We construct a compact, convex ancient solution of mean curvature flow in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ with $O(1) \times O(n)$ symmetry that lies in a slab of width $\pi$. We provide detailed asymptotics for this solution and show that, up to rigid motions, it is the only compact, convex, $O(n)$-invariant ancient solution that lies in a slab of width $\pi$ and in no smaller slab.

We give characterizations of a finite group $G$ acting symplectically on a rational surface ($\mathbb{CP}^2$ blown up at two or more points). In particular, we obtain a symplectic version of the dichotomy of $G$-conic bundles versus $G$-del Pezzo surfaces for the corresponding $G$-rational surfaces, analogous to a classical result in algebraic geometry. Besides the characterizations of the group $G$ (which is completely determined for the case of $\mathbb{CP}^2 \# N \overline{\mathbb{CP}^2}, N={2,3,4}$), we also investigate the equivariant symplectic minimality and equivariant symplectic cone of a given $G$-rational surface.

The stable converse soul question (SCSQ) asks whether, given a real vector bundle $E$ over a compact manifold, some stabilization $E \times \mathbb{R}^k$ admits a metric with non-negative (sectional) curvature. We extend previous results to show that the SCSQ has an affirmative answer for all real vector bundles over any simply connected homogeneous manifold with positive curvature, except possibly for the Berger space $B^{13}$. Along the way, we show that the same is true for all simply connected homogeneous spaces of dimension at most seven, for arbitrary products of simply connected compact rank one symmetric spaces of dimensions multiples of four, and for certain products of spheres. Moreover, we observe that the SCSQ is “stable under tangential homotopy equivalence”: if it has an affirmative answer for all vector bundles over a certain manifold $M$, then the same is true for any manifold tangentially homotopy equivalent to $M$. Our main tool is topological K-theory. Over $B^{13}$, there is essentially one stable class of real vector bundles for which our method fails.

We show that if the variety of minimal rational tangents (VMRT) of a uniruled projective manifold at a general point is projectively equivalent to that of a symplectic or an odd-symplectic Grassmannian, the germ of a general minimal rational curve is biholomorphic to the germ of a general line in a presymplectic Grassmannian. As an application, we characterize symplectic and oddsymplectic Grassmannians, among Fano manifolds of Picard number $1$, by their VMRT at a general point and prove their rigidity under global Kähler deformation. Analogous results for $G/P$ associated with a long root were obtained by Mok and Hong–Hwang a decade ago by using Tanaka theory for parabolic geometries. When $G/P$ is associated with a short root, for which symplectic Grassmannians are most prominent examples, the associated local differential geometric structure is no longer a parabolic geometry and standard machinery of Tanaka theory cannot be applied because of several degenerate features. To overcome the difficulty, we show that Tanaka’s method can be generalized to a setting much broader than parabolic geometries, by assuming a vanishing condition that certain vector bundles arising from Spencer complexes have no nonzero sections. In our application of this method to the characterization of symplectic (or odd-symplectic) Grassmannians, this vanishing condition is checked by exploiting geometry of minimal rational curves.