38 pages. Version 2 corrected an error in the published paper kindly pointed out by Yukinobu Toda. Version 3 corrects a further error pointed out by Toda and Tasuki Kinjo. The only changes are footnotes on pages 27 and 38, together with new Sections 7.3 and 7.4 which explain the mistakes and how to fix them
We use Joyce's theory of motivic Hall algebras to prove that reduced Donaldson-Thomas curve-counting invariants on Calabi-Yau threefolds coincide with stable pair invariants, and that the generating functions for these invariants are Laurent expansions of rational functions.
We prove some combinatorial results required for the proof of the following conjecture of Nekrasov: The generating function of closed string invariants in local Calabi-Yau geometries obtained by appropriate fibrations of $A_N$ singularities over $P^1$ reproduce the generating function of equivariant $\hat{A}$-genera of moduli space of instants on $C^2$.
We survey some results on counting the rational points of moduli spaces of quiver representations. We then make generalizations to Grassmannians and flags of quiver representations. These results have nice applications to the cluster algebra. Along the way, we use the full Hopf structure of the Hall algebra of a quiver.
This is a survey on recent results on counting of curves over finite fields. It reviews various results on the maximum number of points on a curve of genus g over a finite field of cardinality q, but the main emphasis is on results on the Euler characteristic of the cohomology of local systems on moduli spaces of curves of low genus and its implications for modular forms.
The Donaldson-Thomas invariant is a curve counting invariant on Calabi-Yau 3-folds via ideal sheaves. Another counting invariant via stable pairs is introduced by Pandharipande and Thomas, which counts pairs of curves and divisors on them. These two theories are conjecturally equivalent via generating functions, called DT/PT correspondence. In this paper, we show the Euler characteristic version of DT/PT correspondence, using the notion of weak stability conditions and the wall-crossing formula.
The trigonal curves of genus 5 can be represented by projective plane quintics that have 1 singularity of delta invariant 1. Combining this with a partial sieve method for plane curves we count the number of such curves over any finite field. The main application is that this then gives the motivic Euler characteristic of the moduli space of trigonal curves of genus 5.
We give a method of counting the number of curves with a given type of singularity in a suitably ample linear series on a smooth surface using punctual Hilbert schemes. The types of singulaties for which our methods suffice include the topological type with local equation x^a +y^b with b-1 < a < 3b+1. We work out the example of curves with the analytic type of singularity with local equation x^2+y^n for 1<n<9.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first we give a survey on the recent developments of curve counting invariants on Calabi-Yau 3-folds, e.g. Gromov-Witten theory, Donaldson-Thomas theory and Pandharipande-Thomas theory. Next we focus on the proof of the rationality conjecture of the generating series of PT invariants, and discuss its conjectural Gopakumar-Vafa form.
Let X be a (possibly nodal) K-trivial threefold moving in a fixed ambient space P. Suppose X contains a continuous family of curves, all of whose members satisfy certain unobstructedness conditions in P. A formula is given for computing the corresponding virtual number of curves, that is, the number of curves on a generic deformation of X "contributed by" the continuous family on X.
We propose a geometric interpretation of Block and Göttsche's refined tropical curve counting invariants in terms of virtual $χ_{-y}$-specializations of motivic measures of semialgebraic sets in relative Hilbert schemes. We prove that this interpretation is correct for linear series of genus 1, and in arbitrary genus after specializing from $χ_{-y}$ to Euler characteristic.
In this paper, we investigate the space of certain weak stability conditions on the triangulated category of D0-D2-D6 bound states on a smooth projective Calabi-Yau 3-fold. In the case of a quintic 3-fold, the resulting space is interpreted as a universal covering space of an infinitesimal neighborhood of the conifold point in the stringy Kahler moduli space. We then construct the DT type invariants counting semistable objects in our triangulated category, which are new curve counting invariants on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold. We also investigate the wall-crossing formula of our invariants and their i…
Let $X\to \mathbb P^2$ be the elliptic Calabi-Yau threefold given by a general Weierstrass equation. We answer the enumerative question of how many discrete rational curves lie over lines in the base, proving part of a conjecture by Huang, Katz, and Klemm. The key inputs are a modularity theorem of Kudla and Millson for locally symmetric spaces of orthogonal type and the deformation theory of $A_n$ singularities.
We study the curve counting invariants of Calabi--Yau 3-folds via the Weyl reflection along a ruled divisor. We obtain a new rationality result and functional equation for the generating functions of Pandharipande--Thomas invariants. When the divisor arises as resolution of a curve of $A_1$-singularities, our results match the rationality of the associated Calabi--Yau orbifold. The symmetry on generating functions descends from the action of an infinite dihedral group of derived auto-equivalences, which is generated by the derived dual and a spherical twist. Our techniques involve wall-crossin…
In this (mostly) survey article, we give a synopsis of a number of results relating to Brill--Noether theory on curves and metric graphs, together with some speculations about the behavior of one-dimensional linear series on a class of metric graphs that admit decompositions as triples of trees rooted on a common vertex set.
