Hence the energy defines a functional on the space of Lipshitz maps between M and M'. Critical points of this functional are called harmonic maps. These maps were studied by Bochner, Morrey, Rauch, Eells and Sampson, Hartman, Uhlenbeck, Hamilton, Hildebrandt and others. The first fundamental result was due to Eells and Sampson [3] who proved that, in case M'has non-positive sectional curvature, each map from M to M'is homotopic to a harmonic map.(This result was then extended by Hamilton [8] to the case where both M and M'are allowed to have boundary.) Later Hartman [7] was able to prove the harmonic map is unique in each homotopy class if M'has strictly negative curvature. This last result of Hartman leads one to believe that harmonic maps between compact manifolds with negative curvature must enjoy a lot of nice properties. In fact, a few years ago, B. Lawson and the second author conjectured

The path complex and its homology were defined in the previous papers of authors. The theory of path complexes is a natural discrete generalization of the theory of simplicial complexes and the homology of path complexes provide homotopy invariant homology theory of digraphs and (nondirected) graphs. In the paper we study the homology theory of path complexes. In particular, we describe functorial properties of paths complexes, introduce notion of homotopy for path complexes and prove the homotopy invariance of path homology groups. We prove also several theorems that are similar to the results of classical homology theory of simplicial complexes. Then we apply obtained results for construction homology theories on various categories of hypergraphs. We describe basic properties of these homology theories and relations between them. As a particular case, these results give new homology theories on the category of simplicial complexes.

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We consider the following mean field equation: $$\Delta_{g}v+\rho\left(\frac{h^*e^v}{\int_Mh^*e^v}-1\right)=4\pi\sum_{j=1}^N\alpha_j(\delta_{q_j}-1)$$ on M, where M is a compact Riemann surface with volume 1, $h^*$ is a positive $C^1$ function on M, and  $\alpha_j$ are constants satisfying $\alpha_j>-1$. In this paper, we derive the topological degree counting formula for noncritical values of $\rho$. We also give several applications of this formula, including existence of curvature +1 metric with conic singularities, doubly periodic solutions of electroweak theory, and a special case of self-gravitating strings.

This monograph introduces the basic concepts of the theory of causal fermion systems, a recent approach to the description of fundamental physics. The theory yields quantum mechanics, general relativity and quantum field theory as limiting cases and is therefore a candidate for a unified physical theory. From the mathematical perspective, causal fermion systems provide a general framework for describing and analyzing non-smooth geometries and ``quantum geometries.'' The dynamics is described by a novel variational principle, called the causal action principle. In addition to the basics, the book provides all the necessary mathematical background and explains how the causal action principle gives rise to the interactions of the standard model plus gravity on the level of second-quantized fermionic fields coupled to classical bosonic fields. The focus is on getting a mathematically sound connection between causal fermion systems and physical systems in Minkowski space. The book is intended for graduate students entering the field, and is furthermore a valuable reference work for researchers in quantum field theory and quantum gravity.