stable orthogonal group. This makes it different from both the K3 and the K3[n] case, which are of dimension 19 and 20 respectively.

Let H be a semisimple algebraic group. We prove the semistable reduction theorem for μ–semistable principal H–bundles over a smooth projective variety X defined over the field C. When X is a smooth projective surface and H is simple, we construct the algebro–geometric Donaldson–Uhlenbeck compactification of the moduli space of μ–semistable principal H–bundles with fixed char- acteristic classes and describe its points. For large characteristic classes we show that the moduli space of μ–stable principal H–bundles is non–empty.

For a compact Riemann surface X of positive genus, the space of sections of a certain theta bundle on moduli of bundles of rank r and level k admits a natural map to (the dual of) a similar space of sections of rank k and level r (the strange duality isomorphism). Both sides of the isomorphism carry projective connections as X varies in a family. We prove that this map is (projectively) flat.

We prove the mean curvature flow of the graph of a symplectomorphism between Riemann surfaces converges smoothly as time approaches infinity.