We prove that the number of critical points of a Li–Tam Green’s function on a complete open Riemannian surface of finite type admits a topological upper bound, given by the first Betti number of the surface. In higher dimensions, we show that there are no topological upper bounds on the number of critical points by constructing, for each nonnegative integer N, a Riemannian manifold diffeomorphic to Rn (n > 3) whose minimal Green’s function has at least N non-degenerate critical points. Variations on the method of proof of the latter result yield contractible n-manifolds whose minimal Green’s functions have level sets diffeomorphic to any fixed codimension 1 compact submanifold of R^n.

In this paper, we establish a Bochner-type formula on Alexandrov spaces with Ricci curvature bounded below. Yau’s gradient estimate for harmonic functions is also obtained on Alexandrov spaces.

We show that the exterior derivative operator on a symplectic manifold has a natural decomposition into two linear differential operators, analogous to the Dolbeault operators in complex geometry. These operators map primitive forms into primitive forms and therefore lead directly to the construction of primitive cohomologies on symplectic manifolds. Using these operators, we introduce new primitive cohomologies that are analogous to the Dolbeault cohomology in the complex theory. Interestingly, the finiteness of these primitive cohomologies follows directly from an elliptic complex. We calculate the known primitive cohomologies on a nilmanifold and show that their dimensions can vary with the class of the symplectic form.

We introduce new finite-dimensional cohomologies on symplectic manifolds. Each exhibits Lefschetz decomposition and contains a unique harmonic representative within each class. Associated with each cohomology is a primitive cohomology defined purely on the space of primitive forms. We identify the dual currents of lagrangians and more generally coisotropic submanifolds with elements of a primitive cohomology, which dualizes to a homology on coisotropic chains.

Given a closed Riemannian manifold, we show how to close an orbit of the geodesic flow by a small perturbation of the metric in the C1 topology.