Math 583B Research in Geometric Analysis Spring 2005

LIST OF PAPERS

1. Prescribing scalar and Gaussian curvature

• J. L. Kazdan and F. W. Warner, Curvature functions for compact 2-manifolds, Ann. of
Math. 99 (1974) 14–47. This paper gives necessary and sufficient conditions on a function
K on a compact 2-manifold in order that there exist a Riemannian metric whose Gaussian
curvature is K.
• Thierry Aubin, Le problème de Yamabe concernant la courbure scalaire (French), C. R.
Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. A-B 280 (1975), Aii, A721–A724. A major breakthrough in the
solution of the “Yamabe problem”: does every compact Riemannian manifold admit a
conformal metric of constant scalar curvature? This paper solved the problem in case the
manifold has dimension at least 6 and is not locally conformally flat (the so-called “local
case”).
• R. Schoen, Conformal deformation of a Riemannian metric to constant scalar curvature, J.
Differential Geom. 20 (1984) 479–495. Solved the Yamabe problem in the cases not handled
by Aubin’s proof (dimension less than 6 or locally conformally flat, the “global case”).

2. Manifolds of positive scalar curvature

• M. Gromov and H. B. Lawson, The classification of simply connected manifolds of positive
scalar curvature, Ann. of Math. 111 (1980) 423–434. The title speaks for itself.
• R. Schoen and Shing Tung Yau, Existence of incompressible minimal surfaces and the topol-
ogy of three-dimensional manifolds with nonnegative scalar curvature, Ann. of Math. (2) 110
(1979), no. 1, 127–142. Uses a simple second variation argument to show that for a three
manifold whose fundamental group contains a subgroup isomorphic to a oriented surface
group of genus g > 1 or a noncyclic abelian group, any metric of non-negative scalar cur-
vature is flat. This is the first appearance of the argument which later lies at the core of
their minimal surface proof of the positive mass theorem.
• R. Schoen and S.-T. Yau, On the structure of manifolds with positive scalar curvature,
Manuscripta Math. 28 (1979), no. 1-3, 159–183. Extends the result of the paper above
to dimension n ≤ 7, and also proves that admitting positive scalar curvature is perserved
under surgeries of codimension at least 3. This result underlies further work on classifying
manifolds that admit metrics of positive scalar curvature.

3. Uniformization of positively-curved manifolds

• R. Schoen and S.-T. Yau, Complete three-dimensional manifolds with positive Ricci cur-
vature and scalar curvature, in “Seminar on Differential Geometry”, pp. 209–228, Ann. of
Math. Studies 102, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1982. Using minimal surface
theory, shows that any complete noncompact 3-manifold with positive Ricci curvature is
diffeomorphic to R3 .
• R. S. Hamilton, Three-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature, J. Differential Geometry 17
(1982) 255–306. Uses the Ricci flow to prove that any compact 3-manifold that admits a
metric with positive Ricci curvature also admits a metric with constant positive curvature,
and hence is covered by the 3-sphere.
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• R. S. Hamilton, Four-manifolds with positive curvature operator, J. Differential Geometry

24 (1986) 153–179. Extends Hamilton’s theorem on three-manifolds with positive Ricci
curvature to certain 4-manifolds with positive curvature, while simultaneously simplifying
and clarifying the method of proof used in the 3-manifold paper.
• R. S. Hamilton, The formation of singularities in the Ricci flow, Surveys in differential
geometry, Vol. II (Cambridge, MA, 1993), 7–136, Internat. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995.
In this paper, Hamilton lays out his program for using the Ricci flow to prove the Thurston
geometrization conjecture, a program eventually completed (we think) by Grisha Perelman.
(Since Perelman’s papers have been in circulation for more than two years and the experts
are still not sure whether his proof works, those papers are not on this list, though they
might someday make it here.)

4. Compactness of families of Riemannian metrics

• J. Cheeger, Finiteness theorems for Riemannian manifolds, Am. J. Math. 92 (1970) 61–
74. Proves that in any family of Riemannian manifolds with certain bounds on curvature,
volume, and diameter, there can be at most finitely many diffeomorphism types.
• M. Gromov, Structures métriques pour les variétés riemanniennes, Textes Mathématiques 1,
CEDIC, Paris, 1981. This is the original proof of Gromov’s famous “compactness theorem”:
any sequence of Riemannian manifolds whose curvatures and diameters are bounded, and
whose volumes are bounded below, contains a subsequence that “converges” (in a rather
weak topology).
• S. Peters, Convergence of Riemannian metrics, Comp. Math. 62 (1987) 3–16. A more
readable proof of Gromov’s compactness theorem.

