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Let M be a compact Riemannian manifold, π : \tilde{M} → M be the universal covering and ω be a smooth 2-form on M with π^∗ω cohomologous to zero. Suppose the fundamental group π_1(M) satisfies certain radial quadratic (resp. linear) isoperimetric inequality, we show that there exists a smooth 1-form η on \tilde{M} of linear (resp. bounded) growth such that π^∗ω = dη. As applications, we prove that on a compact Kahler manifold (M,ω) with π^∗ω cohomologous to zero, if π_1(M) is CAT(0) or automatic (resp. hyperbolic), then M is Kahler non-elliptic (resp. Kahler hyperbolic) and the Euler characteristic (−1)^{dim_RM/2χ(M) ≥ 0 (resp. >0).

This project was sponsored through the Schiff Fellowship program of Brandeis University. This project involved using the power series method to construct a third order nonlinear ordinary differential equation, a Schwarzian equation, for each of the "genus zero" modular functions, described in the Conway-Norton paper. We first use the Borcherd recursion formuli to generate, in each case, a modular function up to whatever degree we desire, and then use the fact that there is a Schwarzian equation, determined by a single rational function we call a Q-value. By similar power series methods, we compute the coefficients of our rational function, and hence have all the necessary data to create a Schwarzian differential equation for each modular function. This equation can, in turn, be used to recover the modular function itself.

We study the Plateau Problem of finding an area minimizing disk bounding a given Jordan curve in Alexandrov spaces with curvature ≥ κ. These are complete metric spaces with a lower curvature bound given in terms of triangle comparison. Imposing an additional condition that is satisfied by all Alexandrov spaces according to a conjecture of Perel’man, we develop a harmonic map theory from two dimensional domains into these spaces. In particular, we show that the solution to the Dirichlet problem from a disk is H¨older continuous in the interior and continuous up to the boundary. Using this theory, we solve the Plateau Problem in this setting generalizing classical results in Euclidean space (due to J. Douglas and T. Rado) and in Riemannian manifolds (due to C.B. Morrey).

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