Witten's gauged linear sigma model [Wi1] is one of the universal frameworks or structures that lie behind stringy dualities. Its A-twisted moduli space at genus 0 case has been used in the Mirror Principle [LLY] that relates Gromov-Witten invariants and mirror symmetry computations. In this paper the A-twisted moduli stack for higher genus curves is defined and systematically studied. It is proved that such a moduli stack is an Artin stack. For genus 0, it has the A-twisted moduli space of [MP] as the coarse moduli space. The detailed proof of the regularity of the collapsing morphism by Jun Li in [LLY: I and II] can be viewed as a natural morphism from the moduli stack of genus 0 stable maps to the A-twisted moduli stack at genus 0.

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This is an expanded version of the third author's lecture in String-Math 2015 at Sanya. It summarizes some of our works in quantum cohomology. After reviewing the quantum Lefschetz and quantum Leray--Hirsch, we discuss their applications to the functoriality properties under special smooth flops, flips and blow-ups. Finally, for conifold transitions of Calabi--Yau 3-folds, formulations for small resolutions (blow-ups along Weil divisors) are sketched.

Let X denote an equivariant embedding of a connected reductive group G over an algebraically closed field k. Let B denote a Borel subgroup of G and let Z denote a B B-orbit closure in X. When the characteristic of k is positive and X is projective we prove that Z is globally F-regular. As a consequence, Z is normal and CohenMacaulay for arbitrary X and arbitrary characteristics. Moreover, in characteristic zero it follows that Z has rational singularities. This extends earlier results by the second author and M. Brion.