5. The inverse spectral problem

• B. Osgood, R. Phillips, and P. Sarnak, Compact isospectral sets of surfaces, J. Funct. Anal.
80 (1988) 212–234. The first partial solution to Mark Kac’s famous question “Can one hear
the shape of a drum?” (In other words, does the spectrum of the Laplacian on a bounded
plane domain determine the domain up to isometry?) This paper proves that any family of
isospectral domains in the plane (i.e. domains with the same spectrum) must be compact.
• T. Sunada, Riemannian coverings and isospectral manifolds, Ann. Math. 121 (1985) 169–
186. Gave the first systematic construction of compact isospectral manifolds, introducing
ideas that have played a central role in all subsequent isospectral examples.
• C. S. Gordon, D. L. Webb, and S. Wolpert, One cannot hear the shape of a drum, Bull.
Amer. Math. Soc. 27 (1992) 134–138. The first counterexample to Kac’s conjecture, showing
that non-isometric plane domains can be isospectral.

6. Spectral asymptotics on Riemannian manifolds

• R. Seeley, Singular integrals and boundary problems, Amer. J. Math. 88 (1966) 781–809. The
method of Hadamard is used to get information on the asymptotic behavior of eigenvalues
of the Laplacian for manifolds with boundary.
• J. Chazarain, Formule de Poisson pour les variétés riemanniennes, Invent. Math. 1974 65–
82. Develops an asymptotic formula, generalizing the Poisson summation formula, relating
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the eigenvalues of the Laplacian on a compact Riemannian manifold with the lengths of its
closed geodesics.
• S. Marvizi and R. B. Melrose, Spectral invariants of convex planar regions, J. Differential
Geom. 17 (1982) 475–502. Uses wave asymptotics to find spectral invariants of convex
domains in the plane.

7. Morse theory and calculus of variations

• R. Bott, Nondegenerate critical manifolds, Ann. of Math. 60 (1954) 248-261. Extends Morse
theory from the case of isolated critical points to the case of critical submanifolds.
• R. S. Palais and S. Smale, A generalized Morse theory, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 70 (1964)
165–172. Introduced the famous “Palais-Smale Condition C”, which gives sufficient condi-
tions for existence of critical points of functionals on infinite-dimensional spaces.
• R. S. Palais, The principle of symmetric criticality, Comm. Math. Phys. 69 (1979) 19–30.
Given a function space acted on by a compact Lie group G, and a functional on the space
that is G-invariant, this paper shows that, under very general conditions, functions that are
critical points among G-invariant variations are actually critical among all variations. This
shows that, in the presence of symmetry, calculus of variations problems can be solved by
restricting attention to G-invariant objects.

8. Minimal submanifolds
• H. Federer and W. Fleming, Normal and integral currents, Ann. of Math. 72 (1960) 458–
520. Introduces the concept of integral currents (generalized submanifolds), the main tool
of geometric measure theory which is used to study minimal submanifolds.
• J. Sacks and K. Uhlenbeck, The existence of minimal immersions of 2-spheres, Ann. of
Math. 113 (1981) 1–24. Introduces the technique of rescaling to handle the “bubbling”
phenomena that are ubiquitous in geometric nonlinear PDE’s.
• R. Harvey and H. B. Lawson, Calibrated Geometries, Acta Math. 148 (1982) 47–157. This
paper introduced an important and creative new point of view, that of “calibrations”, into
the subject of minimal submanifolds.

9. Geometric measure theory

• J.M. Marstrand, he (φ, s) regular subsets of n space, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 113 (1964),
369–392.
• D. Preiss, Geometry of measures in Rn : distribution, rectifiability and densities, Ann. of
Math. 125 (1987), 537–643.
• P. Jones, Rectifiable sets and the traveling salesman problem, Invent. Math. 102 (1990),
1–15.

