Geometry and Analysis Seminar

Hypertoric varieties are conical symplectic singularities equipped with a hamiltonian action of a torus of maximal possible dimension. They behave analogously to toric varieties in many ways, with the hamiltonian torus replacing the dense torus. Examples include: (crepant partial resolutions of) rational surface singularities of type A, the cotangent bundle of projective space, and Nakajima quiver varieties with the `all 1s' dimension vector.

Arbo and Proudfoot conjectured a combinatorial classification of hypertoric varieties by zonotopal tilings. In this talk I will discuss a proof of the conjecture.

Z/2 harmonic 1-forms are generalizations of harmonic 1-forms that allow topological twisting around a subspace of codimension 2. These objects were introduced by Taubes to compactify the moduli spaces of solutions to generalized Seiberg-Witten equations, and they show up in many other gauge theoretical problems.

Donaldson showed there is a deformation theory for so-called non-degenerate Z/2-harmonic 1-forms. In this presentation we study the deformations of the remaining degenerate solutions. For a natural class of degenerate examples, we prove that after a suitable perturbation of the ambient Riemannian metric, the form can be deformed to a nearby non-degenerate Z/2-harmonic 1-form.

A recurring theme in differential geometry is understanding when a set of geometric conditions uniquely characterizes an object. In this talk, I will discuss this question for minimal surfaces in the unit ball, focusing on those meeting the boundary orthogonally. I will explain recent joint work with Jonathan Zhu in which we prove that every properly embedded, free-boundary, minimal annulus is congruent to the critical catenoid. I will also describe closely related results for axially symmetric Alt-Caffarelli cones and free-boundary minimal annuli in spherical caps, and discuss connections with other uniqueness results in differential geometry. 

In this talk we will discuss $G_2$-instantons and their relation to the heterotic $G_2$-system on 7-dimensional 2-step nilpotent Lie groups. We will first consider left-invariant coclosed $G_2$-structures and present necessary and sufficient conditions for their characteristic connection to be a $G_2$-instanton, expressed in terms of the torsion of the $G_2$-structure, the torsion of the connection, and the Lie group structure. We will then explain how these conditions imply that the corresponding left-invariant Riemannian metrics define naturally reductive structures.

As a continuation, we will consider solutions to the heterotic $G_2$-system on 2-step nilmanifolds. We will describe constructions of solutions with non-abelian gauge groups and discuss how the geometry of the underlying $G_2$-structure and the choice of gauge connection enter the equations. In particular, we will present families of solutions arising from the $G_2$-instantons described in the first part.

This is joint work with Andrew Clarke, Andrés J. Moreno, and Udhav Fowdar.

This talk is divided in three parts. First, I review structural properties and examples of geometries with parallel skew torsion. Second, I take a closer look at those geometries where the torsion is in addition closed; this equips every tangent space with the structure of a metric Lie algebra. These manifolds always locally split as a product into well understood factors, allowing a complete local classification. Third, I investigate various G-structures defining a geometry of this type, with a focus on almost Hermitian structures, extending recent results of Barbaro-Pediconi-Tardini. This is joint work with Andrei Moroianu.