Let X be a compact connected strongly pseudoconvex CR Manifold of real dimension 2n.1 in Cn+1. Tanaka introduced a spec- tral sequence E(p,q) r (X) with E(p,q) 1 (X) being the Kohn-Rossi cohomology group and E(k,0) 2 (X) being the holomorphic De Rham cohomology denoted by Hk h(X). We study the holomorphic De Rham cohomology in terms of the s-invariant of the isolated sin- gularities of the variety V bounded by X. We give a characterization of the singularities with vanishing s-invariants. For n ≥ 3, Yau used the Kohn-Rossi cohomology groups to solve the classical complex Plateau problem in 1981. For n = 2, the problem has re- mained unsolved for over a quarter of a century. In this paper, we make progress in this direction by putting some conditions on X so that V will have very mild singularities. Specifically, we prove that if dimX = 3 and H2 h(X) = 0, then X is a boundary of complex variety V with only isolated quasi-homogeneous singularities such that the dual graphs of the exceptional sets in the resolution are star shaped and all curves are rational.

We characterize H¨older continuously differentiable m dimensional submanifolds of Euclidean space among m rectifiable sets S in terms of growth conditions on the m density ratios of the Hausdorff measure Hm S.

We introduce a new equivalence relation for complete alge- braic varieties with canonical singularities, generated by birational equivalence, by flat algebraic deformations (of varieties with canon- ical singularities), and by quasi-´etale morphisms, i.e., morphisms which are unramified in codimension 1. We denote the above equivalence by A.Q.E.D. : = Algebraic-Quasi-´ Etale- Deformation. A completely similar equivalence relation, denoted by C-Q.E.D., can be considered for compact complex spaces with canonical sin- gularities. By a recent theorem of Siu, dimension and Kodaira dimension are invariants for A.Q.E.D. of complex varieties. We address the interesting question whether conversely two al- gebraic varieties of the same dimension and with the same Ko- daira dimension are Q.E.D. - equivalent (A.Q.E.D., or at least C-Q.E.D.), the answer being positive for curves by well known results. Using Enriques’ (resp. Kodaira’s) classification we show first that the answer to the C-Q.E.D. question is positive for special algebraic surfaces (those with Kodaira dimension at most 1), resp. for compact complex surfaces with Kodaira dimension 0, 1 and even first Betti number. The appendix by S¨onke Rollenske shows that the hypothesis of even first Betti number is necessary: he proves that any sur- face which is C-Q.E.D.-equivalent to a Kodaira surface is itself a Kodaira surface. We show also that the answer to the A.Q.E.D. question is pos- itive for complex algebraic surfaces of Kodaira dimension ≤ 1. The answer to the Q.E.D. question is instead negative for sur- faces of general type: the other appendix, due to Fritz Grunewald, is devoted to showing that the (rigid) Kuga-Shavel type surfaces of general type obtained as quotients of the bidisk via discrete groups constructed from quaternion algebras belong to countably many distinct Q.E.D. equivalence classes.

Let fn → f0 be a convergent sequence of rational maps, preserving critical relations, and f0 be geometrically finite with parabolic points. It is known that for some unlucky choices of sequences fn,the Julia sets J(fn) and their Hausdorff dimensions may fail to converge as n → ∞. Our main result here is to prove the convergence of J(fn) and H.dim J(fn) for generic sequences fn. The same conclusion was obtained earlier, with stronger hypotheses on the sequence fn, by Bodart-Zinsmeister and then by McMullen. We characterize those choices of fn by means of flows of appropriate polynomial vector fields (following Douady-Estrada-Sentenac). We first prove an independent result about the (s-dimensional) length of separatrices of such flows, and then use it to estimate tails of Poincar´e series. This, together with existing techniques,provides the desired control of conformal densities and Hausdorff dimensions. Our method may be applied to other problems relatedto parabolic perturbations.

We prove global rigidity for compact hyperbolic and spherical cone-3-manifolds with cone-angles ≤ π (which are not Seifert fibered in the spherical case), furthermore for a class of hyperbolic cone-3-manifolds of finite volume with cone-angles ≤ π, possibly with boundary consisting of totally geodesic hyperbolic turnovers.To that end we first generalize the local rigidity result contained in [Wei] to the setting of hyperbolic cone-3-manifolds of finite volume as above. We then use the techniques developed in [BLP] to deform the cone-manifold structure to a complete non-singular or a geometric orbifold structure, where global rigidity holds due to Mostow-Prasad rigidity, cf. [Mos], [Pra], in the hyperbolic case,resp. [deR], cf. also [Rot], in the spherical case. This strategy has already been implemented successfully by [Koj] in the compact hyperbolic case if the singular locus is a link using HodgsonKerckhoff local rigidity, cf. [HK].