In this opus, I challenge the claim that inflationary spacetimes must be past geodesi-cally incomplete. To do this, I utilize the warped product formalism of Bishop and O’Neill and build upon the venerable Friedmann Robertson Walker (FRW) space- time formalism to the Generalized Friedmann Robertson Walker (GFRW) spacetime formalism, where the achronal spacelike sections can be any geodesically complete Riemannian manifold (Σ, gΣ ). I then solve the GFRW geodesic equation in generality as a functional of the scale factor f , and derive a main theorem, which characterizes the geodesic completeness in GFRW spacetimes. After offering a definition of infla- tion which enumerates the topological requirements which permit a local foliation of a scale factor, I discuss a cohort of geodesically complete inflationary GFRWs which have averaged expansion quantity Havg > 0, proving that classical counter-examples to the theorem of Borde, Guth, and Vilenkin do exist. I conclude by introducing conjectures concerning the relationship between geodesic completeness and inflation: in particular, I speculate that if a spacetime is geodesically complete and non-trivial, it must inflate!

In this work, the author analyzes quantitative and structural aspects of Bayesian inference using Markov kernels, Wasserstein metrics, and Kantorovich monads. In particular, the author shows the following main results: first, that Markov kernels can be viewed as Borel measurable maps with values in a Wasserstein space; second, that the Disintegration Theorem can be interpreted as a literal equality of integrals using an original theory of integration for Markov kernels; third, that the Kantorovich monad can be defined for Wasserstein metrics of any order; and finally, that, under certain assumptions, a generalized Bayes’s Law for Markov kernels provably leads to convergence of the expected posterior distribution in the Wasserstein metric. These contributions provide a basis for studying further convergence, approximation, and stability properties of Bayesian inverse maps and inference processes using a unified theoretical framework that bridges between statistical inference, machine learning, and probabilistic programming semantics.

The author employs bundle theory to investigate dynamics on C*- algebras. Using methods old and new to define dynamics on topological spaces (often with additional structure), implications of the dynamics are investigated in the non-commutative setting, and in suitable situations the dynamics are classified. As a result, new Morita equivalence results are derived and new settings introduced in the study of crossed products, whether by group coactions or by actions of groups and groupoids.

This thesis develops geometrically and statistically rigorous foundations for multivariate analysis and bayesian inference posed on grassmannian manifolds. Requisite to the development of key elements of statistical theory in a geometric realm are closed-form, analytic expressions for many differential geometric objects, e.g., tangent vectors, metrics, geodesics, volume forms. The first part of this thesis is devoted to a mathematical exposition of these. In particular, it leverages the classical work of Alan James to derive the exterior calculus of differential forms on special grassmannians for invariant measures with respect to which integration is permissible. Motivated by various multi-­sensor remote sensing applications, the second part of this thesis describes the problem of recursively estimating the state of a dynamical system propagating on the Grassmann manifold. Fundamental to the bayesian treatment of this problem is the choice of a suitable probability distribution to a priori model the state. Using the Method of Maximum Entropy, a derivation of maximum-­entropy probability distributions on the state space that uses the developed geometric theory is characterized. Statistical analyses of these distributions, including parameter estimation, are also presented. These probability distributions and the statistical analysis thereof are original contributions. Using the bayesian framework, two recursive estimation algorithms, both of which rely on noisy measurements on (special cases of) the Grassmann manifold, are the devised and implemented numerically. The first is applied to an idealized scenario, the second to a more practically motivated scenario. The novelty of both of these algorithms lies in the use of thederived maximum­entropy probability measures as models for the priors. Numerical simulations demonstrate that, under mild assumptions, both estimation algorithms produce accurate and statistically meaningful outputs. This thesis aims to chart the interface between differential geometry and statistical signal processing. It is my deepest hope that the geometric-statistical approach underlying this work facilitates and encourages the development of new theories and new computational methods in geometry. Application of these, in turn, will bring new insights and bettersolutions to a number of extant and emerging problems in signal processing.

This thesis explores several questions concerning the preservation of geometric structure under the Ricci flow, an evolution equation for Riemannian metrics. Within the class of complete solutions with bounded curvature, short-time existence and uniqueness of solutions guarantee that symmetries and many other geometric features are preserved along the flow. However, much less is known about the analytic and geometric properties of solutions of potentially unbounded curvature. The first part of this thesis contains a proof that the full holonomy group is preserved, up to isomorphism, forward and backward in time. The argument reduces the problem to the preservation of reduced holonomy via an analysis of the equation satisfied by parallel translation around a loop with respect to the evolving metric. The subsequent chapter examines solutions satisfying a certain instantaneous, but nonuniform, curvature bound, and shows that when such solutions split as a product initially, they will continue to split for all time. This problem is encoded as one of uniqueness for an auxiliary system constructed from a family of time-dependent, orthogonal distributions of the tangent bundle. The final section presents some details of an ongoing project concerning the uniqueness of asymptotically product gradient shrinking Ricci solitons, including the construction of a certain system of mixed differential inequalities which measures the extent to which such a soliton fails to split.

