We describe the proof that the period map from the Torelli space of Calabi-Yau manifolds to the classifying space of polarized Hodge structures is an embedding. The proof is based on the constructions of holomorphic affine structure on the Teichmller space and Hodge metric completion of the Torelli space. A canonical global holomorphic section of the holomorphic (n, 0) class on the Teichmller space is constructed.

Spin polynomial invariants, as denned by Pidstrigatch and Tyurin, are used to define differentiable invariants for Dolgachev surfaces. In order to define and compute these invariants, some machinery is developed to study the wall structure for Spin polynomials, to deal with the fact that the moduli spaces have the wrong dimension and to handle nonreduced structures. The invariants are then computed.

We derive an effective recursion for Witten's r-spin intersection numbers, using Witten's conjecture relating r-spin numbers to the Gel'fand-Dikii hierarchy (Theorem 4.1). Consequences include closed-form descriptions of the intersection numbers (for example, in terms of gamma functions: Propositions 5.2 and 5.4, Corollary 5.5). We use these closed-form descriptions to prove Harer-Zagier's formula for the Euler characteristic of M_ {g, 1}. Finally in Section 6, we extend Witten's series expansion formula for the Landau-Ginzburg potential to study r-spin numbers in the small phase space in genus zero. Our key tool is the calculus of formal pseudodifferential operators, and is partially motivated by work of Brezin and Hikami.

We prove that the image of period map is algebraic, as conjectured by Griffiths.

Let X be a compact Khler manifold and X a subvariety of X with higher co-dimension. The aim is to study complete constant scalar curvature Khler metrics on non-compact Khler manifold X with Poincar--Mok--Yau asymptotic property (see Definition\ref {def}). In this paper, the methods of Calabi's ansatz and the moment construction are used to provide some special examples of such metrics.