Given a symplectic manifold, it is of interest how Lie group actions, their orbit spaces look like and what are some topological requirements on the existence of such actions. In this thesis we present the work of Ono, giving some sufficient conditions for non-existence of circle actions on symplectic manifolds and work of Li, describing the fundamental groups of symplectic reductions of circle actions.

One of the most important tools to study the geometry of irreducible holomorphic symplectic manifolds is the monodromy group. The first part of this dissertation concerns the construction and studyof monodromy operators on irreducible holomorphic symplectic manifolds which are deformation equivalent to the 10-dimensional example constructed by O'Grady. The second part uses the knowledge of the monodromy group to compute the number of connected components of moduli spaces of bothmarked and polarised irreducible holomorphic symplectic manifolds which are deformationequivalent to generalised Kummer varieties.

We apply branched covering techniques to construct minimal simply-connected symplectic 4-manifolds with small χ_h values. We also use these constructions to provide an alternate proof that for each s ≥ 0, there exists a positive integer λ(s) such that each pair (j,8j+s) with j ≥ λ(s) is realized as (χ_h(M),c_1^2(M)) for some minimal simply-connected symplectic M. The smallest values of λ(s) currently known to the author are also explicitly computed for 0 ≤ s ≤ 99. Our computations in these cases populate 19 952 points in the (χ,c)-plane not previously realized in the existing literature.

We apply branched covering techniques to construct minimal simply-connected symplectic 4-manifolds with small χ_h values. We also use these constructions to provide an alternate proof that for each s ≥ 0, there exists a positive integer λ(s) such that each pair (j,8j+s) with j ≥ λ(s) is realized as (χ_h(M),c_1^2(M)) for some minimal simply-connected symplectic M. The smallest values of λ(s) currently known to the author are also explicitly computed for 0 ≤ s ≤ 99. Our computations in these cases populate 19 952 points in the (χ,c)-plane not previously realized in the existing literature.

