Convexity package for momentum maps on contact manifolds

Let a torus T act effectively on a compact connected cooriented contact manifold, and let Psi be the natural momentum map on the symplectization. We prove that, if dim T > 2, the union of the origin with the image of Psi is a convex polyhedral cone, the non-zero level sets of Psi are connected (while the zero level set can be disconnected), and the momentum map is open as a map to its image. This answers a question posed by Eugene Lerman, who proved similar results when the zero level set is empty. We also analyze examples with dim T <= 2.Comment: 39 pages. Contains small corrections and a small simplification of the argument. To appear in Algebraic and Geometric Topology

Equivariant cohomology and analytic descriptions of ring isomorphisms

In this paper we consider a class of connected closed $G$-manifolds with a non-empty finite fixed point set, each $M$ of which is totally non-homologous to zero in $M_G$ (or $G$-equivariantly formal), where $G={\Bbb Z}_2$. With the help of the equivariant index, we give an explicit description of the equivariant cohomology of such a $G$-manifold in terms of algebra, so that we can obtain analytic descriptions of ring isomorphisms among equivariant cohomology rings of such $G$-manifolds, and a necessary and sufficient condition that the equivariant cohomology rings of such two $G$-manifolds are isomorphic. This also leads us to analyze how many there are equivariant cohomology rings up to isomorphism for such $G$-manifolds in 2- and 3-dimensional cases.Comment: 20 pages, updated version with two references adde

A K-Theoretic Proof of Boutet de Monvel's Index Theorem for Boundary Value Problems

We study the C*-closure A of the algebra of all operators of order and class zero in Boutet de Monvel's calculus on a compact connected manifold X with non-empty boundary. We find short exact sequences in K-theory 0->K_i(C(X))->K_i(A/K)->K_{1-i}(C_0(T*X'))->0, i= 0,1, which split, where K denotes the compact ideal and T*X' the cotangent bundle of the interior of X. Using only simple K-theoretic arguments and the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem, we show that the Fredholm index of an elliptic element in A is given as the composition of the topological index with mapping K_1(A/K)->K_0(C_0(T*X')) defined above. This relation was first established by Boutet de Monvel by different methods.Comment: Title slightly changed. Accepted for publication in Journal fuer die reine und angewandte Mathemati

C*-Structure and K-Theory of Boutet de Monvel's Algebra

We consider the norm closure $A$ of the algebra of all operators of order and class zero in Boutet de Monvel's calculus on a manifold $X$ with boundary $Y$. We first describe the image and the kernel of the continuous extension of the boundary principal symbol to $A$. If the $X$ is connected and $Y$ is not empty, we then show that the K-groups of $A$ are topologically determined. In case the manifold, its boundary and the tangent space of the interior have torsion-free K-theory, we prove that $K_i(A/K)$ is isomorphic to the direct sum of $K_i(C(X))$ and $K_{1-i}(C_0(TX'))$, for i=0,1, with $K$ denoting the compact ideal and $TX'$ the tangent bundle of the interior of $X$. Using Boutet de Monvel's index theorem, we also prove this result for i=1 without assuming the torsion-free hypothesis. We also give a composition sequence for $A$.Comment: Final version, to appear in J. Reine Angew. Math. Improved K-theoretic result

Existence and structure of symmetric Beltrami flows on compact 33-manifolds

We show that for almost every given symmetry transformation of a Riemannian manifold there exists an eigenvector field of the curl operator, corresponding to a non-zero eigenvalue, which obeys the symmetry. More precisely, given a smooth, compact, oriented Riemannian $3$-manifold $(\bar{M},g)$ with (possibly empty) boundary and a smooth flow of isometries $\phi_t:\bar{M}\rightarrow \bar{M}$ we show that, if $\bar{M}$ has non-empty boundary or if the infinitesimal generator is not purely harmonic, there is a smooth vector field $X$, tangent to the boundary, which is an eigenfield of curl and satisfies $(\phi_t)_{*}X=X$, i.e. is invariant under the pushforward of the symmetry transformation. We then proceed to show that if the quantities involved are real analytic and $(\bar{M},g)$ has non-empty boundary, then Arnold's structure theorem applies to all eigenfields of curl, which obey a symmetry and appropriate boundary conditions. More generally we show that the structure theorem applies to all real analytic vector fields of non-vanishing helicity which obey some nontrivial symmetry. A byproduct of our proof is a characterisation of the flows of real analytic Killing fields on compact, connected, orientable $3$-manifolds with and without boundary.Comment: 23 page