10. The Bernstein theorem for minimal surfaces

• Wendell H. Fleming, On the oriented Plateau problem, Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo (2) 11
(1962) 69–90. The “right” approach to the Bernstein theorem: Any global minimal graph
in R3 must be a plane.
• James Simons, Minimal varieties in riemannian manifolds, Ann. Math. (2) 88 (1968) 62–
105. Showed that any global minimal graph in R8 must be a plane.
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• E. Bombieri, E. De Giorgi, and E. Giusti, Minimal cones and the Bernstein problem, Invent.
Math. 7 (1969) 243–268. Constructed counterexamples of nontrivial global minimal graphs
in R9 .

11. Singularities of minimal surfaces

• Leon Simon, Asymptotics for a class of nonlinear evolution equations, with applications to
geometric problems, Ann. of Math. (2) 118 (1983) 525–571. Proves uniqueness of tangent
cones for isolated singularities. The techniques as well as the results have been very widely
used.
• Luis Caffarelli, Robert Hardt, and Leon Simon, Minimal surfaces with isolated singularities,
Manuscripta Math. 48 (1984), no. 1-3, 1–18.

12. Harmonic maps

• J. Eells, Jr., and J. H. Sampson, Harmonic mappings of Riemannian manifolds, Amer. J.
Math. 86 (1964) 109–160. Using heat-flow methods, they prove the existence of a harmonic
map in any homotopy class from one compact Riemannian manifold to another, provided
the target manifold is negatively curved.
• R. Schoen and K. Uhlenbeck, A regularity theory for harmonic maps, J. Diff. Geom. 17
(1982) 307-336. The authors prove that the Hausdorff dimension of the singular set of an
energy minimizing harmonic map from an n-manifold is less than or equal to n − 3.
• L. Simon, Asymptotics for a class of non-linear evolution equations, with applications to
geometric problems, Annals of Math. 118 (1983), 525-572. First steps in the development
of a detailed asymptotic description of the structure of the singular set for such problems
as harmonic maps or minimal surfaces.
• Fang-Hua Lin, Gradient estimates and blow-up analysis for stationary harmonic maps, Ann.
of Math. (2) 149 (1999) 785–829. A study of the singular set of stationary harmonic maps.

13. Regularity of harmonic and p-harmonic maps

• C. Fefferman and E. Stein, H p spaces of several variables, Acta. Math. 129 (1972), 137-193.
Although this paper might sound like a paper in analysis it has played a crucial role in the
study of harmonic and p-harmonic maps. See, for example, the following 3 papers, which
all exploit the same idea one step at a time.
• F. Helein, Régularité des applications faiblement harmoniques entre une surface et une
sphère (French), C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 311 (1990), 519–524. A map between manifolds is
weakly harmonic if its coefficients lie in the Sobolev space H 1 are the map is a critical point
for the energy functional. This paper shows that weakly harmonic maps into the sphere are
actually smooth.
• F. Helein, Regularity of weakly harmonic maps from a surface into a manifold with sym-
metries, Manuscripta Math. 70 (1991), no. 2, 203–218. Generalizes the previous regularity
result to maps into homogeneous Riemannian manifolds.
• F. Helein, Régularité des applications faiblement harmoniques entre une surface et une
variété riemannienne (French), C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 312 (1991), 591–596. Generalizes
the previous regularity results to maps into arbitrary Riemannian manifolds.
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14. Yang-Mills theory and 4-manifolds

• M. Atiyah, N. Hitchin, and I. Singer, Self-duality in four-dimensional Riemannian geom-
etry, Proc. Roy. Soc. London A 362 (1978) 425–461. This paper uses twistor methods to
construct instantons (Yang-Mills connections) on S 4.
• C. Taubes, The existence of self-dual connections on non self-dual 4-manifolds., J. Differen-
tial Geom. 17 (1982) 139–170. Proof of the existence of solutions to the Yang-Mills equation
on a large class of 4-manifolds.
• S. K. Donaldson, Self-dual connections and the topology of smooth 4-manifolds, J. Differ-
ential Geom. 18 (1983) 279–315. Donaldson’s spectacular result on the intersection form
of simply-connected 4-manifolds with positive definite intersection form, proved by ana-
lyzing the set of solutions to the Yang-Mills equation. He showed that most topological
4-manifolds don’t have smooth structures.
• S. K. Donaldson, Polynomial invariants for smooth four-manifolds, Topology 29 (1990), no.
3, 257–315. Extended Donaldson’s results to 4-manifolds with more general intersection
forms.

