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Given an acyclic representation  of the fundamental group of a compact oriented odd-dimensional manifold, which is close enough to an acyclic unitary representation, we define a refinement T of the Ray-Singer torsion associated to , which can be viewed as the analytic counterpart of the refined combinatorial torsion introduced by Turaev. T is equal to the graded determinant of the odd signature operator up to a correction term, the metric anomaly, needed to make it independent of the choice of the Riemannian metric.T is a holomorphic function on the space of such representations of the fundamental group. When  is a unitary representation, the absolute value of T is equal to the Ray-Singer torsion and the phase of T is proportional to the -invariant of the odd signature operator. The fact that the Ray-Singer torsion and the-invariant can be combined into one holomorphic function allows one to use methods of complex analysis to study both invariants. In particular, using these methods we compute the quotient of the refined analytic torsion and Turaev’s refinement of the combinatorial torsion generalizing in this way the classical Cheeger-M¨uller theorem. As an application, we extend and improve a result of Farber about the relationship between the Farber-Turaev absolute torsion and the -invariant. As part of our construction of T we prove several new results about determinants and -invariants of non self-adjoint elliptic operators.

In this paper we study the Dirichlet problem for fully nonlinear second-order equations on a riemannian manifold. As in our previous paper [HL4], we define equations via closed subsets of the 2-jet bundle where each equation has a natural dual equation. Basic existence and uniqueness theorems are established in a wide variety of settings. However, the emphasis is on starting with a constant coefficient equation as a model, which then universally determines an equation on every riemannian manifold which is equipped with a topological reduction of the structure group to the invariance group of the model. For example, this covers all branches of the homogeneous complex Monge-Amp`ere equation on an almost complex hermitian manifold X. In general, for an equation F on a manifold X and a smooth domain  X, we give geometric conditions which imply that the Dirichlet problem on is uniquely solvable for all continuous boundary functions. We begin by introducing a weakened form of comparison which has the advantage that local implies global. We then introduce two fundamental concepts. The first is the notion of a monotonicity cone M for F. If X carries a global Msubharmonic function, then weak comparison implies full comparison. The second notion is that of boundary F-convexity, which is defined in terms of the asymptotics of F and is used to define barriers. In combining these notions the Dirichlet problem becomes uniquely solvable as claimed. This article also introduces the notion of local affine jet-equivalence for subequations. It is used in treating the cases above, but gives results for a much broader spectrum of equations on manifolds, including inhomogeneous equations and the Calabi-Yau equation on almost complex hermitian manifolds. A considerable portion of the paper is concerned with specific examples. They include a wide variety of equations which make sense on any riemannian manifold, and many which hold universally on almost complex or quaternionic hermitian manifolds, or topologically calibrated manifolds.

In our earlier work, we constructed uniformly high order accurate discontinuous Galerkin (DG) and finite volume schemes which preserve positivity of density and pressure for the Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics. In this paper, we present an extension of this framework to construct positivity-preserving high order essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) and weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite difference schemes for compressible Euler equations. General equations of state and source terms are also discussed. Numerical tests of the fifth order finite difference WENO scheme are reported to demonstrate the good behavior of such schemes.

In earlier work, Maire developed a class of cell-centered Lagrangian schemes for solving Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics in cylindrical coordinates. These schemes use a node-based discretization of the numerical fluxes. The control volume version has several distinguished properties, including the conservation of mass, momentum and total energy and compatibility with the geometric conservation law (GCL). However it also has a limitation in that it cannot preserve spherical symmetry for one-dimensional spherical flow. An alternative is also given to use the first order area-weighted approach which can ensure spherical symmetry, at the price of sacrificing conservation of momentum. In this paper, we apply the methodology proposed in our recent work to the first order control volume scheme of Maire to obtain the spherical symmetry property. The modified scheme can preserve one-dimensional spherical symmetry in a two-dimensional cylindrical geometry when computed on an equal-angle-zoned initial grid, and meanwhile it maintains its original good properties such as conservation and GCL. Several two-dimensional numerical examples in cylindrical coordinates are presented to demonstrate the good performance of the scheme in terms of symmetry, non-oscillation and robustness properties.