Let X be a compact connected strongly pseudoconvex CR manifold of real dimension 2n . 1 in CN. It has been an interesting question to find an intrinsic smoothness criteria for the complex Plateau problem. For n  3 and N = n+1, Yau found a necessary and sufficient condition for the interior regularity of the HarveyLawson solution to the complex Plateau problem by means of Kohn–Rossi cohomology groups on X in 1981. For n = 2 and N  n + 1, the problem has been open for over 30 years. In this paper we introduce a new CR invariant g(1,1)(X) of X. The vanishing of this invariant will give the interior regularity of the Harvey–Lawson solution up to normalization. In the case n = 2 and N = 3, the vanishing of this invariant is enough to give the interior regularity.

In this paper we discuss the change in contact structures as their supporting open book decompositions have their binding components cabled. To facilitate this and applications we define the notion of a rational open book decomposition that generalizes the standard notion of open book decomposition and allows one to more easily study surgeries on transverse knots. As a corollary to our investigation we are able to show there are Stein fillable contact structures supported by open books whose monodromies cannot be written as a product of positive Dehn twists. We also exhibit several monoids in the mapping class group of a surface that have contact geometric significance.

We show the regularity of, and derive a-priori estimates for (weakly) harmonic maps from a Riemannian manifold into a Euclidean sphere under the assumption that the image avoids some neighborhood of a half-equator. The proofs combine constructions of strictly convex functions and the regularity theory of quasilinear elliptic systems. We apply these results to the spherical and Euclidean Bernstein problems for minimal hypersurfaces, obtaining new conditions under which compact minimal hypersurfaces in spheres or complete minimal hypersurfaces in Euclidean spaces are trivial.

We construct balanced metrics on the family of non-K¨ahler Calabi-Yau threefolds that are obtained by smoothing after contracting (−1,−1)-rational curves on a K¨ahler Calabi-Yau threefold. As an application, we construct balanced metrics on complex manifolds diffeomorphic to the connected sum of k  2 copies of S3 × S3.

In this paper we discuss the change in contact structures as their supporting open book decompositions have their binding components cabled. To facilitate this and applications we define the notion of a rational open book decomposition that generalizes the standard notion of open book decomposition and allows one to more easily study surgeries on transverse knots. As a corollary to our investigation we are able to show there are Stein fillable contact structures supported by open books whose monodromies cannot be written as a product of positive Dehn twists. We also exhibit several monoids in the mapping class group of a surface that have contact geometric significance.