If M is compact Kählerian and ρ is semi-simple, that is that the Zariski closure of the image of ρ in GL(n,C) is semi-simple 1, by means of a result of Donaldson (in the case of Riemann surfaces, [5]) and Corlette (in the higher dimensional case, [4]), there exists a unique harmonic metric u on V, equivalently, a ρ-equivariant harmonic map from the universal covering M̃ of M into Pn := GL(n,C)/U...

In this paper, we define the fundamental group of a topological space and explore its structure, and we proceed to prove Van-Kampen’s Theorem, a powerful result useful for calculating the fundamental groups of spaces which decompose into spaces whose fundamental groups are already known. With these tools, we show that the circle, 2-sphere, torus, and figure-8 space are topologically distinct. W...

We use reformulation techniques to model and solve a complex sphere covering problem occurring in the configuration of a gamma ray machine radiotherapy equipment unit.

In the Covering Steiner problem, we are given an undirected graph with edgecosts, and some subsets of vertices called groups, with each group being equipped with a non-negative integer value (called its requirement); the problem is to find a minimum-cost tree which spans at least the required number of vertices from every group. The Covering Steiner problem is a common generalization of the k-M...