Homogeneous bundles and the first eigenvalue of symmetric spaces (Q999682)

The authors consider the Gieseker point of a homogeneous bundle over a rational homogeneous space and show: Theorem 1.1: Let \(E\rightarrow X\) be an irreducible homogeneous vector bundle over a rational homogeneous space \(X=G/P\). If \(H^0(E)\neq0\), then \(T_E\) is stable. The authors give two proofs -- the first is algebraic and uses a criterion of \textit{D. Luna} [Invent. Math. 16, 1--5 (1972; Zbl 0249.14016)] for an orbit to be closed. The second proof uses invariant metrics and uses a result of \textit{X. Wang} [Math. Res. Lett. 9, No.~2--3, 393--411 (2002; Zbl 1011.32016)]. Theorem 1.1 is applied to the following problem in Kähler geometry. Let \(\lambda_1\) be the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian. The authors show: Theorem 1.2: Let \(X\) be a compact irreducible Hermitian symmetric space of ABCD tpe. Then \(\lambda_1\leq2\) for any Kähler metric whose associated Kähler class lies in \(2\pi c_1(X)\). This bound is attained by the symmetric metric. In the two exceptional examples of E type, the best estimate gotten by this method is strictly larger than 2 and is \(\lambda_1\) of the symmetric metric: Theorem 1.3: If \(X=E_6/P(\alpha_1)\) resp. \(X=E_7/P(\alpha_7)\) then \(\lambda_1\leq 36/17\) resp. \(\lambda_1\leq 133/53\).