15. Seiberg-Witten and Gromov theories

• Edward Witten, Monopoles and four-manifolds, Math. Res. Lett. 1 (1994), no. 6, 769–796.
Until the time of this paper, the most dramatic advances in smooth 4-manifold theory had
been made using the gauge theory of the Yang-Mills equations (see “Yang-Mills theory and
4-manifolds,” above). This paper revolutionized the field by introducing a new equation,
the Seiberg-Witten equation, which is dramatically easier to analyze than the Yang-Mills
equation.
• P. B. Kronheimer and T. S. Mrowka, The genus of embedded surfaces in the projective
plane, Math. Res. Lett. 1 (1994), no. 6, 797–808. The first big application of Seiberg-
Witten theory, to prove the Thom conjecture, which claims that holomorphic curves realize
the minimum possible genus among all smooth surfaces representing a given homology class
in CP2 .
• M. Gromov, Pseudoholomorphic curves in symplectic manifolds, Invent. Math. 82 (1985),
no. 2, 307–347. In this paper, Gromov introduces pseudoholomorphic curves, which have
turned out to be a spectacularly useful technique for studying symplectic manifolds. Among
the many applications in this paper are Gromov’s celebrated “nonsqueezing theorem,”
which says that an -ball in R2n cannot be symplectically embedded in a δ-neighborhood
of R2n−2 ⊂ R2n for any δ < .
• Clifford Henry Taubes, Seiberg Witten and Gromov invariants for symplectic 4-manifolds,
edited by Richard Wentworth, First International Press Lecture Series, 2. International
Press, Somerville, MA, 2000. vi+401 pp. A collection of four papers in which Taubes
proves the identity of Seiberg-Witten and Gromov invariants.

16. Conformal invariant theory

• C. Fefferman, Parabolic invariant theory in complex analysis, Adv. Math. 31 (1979) 131–
262. Fefferman initiated the task of generalizing Weyl’s invariant theory for Riemannian
manifolds. In this paper, he concentrates on CR geometry, which is formally very similar
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to the conformal case. He described his approach to the problem, and, with a very long
and difficult argument, proved that it works for some invariants in some dimensions.
• C. Fefferman and C. R. Graham, Conformal invariants, in “Élie Cartan et les Mathé-
matiques d’Aujourd’hui”, Astérisque, 1985, pp. 95–116. Here Fefferman’s framework for
constructing invariants is extended to the conformal case.
• T. N. Bailey, M. G. Eastwood, and C. R. Graham, Invariant theory for conformal and
CR geometry, Ann. of Math. (2) 139 (1994) 491–552. The problem of describing scalar
conformal invariants is completely solved in odd dimensions.

17. Complex structures and their deformations

• A. Newlander and L. Nirenberg, Complex coordinates in almost-complex manifolds, Ann.
of Math. 65 (1957) 391–404. The proof that every integrable almost-complex manifold is
actually a complex manifold.
• K. Kodaira and D. C. Spencer, On deformations of complex analytic structures I, II, Ann.
of Math. 67 (1958) 328–401, 403–466. The first general result on the local structure of the
space of complex structures on a complex manifold.
• M. Kuranishi, On the locally complete families of complex analytic structures, Ann. of Math.
75 (1962) 536–577. Here Kuranishi developed a technique to completely describe the local
structure of the space of inequivalent complex structures on a given complex manifold. The
proof has since been simplified and extended by Kuranishi, T. Akahori, and K. Miyajima.

18. Uniformization of Kähler manifolds

• Y.-T. Siu and S.-T. Yau, Complete Kähler manifolds with nonpositive curvature of faster
than quadratic decay, Ann. Math. 105 (1977) 225–264. A first step in a “uniformization
theory” for complete Kähler manifolds in higher dimensions, showing that any negatively-
curved complete Kähler manifold whose curvature decays sufficiently fast at infinity must
be biholomorphic to Cn .
• N.-M. Mok, Y.-T. Siu and S.-T. Yau, The Poincaré-Lelong equation on complete Kähler
manifolds, Comp. Math. 44 (1981) 183–218. Shows, under the hypotheses of the Siu-Yau
theorem above, that the manifold must in fact be isometric to Cn .
• Y.-T. Siu and S.-T. Yau, Compact Kähler manifolds of positive bisectional curvature, Invent.
Math. 59 (1980) 189–204. Proof of the Frankel conjecture: every compact Kähler manifold
with positive bisectional curvature is analytically isomorphic to complex projective space.
Uses harmonic map techniques.