To count bundles on curves, we study zetas of elliptic curves and their zeros. There are two types, i.e., the pure non-abelian zetas defined using moduli spaces of semi-stable bundles, and the group zetas defined for special linear groups. In lower ranks, we show that these two types of zetas coincide and satisfy the Riemann Hypothesis. For general cases, exposed is an intrinsic relation on automorphism groups of semi-stable bundles over elliptic curves, the so-called counting miracle. All this, together with Harder-Narasimhan, Desale-Ramanan and Zagier's result, gives an effective way to coun…
We obtain a formula for the degrees of the varieties parameterizing complex algebraic curves of any divisor class and genus on P^2_6, the projective plane blown-up at 6 generic points. Moreover, the formula computes the degrees of the varieties parameterizing curves on P^2_6 which additionally satisfy certain tangency conditions to a fixed exceptional divisor on P^2_6. Our formula contains as special cases the degrees of the analogous varieties parameterizing curves on P^2_q, for q=1,...,5, and on the quadric (P^1)^2. It is an extension of the Caporaso-Harris formula counting curves of any deg…
Block and Göttsche have defined a $q$-number refinement of counts of tropical curves in $\mathbb{R}^2$. Under the change of variables $q=e^{iu}$, we show that the result is a generating series of higher genus log Gromov-Witten invariants with insertion of a lambda class. This gives a geometric interpretation of the Block-Göttsche invariants and makes their deformation invariance manifest.
We study qualitative aspects of the Welschinger-like $\mathbb Z$-valued count of real rational curves on primitively polarized real $K3$ surfaces. In particular, we prove that with respect to the degree of the polarization, at logarithmic scale, the rate of growth of the number of such real rational curves is, up to a constant factor, the rate of growth of the number of complex rational curves. We indicate a few instances when the lower bound for the number of real rational curves provided by our count is sharp. In addition, we exhibit various congruences between real and complex counts.
Given two general rational curves of the same degree in two projective spaces, one can ask whether there exists a third rational curve of the same degree that projects to both of them. We show that, under suitable assumptions on the degree of the curves and the dimensions of the two given ambient projective spaces, the number of curves and projections fulfilling the requirements is finite. Using standard techniques in intersection theory and the Bott residue formula, we compute this number.
We prove a closed formula counting semistable twisted Higgs bundles of fixed rank and degree over a smooth projective curve defined over a finite field. We also prove a formula for the Donaldson-Thomas invariants of the moduli spaces of twisted Higgs bundles over a curve.
For a quiver with potential, we can associate a vanishing cycle to each representation space. If there is a nice torus action on the potential, the vanishing cycles can be expressed in terms of truncated Jacobian algebras. We study how these vanishing cycles change under the mutation of Derksen-Weyman-Zelevinsky. The wall-crossing formula leads to a categorification of quantum cluster algebras under some assumption. This is a special case of A. Efimov's result, but our approach is more concrete and down-to-earth. We also obtain a counting formula relating the representation Grassmannians under…
Let $C$ be a smooth projective curve and $W$ a symplectic bundle over $C$. Let $LQ_e (W)$ be the Lagrangian Quot scheme parametrizing Lagrangian subsheaves $E \subset W$ of degree $e$. We give a closed formula for intersection numbers on $LQ_e (W)$. As a special case, for $g \ge 2$, we compute the number of Lagrangian subbundles of maximal degree of a general stable symplectic bundle, when this is finite. This is a symplectic analogue of Holla's enumeration of maximal subbundles in [13].
We define refined invariants which "count" nodal curves in sufficiently ample linear systems on surfaces, conjecture that their generating function is multiplicative, and conjecture explicit formulas in the case of K3 and abelian surfaces. We also give a refinement of the Caporaso-Harris recursion, and conjecture that it produces the same invariants in the sufficiently ample setting. The refined recursion specializes at y = -1 to the Itenberg-Kharlamov-Shustin recursion for Welschinger invariants. We find similar interactions between refined invariants of individual curves and real invariants …
We describe an algorithm to compute the zeta function of any non-hyperelliptic genus 3 plane curve $C$ over a finite field with automorphism group $G = \mathbb{Z} / 2 \mathbb{Z}$. This algorithm computes in the Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology of~the curve. Using the relation between the Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology of $C$ and its quotient $E := C/G$, the computation splits into 2 parts: one in a subspace of the Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology and a second which reduces to the point counting on an elliptic curve $E$. The former corresponds to the dimension $2$ abelian surface $\mathrm{ker}(\mathrm{Ja…
In complex algebraic geometry, the problem of enumerating plane elliptic curves of given degree with fixed complex structure has been solved by R.Pandharipande using Gromov-Witten theory. In this article we treat the tropical analogue of this problem, the determination of the number of tropical elliptic plane curves of degree d and fixed ``tropical j-invariant'' interpolating an appropriate number of points in general position. We show that this number is independent of the position of the points and the value of the j-invariant and that it coincides with the number of complex elliptic curves.…
In this note I will explain how relative/log Gromov-Witten invariants of pairs $(X,D)$ with very ample smooth anticanonical divisor $D$ can be computed using algebro-combinatorial objects called scattering diagrams. The underlying principle behind this computational method is a tropical correspondence theorem for non-toric cases, which I will explain briefly. By computing some examples I will give an introduction to a sage code that I wrote for computing scattering diagrams.
