We introduce several homotopy equivalence relations for proper holomorphic mappings between balls. We provide examples showing that the degree of a rational proper mapping between balls (in positive codimension) is not a homotopy invariant. In domain
dimension at least 2, we prove that the set of homotopy classes of rational proper mappings from a ball to a higher dimensional ball is finite. By contrast, when the target dimension is at least twice the domain dimension, it is well known that there are uncountably many spherical equivalence classes. We generalize this result by proving that an arbitrary homotopy of rational maps whose endpoints are spherically inequivalent must contain uncountably many spherically inequivalent maps. We introduce Whitney sequences, a precise analogue (in higher dimensions) of the notion of finite Blaschke product (in one dimension). We show that terms in a Whitney sequence are homotopic to monomial mappings, and we establish an additional result about the target dimensions of such homotopies.
We pose and discuss several Hermitian analogues of Hilberts $17$-th problem. We survey what is known, offer many explicit examples and some proofs, and give applications to CR geometry. We prove one new algebraic theorem: a non-negative Hermitian sym
metric polynomial divides a nonzero squared norm if and only if it is a quotient of squared norms. We also discuss a new example of Putinar-Scheiderer.
We discuss some aspects of the theory of subelliptic estimates.
We summarize some work on CR mappings invariant under a subgroup of U(n) and prove a result on the failure of rigidity.
We make several new contributions to the study of proper holomorphic mappings between balls. Our results include a degree estimate for rational proper maps, a new gap phenomenon for convex families of arbitrary proper maps, and an interesting result about inverse images.
A helical CR structure is a decomposition of a real Euclidean space into an even-dimensional horizontal subspace and its orthogonal vertical complement, together with an almost complex structure on the horizontal space and a marked vector in the vert
ical space. We prove an equivalence between such structures and step two Carnot groups equipped with a distinguished normal geodesic, and also between such structures and smooth real curves whose derivatives have constant Euclidean norm. As a consequence, we relate step two Carnot groups equipped with sub-Riemannian geodesics with this family of curves. The restriction to the unit circle of certain planar homogeneous polynomial mappings gives an instructive class of examples. We describe these examples in detail.