19. Riemannian manifolds with special holonomy groups

• M. Berger, Sur les groupes d’holonomie des variétés à connexion affine et des variétés
Riemanniennes, Bull. Soc. Math. France 83 (1955) 279–330. Shows that the only Lie
groups that can occur as holonomy groups of Riemannian manifolds are SO(n), U (m),
SU (m), Sp(k), Sp(k)Sp(1), G2, and Spin(7).
• S. M. Salamon, Differential geometry of quaternionic manifolds, Ann. Scient. Ec. Norm.
Sup. 19 (1986) 31–55. One of the most interesting classes of Riemannian manifolds are those
with holonomy group Sp(k)Sp(1), called quaternionic-Kähler manifolds. This is supposed
to be a very good introduction to the subject.
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• Dominic D. Joyce, Compact Riemannian 7-manifolds with holonomy G2 I, II, J. Differential

Geom. 43 (1996), no. 2, 291–328, 329–375. The first construction of a compact manifold
with holonomy equal to the exceptional Lie group G2.
• Dominic D. Joyce, Compact 8-manifolds with holonomy Spin(7), Invent. Math. 123 (1996),
no. 3, 507–552. Ditto, but with holonomy Spin(7), the universal cover of SO(7).

20. Kähler-Einstein metrics

• S.-T. Yau, On the Ricci curvature of a compact Kähler manifold and the complex Monge-
Ampère equation I, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 31 (1978) 339–411. Solves the “Calabi con-
jecture” for compact Kähler manifolds with non-positive first Chern class: on any such
manifold, there exists a Kähler-Einstein metric in each admissible Kähler class.
• A. Futaki, An obstruction to the existence of Einstein Kähler metrics, Invent. Math. 73
(1983) 437–443. The first known obstruction to the existence of Kähler-Einstein metrics on
compact Kähler manifolds with positive first Chern class.
• S.-Y. Cheng and S.-T. Yau, On the existence of a complete Kähler-Einstein metric on
noncompact complex manifolds and the regularity of Fefferman’s equation, Comm. Pure
Appl. Math. 33 (1980) 507–544. Proves a non-compact version of Yau’s theorem on the
Calabi conjecture: any strictly pseudoconvex domain in Cn admits a complete Kähler-
Einstein metric.
• Gang Tian, On Kähler-Einstein metrics on certain Kähler manifolds with C1 (M ) > 0,
Invent. Math. 89 (1987), no. 2, 225–246. This is the first of a series of papers by Tian on
the difficult positive case of the Kähler-Einstein problem.

21. Geometry of strictly pseudoconvex domains in Cn

• C. Fefferman, The Bergman kernel and biholomorphic mappings of pseudoconvex domains,
Invent. Math. 26 (1974) 1–65. Fefferman’s celebrated extension theorem, which shows that
biholomorphic mappings between strictly pseudoconvex domains extend smoothly to the
boundary. His complicated proof has since been considerably simplified and generalized by
Bell, Ligocka, Forsternič, and others.
• C. Fefferman, Monge-Ampère equations, the Bergman kernel, and geometry of pseudoconvex
domains, Ann. of Math. 103 (1976) 395–416. Generalizes the Poincaré metric to arbitrary
strictly pseudoconvex domains in Cn , and uses it to give a new definition of the biholomor-
phically invariant curves called “chains” in their boundaries.
• L. Lempert, Solving the degenerate complex Monge-Ampère equation with one concentrated
singularity, Bull. Soc. Math. France 109 (1981) 427–454. Proved that, for any strictly
convex domain in Cn , the exponential map from an interior point is a diffemorphism onto
the domain, thus providing a “canonical” parametrization for such domains. This has been
applied recently by John Bland and Tom Duchamp (UW) to construct “normal forms” for
convex domains and for the CR manifolds that bound them.

