We give a shorter proof of the existence of nontrivial closed minimal hypersurfaces in closed smooth (n + 1)-dimensional Riemannian manifolds, a theorem proved first by Pitts for 2 ≤ n ≤ 5 and extended later by Schoen and Simon to any n.

In this paper, we proved the mass angular momentum inequality\cite{D1}\cite{ChrusLiWe}\cite{SZ} for axisymmetric, asymptotically flat, vacuum constraint data sets with small trace. Given an initial data set with small trace, we construct a boost evolution spacetime of the Einstein vacuum equations as \cite{ChOM}. Then a perturbation method is used to solve the maximal surface equation in the spacetime under certain growing condition at infinity. When the initial data set is axisymmetric, we get an axisymmetric maximal graph with the same ADM mass and angular momentum as the given data. The inequality follows from the known results\cite{D1}\cite{ChrusLiWe}\cite{SZ} about the maximal graph.

We use a variational principle to prove an existence and uniqueness theorem for planar weighted Delaunay triangulations (with non-intersecting site-circles) with prescribed combinatorial type and circle intersection angles. Such weighted Delaunay triangulations may be interpreted as images of hyperbolic polyhedra with one vertex on and the remaining vertices beyond the infinite boundary of hyperbolic space. Thus, the main theorem states necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of such polyhedra with prescribed combinatorial type and dihedral angles. More generally, we consider weighted Delaunay triangulations in piecewise flat surfaces, allowing cone singularities with prescribed cone angles in the vertices. The material presented here extends work by Rivin on Delaunay triangulations and ideal polyhedra.

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.

The classification work [5], [8] left unsettled only those anomalous isoparametric hypersurfaces with four principal curvatures and multiplicity pair {4, 5}, {6, 9}, or {7, 8} in the sphere. By systematically exploring the ideal theory in commutative algebra in conjunction with the geometry of isoparametric hypersurfaces, we show that an isoparametric hypersurface with four principal curvatures and multiplicities {4, 5} in S19 is homogeneous, and, moreover, an isoparametric hypersurface with four principal curvatures and multiplicities {6, 9} in S31 is either the inhomogeneous one constructed by Ferus, Karcher, and M¨unzner, or the one that is homogeneous. This classification reveals the striking resemblance between these two rather different types of isoparametric hypersurfaces in the homogeneous category, even though the one with multiplicities {6, 9} is of the type constructed by Ferus, Karcher, and M¨unzner and the one with multiplicities {4, 5} stands alone. The quaternion and the octonion algebras play a fundamental role in their geometric structures. A unifying theme in [5], [8], and the present sequel to them is Serre’s criterion of normal varieties. Its technical side pertinent to our situation that we developed in [5], [8] and extend in this sequel is instrumental. The classification leaves only the case of multiplicity pair {7, 8} open.