Le but de cette thèse est d'étudier les structures symplectiques dans la catégorie des variétés linéaires par morceaux (PL). La question centrale est de déterminer si toute variété symplectique lisse $(M,omega)$ peut être triangulée de manière symplectique, au sens où il existe une variété linéaire par morceaux $K$ et une triangulation $h :K -> M$ telle que $h^*omega$ est une forme symplectique constante par morceaux. Nous étudions d'abord un problème plus simple, qui consiste à trianguler les formes volumes lisses. Étant donnée une variété lisse $M$ munie d'une forme volume $Omega$, nous montrons qu'il existe une triangulation lisse $h :K -> M$ telle que $h^*Omega$ est une forme volume constante par morceaux. En particulier, les variétés symplectiques lisses de dimension 2 admettent donc des triangulations symplectiques. Étant donnée une variété symplectique fermée $(M,omega)$, nous montrons ensuite que pour certaines triangulations lisses $h :K -> M$, on peut, par une modification arbitrairement petite du complexe $K$, supposer que la forme $h^*omega$ est de rang maximal le long de tous les simplexes de $K$. Ce résultat permet d'approximer arbitrairement bien toute variété symplectique fermée par une variété symplectique PL. Nous nous intéressons finalement au cas d'une sous-variété symplectique $M$ d'un espace ambiant qui admet lui-même une triangulation symplectique. Nous montrons qu'il est possible de construire un cobordisme entre la sous-variété $M$ considérée et une approximation lisse par morceaux de celle-ci, triangulée par un complexe symplectique. / In this thesis, we study symplectic structures in a piecewise linear (PL) setting. The central question is to determine whether a smooth symplectic manifold can be triangulated symplectically, in the sense that there exists a triangulation $h :K -> M$ such that $h^*omega$ is a piecewise constant symplectic form on $K$. We first focus on a simpler related problem, and show that any smooth volume form $Omega$ on $M$ can be triangulated. This means that there always exists a triangulation $h :K -> M$ such that $h^*Omega$ is a piecewise constant volume form. In particular, symplectic surfaces admit symplectic triangulations. Given a closed symplectic manifold $(M,omega)$, we then prove that there exists triangulations $h :K -> M$ for which the piecewise smooth form $h^*omega$ has maximal rank along all the simplices of $K$. This result allows to approximate arbitrarily closely any closed symplectic manifold by a PL one. Finally, we investigate the case of a symplectic submanifold $M$ of an ambient space which is itself symplectically triangulated, and give the construction of a cobordism between $M$ and a piecewise smooth approximation of $M$, triangulated by a symplectic complex. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Die Frage nach dem Verstäandnis der Topologie symplektischer Mannigfaltigkeiten erhielt immer größere Aufmerksamkeit, insbesondere seit den Arbeiten von A. Weinstein und V. Arnold. Ein bewährtes Mittel ist dabei die Theorie der Gromov-Witten-Invarianten. Eine Gromov-Witten-Invariante zählt Schnitte von rationalen Zyklen mit Modulräumen J-holomorpher Kurven, die eine fixierte Homologieklasse repräsentieren, für eine zahme fast komplexe Struktur. Allerdings ist es im Allgemeinen schwierig, solche Schnittzahlen zu definieren, ohne zusätzliche Annahmen an die symplektische Mannigfaltigkeit zu treffen, da mehrfach überlagerte J-holomorphe Kurven mit negativer Chernzahl vorkommen können. Die vorliegende Dissertation folgt einem alternativen Ansatz zur Definition von Gromov-Witten-Invarianten, der von K. Cieliebak und K. Mohnke eingeführt wurde. Dieser Ansatz liefert für jede fixierte Homologieklasse einen Pseudozykel für jede geschlossene glatte Mannigfaltigkeit mit einer rationalen symplektischen Form. Wir erweitern diesen Ansatz in der vorliegenden Arbeit für eine beliebige symplektische Form. Wie bereits in der ursprünglichen Arbeit betrachten wir nur den Fall holomorpher Sphären. Wir zeigen, dass für jede Klasse der zweiten Koholomogie eine offene Umgebung existiert, so dass für zwei beliebige rationale symplektische Formen, desser Klassen in der gewählten Umgebung liegen, die dazugehörigen Pseudozykel rational kobordant sind. Der Beweis basiert auf einer Modifikation der Argumente des Ansatzes von Cieliebak und Mohnke für den Fall von zwei sich transversal schneidenden Hyperflächen, die jeweils zu verschiedenen symplektischen Formen gehören. / The question of understanding the topology of symplectic manifolds has received great attention since the work of A. Weinstein and V. Arnold. One of the established tools is the theory of Gromov-Witten invariants. A Gromov-Witten invariant counts intersections of rational cycles with the moduli space of J-holomorphic curves representing a fixed class for a tame almost complex structure. However, without imposing additional assumptions on the symplectic manifold such counts are difficult to define in general due to the occurence of multiply covered J-holomorphic curves with negative Chern numbers. This thesis deals with an alternative approach to Gromov-Witten invariants introduced by K. Cieliebak and K. Mohnke. Their approach delivers a pseudocycle for any closed symplectic manfold equipped with a rational symplectic form. Here this approach is extended to the case of an arbitrary symplectic form on a closed symplectic manifold.As in the original work we consider only the case of holomorphic spheres. We show that for any second cohomology class there exists an open neighbourhood, such that for any two rational symplectic forms, whose cohomolgy classes are contained in this neighbourhood, the corresponding pseudocycles are rationally cobordant. The proof is based on an adaptation of the arguments from the original Cieliebak-Mohnke approach to a more general situation - presence of two transversely intersecting hypersurfaces coming from two different symplectic forms.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Mostraremos que é possível aproximar um difeomorfismo simplético com derivada contínua por um difeomorfismo simplético, infinitamente diferenciáveis, sobre uma variedade simplética compacta. Além disso, provamos o Teorema de Darboux e Moser.