Mark and Paupert concocted a general method for producing presentations for arithmetic non-cocompact lattices, \(\Gamma\), in isometry groups of negatively curved symmetric spaces. To get around the difficulty of constructing fundamental domains in spaces of variable curvature, their method invokes a classical theorem of Macbeath applied to a \(\Gamma\)-invariant covering by horoballs of the negatively curved symmetric space upon which \(\Gamma\) acts. This thesis aims to explore the application of their method to the Picard modular groups, PU\((2,1;\mathcal{O}_{d})\), acting on \(\mathbb{H}_{\C}^2\). This document contains the derivations for the group presentations corresponding to \(d=2,11\), which completes the list of presentations for Picard modular groups whose entries lie in Euclidean domains, namely those with \(d=1,2,3,7,11\). There are differences in the method's application when the lattice of interest has multiple cusps. \(d = 5\) is the smallest value of \(d\) for which the corresponding Picard modular group, \(\PU(2,1;\mathcal{O}_5)\), has multiple cusps, and the method variations become apparent when working in this case.

In the 1980's, Gromov and Piatetski-Shapiro introduced a technique called "hybridization'' which allowed them to produce non-arithmetic hyperbolic lattices from two non-commensurable arithmetic lattices. It has been asked whether an analogous hybridization technique exists for complex hyperbolic lattices, because certain geometric obstructions make it unclear how to adapt this technique. This thesis explores one possible construction (originally due to Hunt) in depth and uses it to produce arithmetic lattices, non-arithmetic lattices, and thin subgroups in SU(2,1).

Chapter 1 introduces some key elements of important topics such as; quantum mechanics,

representation theory of the Lorentz and Poincare groups, and a review of some basic rela- ´

tivistic wave equations that will play an important role in the work to follow. In Chapter 2,

a complex covariant form of the classical Maxwell’s equations in a moving medium or at

rest is introduced. In addition, a compact, Lorentz invariant, form of the energy-momentum

tensor is derived. In chapter 3, the concept of photon helicity is critically analyzed and its

connection with the Pauli-Lubanski vector from the viewpoint of the complex electromag- ´

netic field, E+ iH. To this end, a complex covariant form of Maxwell’s equations is used.

Chapter 4 analyzes basic relativistic wave equations for the classical fields, such as Dirac’s

equation, Weyl’s two-component equation for massless neutrinos and the Proca, Maxwell

and Fierz-Pauli equations, from the viewpoint of the Pauli-Lubanski vector and the Casimir ´

operators of the Poincare group. A connection between the spin of a particle/field and ´

consistency of the corresponding overdetermined system is emphasized in the massless

case. Chapter 5 focuses on the so-called generalized quantum harmonic oscillator, which

is a Schrodinger equation with a time-varying quadratic Hamiltonian operator. The time ¨

evolution of exact wave functions of the generalized harmonic oscillators is determined

in terms of the solutions of certain Ermakov and Riccati-type systems. In addition, it is

shown that the classical Arnold transform is naturally connected with Ehrenfest’s theorem

for generalized harmonic oscillators. In Chapter 6, as an example of the usefulness of the

methods introduced in Chapter 5 a model for the quantization of an electromagnetic field

in a variable media is analyzed. The concept of quantization of an electromagnetic field

in factorizable media is discussed via the Caldirola-Kanai Hamiltonian. A single mode

of radiation for this model is used to find time-dependent photon amplitudes in relation

to Fock states. A multi-parameter family of the squeezed states, photon statistics, and the

uncertainty relation, are explicitly given in terms of the Ermakov-type system.

This dissertation contains three main results. First, a generalization of Ionescu's theorem is proven. Ionescu's theorem describes an unexpected connection between graph C*-algebras and fractal geometry. In this work, this theorem is extended from ordinary directed graphs to higher-rank graphs. Second, a characterization is given of the Cuntz-Pimsner algebra associated to a tensor product of C*-correspondences. This is a generalization of a result by Kumjian about graphs algebras. This second result is applied to several important special cases of Cuntz-Pimsner algebras including topological graph algebras, crossed products by the integers and crossed products by completely positive maps. The result has meaningful interpretations in each context. The third result is an extension of the second result from an ordinary tensor product to a special case of Woronowicz's twisted tensor product. This result simultaneously characterizes Cuntz-Pimsner algebras of ordinary and graded tensor products and Cuntz-Pimsner algebras of crossed products by actions and coactions of discrete groups, the latter partially recovering earlier results of Hao and Ng and of Kaliszewski, Quigg and Robertson.