arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Mark Stern.
We study the asymptotic structure of instantons on multi-centered Taub-NUT manifolds, calorons, and monopoles on R^3. We show that, without any assumptions on symmetry breaking, these instantons and monopoles asymptotically decompose as a sum of U(1) instantons and monopoles, respectively.
The index bundle of a family of Dirac operators associated to an instanton on a multi-Taub-NUT space forms a bow representation. We prove that the gauge equivalence classes of solutions of this bow representation are in one-to-one correspondence with the instantons. We also prove that this correspondence establishes an isometry of the bow and instanton moduli spaces.
Unitary anti-self-dual connections on Asymptotically Locally Flat (ALF) hyperk\"ahler spaces are constructed in terms of data organized in a bow. Bows generalize quivers, and the relevant bow gives rise to the underlying ALF space as the moduli space of its particular representation -- the small representation. Any other representation of that bow gives rise to anti-self-dual connections on that ALF space. We prove that each resulting connection has finite action, i.e. it is an instanton. Moreover, we derive the asymptotic form of such a connection and compute its topological class.
We obtain strong upper bounds for the Betti numbers of compact complex-hyperbolic manifolds. We use the unitary holonomy to improve the results given by the most direct application of the techniques of [DS17]. We also provide effective upper bounds for Betti numbers of compact quaternionic- and Cayley-hyperbolic manifolds in most degrees. More importantly, we extend our techniques to complete finite volume real- and complex-hyperbolic manifolds. In this setting, we develop new monotonicity inequalities for strongly harmonic forms on hyperbolic cusps and employ a new peaking argument to estimate $L^2$-cohomology ranks. Finally, we provide bounds on the de Rham cohomology of such spaces, using a combination of our bounds on $L^2$-cohomology, bounds on the number of cusps in terms of the volume, and the topological interpretation of reduced $L^2$-cohomology on certain rank one locally symmetric spaces.
We study Betti numbers of sequences of Riemannian manifolds which Benjamini-Schramm converge to their universal covers. Using the Price inequalities we developed elsewhere, we derive two distinct convergence results. First, under a negative Ricci curvature assumption and no assumption on sign of the sectional curvature, we have a convergence result for weakly uniform discrete sequences of closed Riemannian manifolds. In the negative sectional curvature case, we are able to remove the weakly uniform discreteness assumption. This is achieved by combining a refined Thick-Thin decomposition together with a Moser iteration argument for harmonic forms on manifolds with boundary.
We derive Price inequalities for harmonic forms on manifolds without conjugate points and with a negative Ricci upper bound. The techniques employed in the proof work particularly well for manifolds of non-positive sectional curvature, and in this case we prove a strengthened Price inequality. We employ these inequalities to study the asymptotic behavior of the Betti numbers of coverings of Riemannian manifolds without conjugate points. Finally, we give a vanishing result for $L^{2}$-Betti numbers of closed manifolds without conjugate points.
We relate small 1-form Laplacian eigenvalues to relative cycle complexity on closed hyperbolic manifolds: small eigenvalues correspond to closed geodesics no multiple of which bounds a surface of small genus. We describe potential applications of this equivalence principle toward proving optimal torsion homology growth in families of hyperbolic 3-manifolds Benjamini-Schramm converging to $\mathbb{H}^3.$
We study finite action anti-self-dual Yang-Mills connections on the multi-Taub-NUT space. We establish the curvature and the harmonic spinors decay rates and compute the index of the associated Dirac operator. This is the first in a series of papers proving the completeness of the bow construction of instantons on multi-Taub-NUT spaces and exploring it in detail.
We introduce the study of nonlinear harmonic forms. These are forms which minimize the $L_2$ energy in a cohomology class subject to a nonlinear constraint. In this note, we include only motivations and the most basic existence results. We also introduce a variant of the Bochner formula suitable for probing the structure of the intersection form of a 4-manifold.
We study a discrete dynamical system designed to find a 'most holomorphic' connection on a smooth complex vector bundle $E$. We examine the relation between the distance of the chern classes of $E$ from the $(p,p)$ axis of the Hodge diamond and singularity formation. Canonical connections and canonical metrics pulled back from Grassmannians play a major role, and we review their differential geometry. As an exercise in the geometry of canonical connections, we include an expression for the curvature in terms of heat kernels.
Chiral gauge theories in two dimensions with (0,2) supersymmetry are central in the study of string compactifications. Remarkably little is known about generic (0,2) theories. We consider theories with branches on which multiplets with a net gauge anomaly become massive. The simplest example is a relevant perturbation of the gauge theory that flows to the CP(n) model. To compute the effective action, we derive a useful set of Feynman rules for (0,2) supergraphs. From the effective action, we see that the infra-red geometry reflects the gauge anomaly by the presence of a boundary at finite distance. In generic examples, there are boundaries, fluxes and branes; the resulting spaces are non-Kahler.
We show that recently proposed linear sigma models with torsion can be obtained from unconventional branches of conventional gauge theories. This observation puts models with log interactions on firm footing. If non-anomalous multiplets are integrated out, the resulting low-energy theory involves log interactions of neutral fields. For these cases, we find a sigma model geometry which is both non-toric and includes brane sources. These are heterotic sigma models with branes. Surprisingly, there are massive models with compact complex non-Kahler target spaces, which include brane/anti-brane sources. The simplest conformal models describe wrapped heterotic NS5-branes. We present examples of both types.
Motivated by Witten's spinor proof of the positive mass theorem, we analyze asymptotically constant harmonic spinors on complete asymptotically flat nonspin manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature.
We introduce several families of filtrations on the space of vector bundles over a smooth projective variety. These filtrations are defined using the large k asymptotics of the kernel of the Dolbeault Dirac operator on a bundle twisted by the kth power of an ample line bundle. The filtrations measure the failure of the bundle to admit a holomorphic structure. We study compatibility under the Chern isomorphism of these filtrations with the Hodge filtration on cohomology.
We define a measure of spectral asymmetry for G_2 and Spin(7) manifolds. We show that this invariant can be computed in terms of characteristic classes and the covariant constant form defining the G_2 or Spin(7) structure.
Using an elementary argument, we prove new fixed point theorems for classical elliptic complexes. We obtain new results for conformal relations and coisotropic intersections. We obtain theorems for the average intersections of families of special lagrangian and lagrangian varieties in certain homogeneous spaces.
We extend Witten's spinor proof of the positive mass theorem to large classes of complete asymptotically flat non-spin manifolds, including all manifolds of dimension less than or equal to 11 and all manifolds of dimension less than 26 which admit a codimension 3 immersion in Euclidean space.
We study the extent to which the gauge symmetry of abelian Yang-Mills can be deformed under two conditions: first, that the deformation depend on a two-form scale. Second, that the deformation preserve supersymmetry. We show that (up to a single parameter) the only allowed deformation is the one determined by the star product. We then consider the supersymmetry algebra satisfied by NCYM expressed in commutative variables. The algebra is peculiar since the supercharges are not gauge-invariant. However, the action, expressed in commutative variables, appears to be quadratic in fermions to all orders in theta.