Let X CPN be a smooth subvariety. We study a flow, called balancing flow, on the space of projectively equivalent embeddings of X which attempts to deform the given embedding into a balanced one. If L X is an ample line bundle, considering embeddings via H0(Lk) gives a sequence of balancing flows. We prove that, provided these flows are started at appropriate points, they converge to Calabi flow for as long as it exists. This result is the parabolic analogue of Donaldsons theorem relating balanced embeddings to metrics with constant scalar curvature [12]. In our proof we combine Donaldson乫s techniques with an asymptotic result of Liu and Ma [17] which, as we explain, describes the asymptotic behavior of the derivative of the map FS . Hilb whose fixed points are balanced metrics.

We study minimal hypersurfaces in manifolds of non-negative Ricci curvature, Euclidean volume growth and quadratic curvature decay at infinity. By comparison with capped spherical cones, we identify a precise borderline for the Ricci curvature decay. Above this value, no complete area-minimizing hypersurfaces exist. Below this value, in contrast, we construct examples.

We prove the existence of embedded minimal surfaces of arbitrary genus g ≥ 3 in any flat 3-torus. In fact, we construct a sequence of such surfaces converging to a planar foliation of the 3-torus. In particular, the area of the surface can be chosen arbitrarily large.

We classify compact anti-self-dual Hermitian surfaces and compact four-dimensional conformally flat manifolds for which the group of orientation preserving conformal transformations contains a two-dimensional torus. As a corollary, we derive a topological classification of compact self-dual manifolds for which the group of conformal transformations contains a two-dimensional torus.

We introduce a new geometric flow, called the chord shortening flow, which is the negative gradient flow for the length functional on the space of chords with end points lying on a fixed submanifold in Euclidean space. As an application, we give a simplified proof of a classical theorem of Lusternik and Schnirelmann (and a generalization by Riede and Hayashi) on the existence of multiple orthogonal geodesic chords. For a compact convex planar domain, we show that any convex chord not orthogonal to the boundary would shrink to a point in finite time under the flow.