We discuss the complex geometry of two complex five-dimensional Kahler manifolds which are homogeneous under the exceptional Lie group $G_2$. For one of these manifolds rigidity of the complex structure among all Kahlerian complex structures was prov
ed by Brieskorn, for the other one we prove it here. We relate the Kahler assumption in Brieskorns theorem to the question of existence of a complex structure on the six-dimensional sphere, and we compute the Chern numbers of all $G_2$-invariant almost complex structures on these manifolds.
We study pairs of Engel structures on four-manifolds whose intersection has constant rank one and which define the same even contact structure, but induce different orientations on it. We establish a correspondence between such pairs of Engel structu
res and a class of weakly hyperbolic flows. This correspondence is analogous to the correspondence between bi-contact structures and projectively or conformally Anosov flows on three-manifolds found by Eliashberg--Thurston and by Mitsumatsu.
We show that non-domination results for targets that are not dominated by products are stable under Cartesian products.
In various classes of infinite groups, we identify groups that are presentable by products, i.e. groups having finite index subgroups which are quotients of products of two commuting infinite subgroups. The classes we discuss here include groups of s
mall virtual cohomological dimension and irreducible Zariski dense subgroups of appropriate algebraic groups. This leads to applications to groups of positive deficiency, to fundamental groups of three-manifolds and to Coxeter groups. For finitely generated groups presentable by products we discuss the problem of whether the factors in a presentation by products may be chosen to be finitely generated.
We present updates to the problems on Hirzebruchs 1954 problem list focussing on open problems, and on those where substantial progress has been made in recent years. We discuss some purely topological problems, as well as geometric problems about (a
lmost) complex structures, both algebraic and non-algebraic, about contact structures, and about (complementary pairs of) foliations.
We prove that if the fundamental group of an arbitrary three-manifold -- not necessarily closed, nor orientable -- is a Kaehler group, then it is either finite or the fundamental group of a closed orientable surface.
We classify manifolds of small dimension that admit both, a Riemannian metric of non-negative scalar curvature, and a -- a priori different -- metric for which all wedge products of harmonic forms are harmonic. For manifolds whose first Betti numbers
are sufficiently large, this classification extends to higher dimensions.
Generalizing the theorem of Green--Lazarsfeld and Gromov, we classify Kaehler groups of deficiency at least two. As a consequence we see that there are no Kaehler groups of even and strictly positive deficiency. With the same arguments we prove that
Kaehler groups that are non-Abelian and are limit groups in the sense of Sela are surface groups.
We determine which three-manifolds are dominated by products. The result is that a closed, oriented, connected three-manifold is dominated by a product if and only if it is finitely covered either by a product or by a connected sum of copies of the p
roduct of the two-sphere and the circle. This characterization can also be formulated in terms of Thurston geometries, or in terms of purely algebraic properties of the fundamental group. We also determine which three-manifolds are dominated by non-trivial circle bundles, and which three-manifold groups are presentable by products.
We determine the structure of the Hodge ring, a natural object encoding the Hodge numbers of all compact Kaehler manifolds. As a consequence of this structure, there are no unexpected relations among the Hodge numbers, and no essential differences be
tween the Hodge numbers of smooth complex projective varieties and those of arbitrary Kaehler manifolds. The consideration of certain natural ideals in the Hodge ring allows us to determine exactly which linear combinations of Hodge numbers are birationally invariant, and which are topological invariants. Combining the Hodge and unitary bordism rings, we are also able to treat linear combinations of Hodge and Chern numbers. In particular, this leads to a complete solution of a classical problem of Hirzebruchs.
