Let <i>M</i> be a compact Khler manifold and <i>N</i> be a subvariety with codimension greater than or equal to 2. We show that there are no complete KhlerEinstein metrics on M - N . As an application, let <i>E</i> be an exceptional divisor of <i>M</i>. Then M - N cannot admit any complete KhlerEinstein metric if blow-down of <i>E</i> is a complex variety with only canonical or terminal singularities. A similar result is shown for pairs.

A method of constructing Cohomological Field Theories (CohFTs) with unit using minimal classes on the moduli spaces of curves is developed. As a simple consequence, CohFTs with unit are found which take values outside of the tautological cohomology of the moduli spaces of curves. A study of minimal classes in low genus is presented in the Appendix by D. Petersen.

Generalizing the continuous rank function of Barja-Pardini-Stoppino, in this paper we consider cohomological rank functions of Q-twisted (complexes of) coherent sheaves on abelian varieties. They satisfy a natural transformation formula with respect to the Fourier-Mukai-Poincar´e transform, which has several consequences. In many concrete geometric contexts these functions provide useful invariants. We illustrate this with two different applications, the first one to GVsubschemes and the second one to multiplication maps of global sections of ample line bundles on abelian varieties.

Theorem 1. Let D be an irreducible bounded symmetric domain in C', n&gt;= 2. Let F be a (nonuniform) lattice in Aut (D), ie a discrete subgroup of Aut (D) for which N:= D/F (is noncompact and) has. finite volume (wrt the locally symmetric metric induced from D). Suppose that a group F isomorphic to F (as an abstract group) acts as a discrete automorphism group on a contractible K (ihler manifold tVI. Assume that lQ/f has a finite singularity free cover M (ie M is a manifold) which is quasiprojective ie admits a compactification as a projective variety IVI and that~ I\M is of codimension at least three in~ l. Then] Q is biholomorphically equivalent to D, and f is conjugate to F in Aut (D).

The study of affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties originally arose from arithmetic geometry, but many problems on affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties are purely Lie-theoretic in nature. This survey deals with recent progress on several important problems on affine Deligne-Lusztig varieties. The emphasis is on the Lie-theoretic aspect, while some connections and applications to arithmetic geometry will also be mentioned.