The BNS set of a finitely generated group $\Gamma$ is a certain canonical subset of the space of real additive characters on $\Gamma$. It is a subtle invariant of the group that naturally comes up in different questions of geometric and homological group theory. In the case when $\Gamma$ is the fundamental group of a compact Kähler manifold $X$, Thomas Delzant found a beautiful description of its BNS set in terms of holomorphic fibrations of $X$ over hyperbolic orbifold curves. Using it, he showed that if the fundamental group of a compact Kähler manifold is virtually solvable, it is in fact virtually nilpotent. I will explain the main ideas behind Delzant’s proof and how to generalise his theorems to the case when $X$ is a smooth complex quasi-projective variety. Time permitting, I will also discuss some applications and the case of quasi-Kähler manifolds.

Dans ce travail en cours et en commun avec Ines Kath (Greifswald) et Georges Habib (Beyrouth), je m’attacherai à  décrire quelques propriétés des variétés riemanniennes portant une fonction satisfaisant une équation liant sa hessienne au tenseur de Ricci de la variété.

I will discuss some results extending classical (as well as more recent) theorems in algebraic geometry to (1,1) cohomology classes on compact Kahler manifolds. In particular I will discuss Nakamaye’s Theorem, the Fujita-Zariski Theorem, and Seshadri constants.