The classification work [5], [8] left unsettled only those anomalous isoparametric hypersurfaces with four principal curvatures and multiplicity pair {4, 5}, {6, 9}, or {7, 8} in the sphere. By systematically exploring the ideal theory in commutative algebra in conjunction with the geometry of isoparametric hypersurfaces, we show that an isoparametric hypersurface with four principal curvatures and multiplicities {4, 5} in S19 is homogeneous, and, moreover, an isoparametric hypersurface with four principal curvatures and multiplicities {6, 9} in S31 is either the inhomogeneous one constructed by Ferus, Karcher, and M¨unzner, or the one that is homogeneous. This classification reveals the striking resemblance between these two rather different types of isoparametric hypersurfaces in the homogeneous category, even though the one with multiplicities {6, 9} is of the type constructed by Ferus, Karcher, and M¨unzner and the one with multiplicities {4, 5} stands alone. The quaternion and the octonion algebras play a fundamental role in their geometric structures. A unifying theme in [5], [8], and the present sequel to them is Serre’s criterion of normal varieties. Its technical side pertinent to our situation that we developed in [5], [8] and extend in this sequel is instrumental. The classification leaves only the case of multiplicity pair {7, 8} open.

In this article we give necessary and sufficient conditions for an irreducible K¨ahler C-space with b2 = 1 to have nonnegative or positive quadratic bisectional curvature, assuming the space is not Hermitian symmetric. In the cases of the five exceptional Lie groups E6,E7,E8, F4,G2, the computer package MAPLE is used to assist our calculations. The results are related to two conjectures of Li-Wu-Zheng.

We show that any star-shaped convex hypersurface with constantWeingarten curvature in the deSitter-Schwarzschildmanifold is a sphere of symmetry.Moreover, we study an isoperimetric problem for bounded domains in the doubled Schwarzschild manifold. We prove the existence of an isoperimetric surface for any value of the enclosed volume, and we completely describe the isoperimetric surfaces for very large enclosed volume. This complements work in H. Bray’s thesis, where isoperimetric surfaces homologous to the horizon are studied.

We prove flatness of complete Riemannian planes and cylinders without conjugate points under optimal conditions on the area growth.

This work uncovers the tropical analogue, for measured laminations, of the convex hull construction in decorated Teichm¨uller theory; namely, it is a study in coordinates of geometric degeneration to a point of Thurston’s boundary for Teichm¨uller space. This may offer a paradigm for the extension of the basic cell decomposition of Riemann’s moduli space to other contexts for general moduli spaces of flat connections on a surface. In any case, this discussion drastically simplifies aspects of previous related studies as is explained. Furthermore, a new class of measured laminations relative to an ideal cell decomposition of a surface is discovered in the limit. Finally, the tropical analogue of the convex hull construction inMinkowski space is formulated as an explicit algorithm that serially simplifies a triangulation with respect to a fixed lamination and has its own independent interest.