We depict recent developments in the field of positive sectional curvature, mainly, but not exclusively, under the assumption of isometric torus actions. After an elaborate introduction to the field, we shall discuss various classification results, before we provide results on the computation of Euler characteristics. This will be the starting point for an examination of more involved invariants and further techniques. In particular, we shall discuss the Hopf conjectures, related decomposition results like the Wilhelm conjecture, results in differential topology and index theory as well as in rational homotopy theory, geometrically formal metrics in positive curvature and much more. The results we present will be discussed for arbitrary dimensions, but also specified to small dimensions. This survey article features mainly depictions of our own work interest in this area and cites results obtained in different collaborations; full statements and proofs can be found in the respective original research articles.

We give a survey on 4-dimensional manifolds with positive isotropic curvature. We will introduce the work of B. L. Chen, S. H. Tang and X. P. Zhu on a complete classification theorem on compact four-manifolds with positive isotropic curvature (PIC). Then we review an application of the classification theorem, which is from Chen and Zhu’s work. Finally, we discuss our recent result on the path-connectedness of the moduli spaces of Riemannian metrics with positive isotropic curvature.

We study fixed points of smooth torus actions on closed manifolds using fixed point formulas and equivariant elliptic genera. We also give applications to positively curved Riemannian manifolds with symmetry.

We discuss the topology and geometry of closed Alexandrov spaces of dimension three.

This is a survey about our recent works on the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern (GBC) mass for asymptotically flat and asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds. We first introduce the GBC mass, a higher order mass, for asymptotically flat and for asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds, respectively, by using a higher order scalar curvature. Then we prove its positivity and the Penrose inequality for graphical manifolds. One of the crucial steps in the proof of the Penrose inequality is the use of an Alexandrov-Fenchel inequality, which is a classical inequality in the Euclidean space. In the hyperbolic space, we have established this new Alexandrov-Fenchel inequality. We also have a similar work for asymptotically locally hyperbolic manifolds. At the end, we discuss the relation between the GBC mass and Chern’s magic form.

This survey gives an overview of the isoperimetric properties of nilpotent groups and Lie groups. It discusses results for Dehn functions and filling functions as well as the techniques used to retrieve them. The content reaches from long standing results up to the most recent development.

We give a survey of results on the construction of and obstructions to metrics of almost nonnegative curvature operator on closed manifolds and results on the cohomology rings of closed, simply-connected manifolds with a lower curvature and upper diameter bound. The latter is motivated by a question of Grove whether these condition imply finiteness of rational homotopy types. This question has answers by F. Fang–X. Rong, B. Totaro and recently A. Dessai and the present author.

We survey some geometric and analytic results under the assumptions of combinatorial curvature bounds for planar/semiplanar graphs and curvature dimension conditions for general graphs.

We give a survey on various results regarding the metric aspects of conic surfaces with emphasis on the prescribing curvature problem for conic surfaces.

We give a survey about recent results on Ricci-harmonic flow.

These notes present and survey results about spaces and moduli spaces of complete Riemannian metrics with curvature bounds on open and closed manifolds, here focussing mainly on connectedness and disconnectedness properties. They also discuss several open problems and questions in the field.

For a finitely triangulated closed surface M², let α_x be the sum of angles at a vertex x. By the well-known combinatorial version of the 2-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet Theorem, it holds ∑_x(2π−α_x) = 2πχ(M²), where χ denotes the Euler characteristic of M², α_x denotes the sum of angles at the vertex x, and the sum is over all vertices of the triangulation. We give here an elementary proof of a straightforward higher-dimensional generalization to Euclidean simplicial complexes K without assuming any combinatorial manifold condition. First, we recall some facts on simplicial complexes, the Euler characteristics and its local version at a vertex. Then we define δ(τ) as the normed dihedral angle defect around a simplexτ. Our main result is ∑_τ (−1)^dim(τ)δ(τ) =χ(K), where the sum is over all simplices τ of the triangulation. Then we give a definition of curvature κ(x) at a vertex and we prove the vertex-version ∑x∈K0κ(x) =χ(K) of this result. It also possible to prove Morse-type inequalities. Moreover, we can apply this result to combinatorial (n + 1)-manifolds W with boundary B, where we prove that the difference of Euler characteristics is given by the sum of curvatures over the interior of W plus a contribution from the normal curvature along the boundary B:χ(W) −12χ(B) = ∑_τ∈W−B(−1)^dim(τ)δ(τ) +∑_τ∈B(−1)^dim(τ)ρ(τ).