In a symmetric space of noncompact type X = G=K oriented geodesic segments correspond modulo isometries to vectors in the Euclidean Weyl chamber. We can hence assign vector valued lengths to segments. Our main result is a system of homogeneous linear inequalities, which we call the generalized triangle inequalities or stability inequalities, describing the restrictions on the vector valued side lengths of oriented polygons. It is based on the mod 2 Schubert calculus in the real Grassmannians G=P for maximal parabolic subgroups P. The side lengths of polygons in Euclidean buildings are studied in the related paper [KLM2]. Applications of the geomet- ric results in both papers to algebraic group theory are given in[KLM3].

No abstract uploaded!

Given a Lagrangian sphere in a symplectic 4–manifold $(M, \omega)$ with $b^{+}=1$, we find embedded symplectic surfaces intersecting it minimally. When the Kodaira dimension  $\kappa$ of $(M,\omega)$ is $-\infty$, this minimal intersection property turns out to be very powerful for both the uniqueness and existence problems of Lagrangian spheres. On the uniqueness side, for a symplectic rational manifold and any class which is not characteristic, we show that homologous Lagrangian spheres are smoothly isotopic, and when the Euler number is less than 8, we generalize Hind and Evans’ Hamiltonian uniqueness in the monotone case. On the existence side, when  $\kappa=-\infty$, we give a characterization of classes represented by Lagrangian spheres, which enables us to describe the non-Torelli part of the symplectic mapping class group.

We deal with a stationary problem of a reaction–diffusion system with a conservation law under the Neu-mann boundary condition. It is shown that the stationary problem turns to be the Euler–Lagrange equation of an energy functional with a mass constraint. When the domain is the finite interval (0, 1), we investigate the asymptotic profile of a strictly monotone minimizer of the energy as d, the ratio of the diffusion coef-ficient of the system, tends to zero. In view of a logarithmic function in the leading term of the potential, we get to a scaling parameter κsatisfying the relation ε:=√d=√logκ/κ2. The main result shows that a sequence of minimizers converges to a Dirac mass multiplied by the total mass and that by a scaling with κthe asymptotic profile exhibits a parabola in the nonvanishing region. We also prove the existence of an unstable monotone solution when the mass is small.

TheLpAleksandrovintegralcurvatureanditscorrespondingchar- acterization problem—the Lp Aleksandrov problem—were recently introduced by Huang, Lutwak, Yang, and Zhang. The current work presents a solution to the Lp Aleksandrov problem for origin-symmetric polytopes when −1 < p < 0.