22. CR manifolds
• S. S. Chern and J. K. Moser, Real Hypersurfaces in complex manifolds, Acta Math. 133
(1974) 219–271. Solved of the “equivalence problem” for CR manifolds (abstract models
of real hypersurfaces in Cn ), based on the construction of CR invariants in two different
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ways: by putting the power series of a real hypersurface in a “normal form” (Moser); and
by constructing a canonical connection on a certain fiber bundle over the CR manifold
(Chern).
• S. M. Webster, Pseudohermitian structures on a real hypersurface, J. Differential Geometry
13 (1978) 25–41. Carries out the analogue of the Chern connection for a CR manifold
endowed with a specific choice of Levi form (a “pseudohermitian structure”).
• N. Tanaka, “A Differential-Geometric Study on Strongly Pseudoconvex Manifolds”, Kinoku-
niya Company Ltd., Tokyo, 1975. An alternative construction of the canonical connection
associated with a pseudohermitian structure, carried out more or less simultaneously with
and independently of Webster’s.

23. Dynamical systems and symmetry

• J. E. Marsden and A. Weinstein, Reduction of symplectic manifolds with symmetry, Reports
on Math. Phys. 5 (1974) 121–130. Extends techniques used classically for dynamical systems
(systems of ODE’s) with abelian symmetry groups to the nonabelian case; these ideas have
become useful in classical and quantum mechanics and in representation theory.
• J. M. Arms and D. C. Wilbour, Reduction procedures for Poisson manifolds, in “Symplectic
Geometry and Mathematical Phyics”, pp. 462–475, Birkhauser, Boston, 1991. Extends the
notion of reduction of dynamical systems with symmetry to the case in which the orbit
space has singularities.
• J. J. Duistermaat, Global action angle coordinates, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 33 (1980)
687-706. Action-angle variables are particularly nice coordinates that can be used locally
for dynamical systems with enough symmetry (i.e. an abelian symmetry group of the same
dimension as the configuration space). This article shows that there is an obstruction
to extending these coordinates globally; as an example, the obstruction is shown to be
nontrivial in the case of the spherical pendulum.

24. Symplectic geometry and pseudo-holomorphic curves

• M. Gromov, Pseudo holomorphic curves in symplectic manifolds, Invent. Math. 82 (1985)
307–347. Here Gromov introduced a new and fruitful approach to studying global invariants
of symplectic manifolds: “pseudo-holomorphic curves” are maps from a Riemann surface
into a symplectic manifold that are “holomorphic” with respect to some (not necessarily
integrable) almost-complex structure on the symplectic manifold. As an application, he
proves that no symplectic map can squash a unit ball into a “thin” slice of Euclidean space.
• T. H. Parker and J. G. Wolfson, Pseudo-holomorphic maps and bubble trees, J. Geom. Anal.
3 (1993) 63–98. Using Sacks & Uhlenbeck’s technique of “bubbling”, this paper simplifies
and considerably refines Gromov’s proof of compactness of sequences of pseudo-holomorphic
curves, showing that the limit can be viewed as a “bubble tree”, i.e. a map from a family
of Riemann surfaces glued together at points into the symplectic manifold.

25. Geometric quantization

• B. Kostant, Quantization and unitary representations, part I: prequantization, in “Lectures
in Modern Analysis and Applications, Volume III”, pp. 515–538, Lecture Notes in Mathe-
matics 170, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1970. Introduced the basic ideas of the procedure
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for turning classical dynamical systems into quantum systems, now called “geometric quan-
tization”.
• B. Kostant, Graded manifolds, graded lie theory, and prequantization, in “Differential Geo-
metrical methods in Mathematical Physics”, Springer Lecture Notes in Math. #570, 1977,
pp. 177–306. Introduced “supermanifolds,” now studied by both mathematicians and physi-
cists.

26. Existence of solutions to Einstein’s equations in general relativity

• Yvonne Fourès-Bruhat, Théorème d’existence pour certains systèmes d’équations aux dérivées
partielles non linéaires (French), Acta Math. 88, (1952). 141–225. In this paper, Fourès-
Bruhat (who now goes by the name Choquet-Bruhat) gives the first proof of the local
well-posedness of the Einstein equations.
• Demetrios Christodoulou and Sergiu Klainerman, The global nonlinear stability of the
Minkowski space, Princeton Mathematical Series, 41. Princeton University Press, Prince-
ton, NJ, 1993. This is a tremendously important result on global existence of solutions to
Einstein’s equations. So long that it had to be published as a book, but it’s really a research
monograph.
• Hans Lindblad and Igor Rodnianski, The global stability of the Minkowski space-time in har-
monic gauge, arxiv.org/math.AP/0411109. A more accessible treatment of the Christodoulou-
Klainerman result.

