Variational Problems in Differential Geometry

The state of the art from an internationally respected line up of authors working in geometric variational problems.

Roger Bielawski (Edited by), Kevin Houston (Edited by), Martin Speight (Edited by)

9780521282741, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 October 2011

216 pages, 5 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.1 cm, 0.32 kg

The field of geometric variational problems is fast-moving and influential. These problems interact with many other areas of mathematics and have strong relevance to the study of integrable systems, mathematical physics and PDEs. The workshop 'Variational Problems in Differential Geometry' held in 2009 at the University of Leeds brought together internationally respected researchers from many different areas of the field. Topics discussed included recent developments in harmonic maps and morphisms, minimal and CMC surfaces, extremal Kähler metrics, the Yamabe functional, Hamiltonian variational problems and topics related to gauge theory and to the Ricci flow. These articles reflect the whole spectrum of the subject and cover not only current results, but also the varied methods and techniques used in attacking variational problems. With a mix of original and expository papers, this volume forms a valuable reference for more experienced researchers and an ideal introduction for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

1. Preface
2. The supremum of first eigenvalues of conformally covariant operators in a conformal class Bernd Ammann and Pierre Jammes
3. K-Destabilizing test configurations with smooth central fiber Claudio Arezzo, Alberto Della Vedova and Gabriele La Nave
4. Explicit constructions of Ricci solitons Paul Baird
5. Open iwasawa cells and applications to surface theory Josef F. Dorfmeister
6. Multiplier ideal sheaves and geometric problems Akito Futaki and Yuji Sano
7. Multisymplectic formalism and the covariant phase space Frédéric Hélein
8. Nonnegative curvature on disk bundles Lorenz J. Schwachhöfer
9. Morse theory and stable pairs Richard A. Wentworth and Graeme Wilkin
10. Manifolds with k-positive Ricci curvature Jon Wolfson.

Subject Areas: Topology [PBP], Geometry [PBM]