We define quasi-local conserved quantities in general relativity by using the optimal isometric embedding in Wang and Yau (Commun Math Phys 288(3):919–942, 2009) to transplant Killing fields in the Minkowski spacetime back to the 2-surface of interest in a physical spacetime. To each optimal isometric embedding, a dual element of the Lie algebra of the Lorentz group is assigned. Quasi-local angular momentum and quasi-local center of mass correspond to pairing this element with rotation Killing fields and boost Killing fields, respectively. They obey classical transformation laws under the action of the Poincaré group. We further justify these definitions by considering their limits as the total angular momentum and the total center of mass of an isolated system. These expressions were derived from the Hamilton–Jacobi analysis of the gravitational action and thus satisfy conservation laws. As a result, we obtained an invariant total angular momentum theorem in the Kerr spacetime. For a vacuum asymptotically flat initial data set of order 1, it is shown that the limits are always finite without any extra assumptions. We also study these total conserved quantities on a family of asymptotically flat initial data sets evolving by the vacuum Einstein evolution equation. It is shown that the total angular momentum is conserved under the evolution. For the total center of mass, the classical dynamical formula relating the center of mass, energy, and linear momentum is recovered, in the nonlinear context of initial data sets evolving by the vacuum Einstein evolution equation. The definition of quasi-local angular momentum provides an answer to the second problem in classical general relativity on Penrose’s list (Proc R Soc Lond Ser A 381(1780):53–63, 1982).

For a spacelike 2-surface in spacetime, we propose a new definition of quasi-local angular momentum and quasi-local center of mass, as an element in the dual space of the Lie algebra of the Lorentz group. Together with previous defined quasi-local energy-momentum, this completes the definition of conserved quantities in general relativity at the quasi-local level. We justify this definition by showing the consistency with the theory of special relativity and expectations on an axially symmetric spacetime. The limits at spatial infinity provide new definitions for total conserved quantities of an isolated system, which do not depend on any asymptotically flat coordinate system or asymptotic Killing field. The new proposal is free of ambiguities found in existing definitions and presents the first definition that precisely describes the dynamics of the Einstein equation.

We exam the validity of the definition of the ADM angular momentum without the parity assumption. Explicit examples of asymptotically flat hypersurfaces in the Minkowski spacetime with zero ADM energy-momentum vector and finite non-zero angular momentum vector are presented. We also discuss the Beig-\'O Murchadha-Regge-Teitelboim center of mass and study analogous examples in the Schwarzschild spacetime

We derive pointwise curvature estimates for graphical mean curvature flows in higher codimensions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such estimates without assuming smallness of first derivatives of the defining map. An immediate application is a convergence theorem of the mean curvature flow of the graph of an area decreasing map between flat Riemann surfaces.

This note surveys and compares results on the separation of variables construction for soliton solutions of curvature equations including the K\"ahler-Ricci flow and the Lagrangian mean curvature flow. In the last section, we propose some new generalizations in the Lagrangian mean curvature flow case.