27. Mass and black holes in general relativity

• S. W. Hawking and R. Penrose, The singularities of gravitational collapse and cosmology,
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 300 (1970) 529–548. Proves that, under fairly general assump-
tions, any “physically reasonable” spacetime (4-manifold with a Lorentz metric) must have
singularities (black holes).
• R. Schoen and S.-T. Yau, On the proof of the positive mass conjecture in general relativity,
Comm. Math. Phys. 65 (1979) 45–76. Here is the original proof of the famous positive mass
conjecture from physics: roughly speaking, any asymptotically flat 4-dimensional space-time
with positive local mass density looks from infinity like a black hole with positive mass. Uses
minimal surface theory.
• Edward Witten, A new proof of the positive energy theorem, Comm. Math. Phys. 80 (1981),
no. 3, 381–402. A much simpler proof of the positive mass theorem, but valid only for spin
manifolds.

28. The Nash-Moser inverse function theorem

• J. Nash, The embedding problem for Riemannian manifolds, Ann. of Math. 63 (1956) 20–
63. Proved that every Riemannian manifold can be isometrically embedded in Euclidean
space, and introduced the iterative technique that was later formalized as the Nash-Moser
implicit function theorem.
• J. Moser, A rapidly convergent iteration method and nonlinear PDE’s I, II, Ann. Scuola
Norm. Sup. Pisa 20 (1966) 265–315, 499–535. Moser’s version of the Nash-Moser inverse
function theorem, now called Moser iteration.
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• R. S. Hamilton, The inverse function theorem of Nash and Moser, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.
7 (1982) 65–222. A very general treatment of the celebrated Nash-Moser theorem, which
extends the inverse function theorem to spaces of C ∞ functions.

29. Elliptic PDE’s and pseudodifferential operators

• L. Nirenberg, The Weyl and Minkowski problems in differential geometry in the large,
Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 6 (1953) 337–394. This is essentially Nirenberg’s thesis, in which
he solved the Weyl problem (given a positively-curved Riemannian metric on the 2-sphere,
find an isometric embedding into R3 ) and the closely-related Minkowski problem. He de-
rived some fundamental results on variable-coefficient elliptic PDE’s, introducing techniques
that were later formalized into the theory of pseudo-differential operators.
• J. J. Kohn and L. Nirenberg, An algebra of pseudo-differential operators, Invent. Math. 24
(1974) 65–82. Here the concept of pseudo-differential operators was formally introduced.
These operators are now the main tool in studying elliptic and subelliptic PDE’s.
• R. B. Melrose, Transformation of Boundary Problems, Acta Math. 147 (1981) 149–236.
Introduces a new pseudo-differential operator calculus, that of “totally characteristic” op-
erators, to handle boundary problems for differential operators that degenerate along the
boundary.

30. Fourier integral operators

• P. D. Lax, Asymptotic solutions of oscillatory initial value problems, Duke Math. J. 24
(1957) 627–646. Here the method of geometric optics is formalized and used to solve
hyperbolic PDE’s.
• L. Hörmander, The spectral function of an elliptic operator, Acta Math. 121 (1968) 193–
218. Geometric optics is generalized and developed into a precursor to Fourier integral
operators, with applications to spectral theory.
• L. Hörmander, Fourier integral operators I, Acta Math. 127 (1971) 79–183. This paper and
the next formally introduced the concept of Fourier integral operators, now widely used to
study hyperbolic PDE’s.
• J. J. Duistermaat and L. Hörmander, Fourier integral operators II, Acta Math. 128 (1972)
183–269.

31. Local solvability of PDE’s

• H. Lewy, An example of a smooth linear partial differential equation without solution, Ann.
of Math. 66 (1957) 155–158. A simple first-order linear partial differential equation that
has no solution in any open set. This started the whole subject of local solvability.
• L. Nirenberg and F. Trèves, On local solvability of partial differential equations, Part I:
necessary conditions, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 23 (1970) 1–38; Part II: sufficient condi-
tions, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 23 (1970) 459–510. Characterized locally solvable partial
differential operators.

32. The ∂ problem

• J. J. Kohn, Harmonic integrals on strongly pseudoconvex manifolds, I, Ann. Math. 78 (1963)
112–148; II, 79 (1964) 450–472. Solved the ∂-Neumann problem: on a strictly pseudoconvex
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domain Ω ⊂ Cn , given a smooth ∂-closed differential form η on Ω, find a smooth form ω

on Ω such that ∂ω = η. This has many applications to several complex variables, including
solving the Levi problem of characterizing domains of holomorphy, and solving the Cousin
problems of extending holomorphic functions.
• J. J. Kohn and L. Nirenberg, Non-coercive boundary problems, Comm. Pure Appl. Math.
18 (1965) 443–492. Extends Kohn’s work on the ∂-Neumann problem to a very general
class of elliptic boundary problems that are not uniformly elliptic up to the boundary.
• L. Hörmander, L2 estimates and existence theorems for the ∂ operator, Acta Math. 113
(1965) 89–152. Presents an alternative solution to the ∂ problem.

33. Subelliptic PDE’s in CR geometry

• J. J. Kohn, Boundaries of complex manifolds, in “Proc. Conf. on Complex Analysis”, Min-
neapolis 1964 Springer-Verlag, New York, 1965, pp. 81–94. Proves a “Hodge theorem” for
the boundary Cauchy-Riemann operator ∂ b on a CR manifold, analogous to Kohn’s earlier
results for ∂ on strictly pseudoconvex domains. One of the first systematic treatments of
“subelliptic” differential operators.
• L. Hörmander, Hypoelliptic second-order differential equations, Acta Math. 119 (1967) 147–
171. Shows that a real second-order partial differential operator that can be written as a
sum of squares of vector fields is hypoelliptic provided the vector fields and their brackets
span the tangent space at each point. This is the prototype of subelliptic behavior which
is now extremely important in several complex variables.
• G. B. Folland and E. M. Stein, Estimates for the ∂ b complex and analysis on the Heisenberg
group, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 28 (1974) 429–522. Greatly extends and generalizes the
results of Kohn on subellipticity of the ∂ b complex.

34. Index theorems for elliptic operators on manifolds

• M. Atiyah and I. M. Singer, The index of elliptic operators I, Ann. Math. 87 (1968) 484–530.
This paper and the next four gave the initial proof of the celebrated Atiyah-Singer index
theorem, which relates the index of an elliptic operator on a manifold (i.e. the dimension
of the kernel minus the codimension of the image) to topological invariants.
• M. Atiyah and G. B. Segal, The index of elliptic operators II, Ann. Math. 87 (1968) 531–545.
• M. Atiyah and I. M. Singer, The index of elliptic operators III, Ann. Math. 87 (1968)
546–604; IV, 93 (1971) 119–138; V, 93 (1971) 139–149.
• M. Atiyah, R. Bott, and V. K. Patodi, On the heat equation and the index theorem, Invent.
Math. 19 (1973) 279–330; Errata, 28 (1975) 277–280. Uses classical invariant theory to give
a greatly simplified proof of a key step in the Atiyah-Singer index theorem. Good overview
of the history of the index theorem and its proof.

35. Rigidity of Riemannian Manifolds

• K. Corlette, Archimedean superrigidity and hyperbolic geometry, Ann. of Math. (2) 135
(1992), no. 1, 165–182. The first paper in which harmonic maps are used to study questions
of rigidity. It inspired the Gromov-Schoen paper below, which made the subject popular in
the early 90s.
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• M. Gromov and R. Schoen, Harmonic maps into singular spaces and p-adic superrigidity
for lattices in groups of rank one, Inst. Hautes Études Sci. Publ. Math. No. 76 (1992),
165-246.
• M. Gromov, Filling Riemannian manifolds, J. Differential Geom. 18 (1983) 1–147. In this
seminal paper, Gromov proves (among many other things) that any compact subdomain of
Euclidean space is boundary rigid by showing that the “filling volume” of the boundary is
greater than or equal to the volume of the domain. The rigidity follows by showing that
equality implies flatness. Like most of Gromov’s papers this is hard to read.
• C. Croke, Rigidity and the distance between boundary points, J. Differential Geom. 33 (1991)
445–464. A simplification of Gromov’s proof of boundary rigidity.
• Dmitri Burago and Sergei Ivanov, Riemannian tori without conjugate points are flat, Geom.
Funct. Anal., 4 (1994) 259–269. A proof of Hopf’s conjecture that any metric without
conjugate points on the n-torus must be flat.