We study the stationary descendant Gromov-Witten theory of toric surfaces by combining and extending a range of techniques - tropical curves, floor diagrams, and Fock spaces. A correspondence theorem is established between tropical curves and descendant invariants on toric surfaces using maximal toric degenerations. An intermediate degeneration is then shown to give rise to floor diagrams, giving a geometric interpretation of this well-known bookkeeping tool in tropical geometry. In the process, we extend floor diagram techniques to include descendants in arbitrary genus. These floor diagrams …
The goal of the present paper is to show the transformation formula of Donaldson-Thomas invariants on smooth projective Calabi-Yau 3-folds under birational transformations via categorical method. We also generalize the non-commutative Donaldson-Thomas invariants, introduced by B. Szendr{\H o}i in a local $(-1, -1)$-curve example, to an arbitrary flopping contraction from a smooth projective Calabi-Yau 3-fold. The transformation formula between such invariants and the usual Donaldson-Thomas invariants are also established. These formulas will be deduced from the wall-crossing formula in the spa…
The family Blow Up formula is recalled. Certain combinatoric graphs are introduced for the discussion of the counting of nodal curves on an Kahler surface.
This note concerns the theoretical algorithmic problem of counting rational points on curves over finite fields. It explicates how the algorithmic scheme introduced by Schoof and generalized by the author yields an algorithm whose running time is uniformly polynomial time for curves in families.
In this paper, we develop a systematic approach to enumerate curves with a certain number of nodes and one further singularity which maybe more degenerate. As a result, we obtain an explicit formula for the number of curves in a sufficiently ample linear system, passing through the right number of generic points, that have $δ$ nodes and one singularity of codimension $k$, for all $δ+k \leq 8$. In particular, we recover the formulas for curves with upto six nodal points obtained by Vainsencher. Moreover, all the codimension seven numbers we have obtained agree with the formulas obtained by Kaza…
We propose an approach for showing rationality of an algebraic variety $X$. We try to cover $X$ by rational curves of certain type and count how many curves pass through a generic point. If the answer is $1$, then we can sometimes reduce the question of rationality of $X$ to the question of rationality of a closed subvariety of $X$. This approach is applied to the case of the so-called Ueno-Campana manifolds. Our experiments indicate that the previously open cases $X_{4,6}$ and $X_{5,6}$ are both rational. However, this result is not rigorously justified and depends on a heuristic argument and…
We compute Gromov-Witten invariants of any genus for del Pezzo surfaces of degree $\ge2$. The genus zero invariants have been computed a long ago, Gromov-Witten invariants of any genus for del Pezzo surfaces of degree $\ge3$ have been found by Vakil. We solve the problem in two steps: (1) we consider the plane blown up at 6 points on a conic and one more point outside this conic (weak Fano surface), and, using techniques of tropical geometry, obtain a Caporaso-Harris type formula counting curves of any divisor class and genus subject to arbitrary tangency conditions with respect to the blown u…
Let n_δbe the number of δ-nodal curves lying in a suitably ample complete linear system |L| and passing through appropriately many points on a smooth projective complex algebraic surface. A major open problem is to understand the behavior of n_δ, specifically to finish off Lothar Göttsche's mostly proved 1997 conjectures and then go on to treat the new refinements by Göttsche and Vivek Shende. Five subproblems are explained, and work on them is surveyed.
In this paper, we define two numbers. One comes from counting tropical curves with a stop and the other is the number of holomorphic discs in toric varieties with Lagrangian boundary condition. Both of these curves should satisfy some matching conditions. We show that these numbers coincide. These numbers can be considered as Gromov-Witten type invariants for holomorphic discs, and they have both similarities and differences to the counting numbers of closed holomorphic curves. We study several aspects of them.
We obtain a recursive formula for the characteristic number of degree $d$ curves in $\mathbb{P}^2$ with prescribed singularities (of type $A_k$) that are tangent to a given line. The formula is in terms of the characteristic number of curves with exactly those singularities. Combined with the results of S. Basu and R. Mukherjee, this gives us a complete formula for the characteristic number of curves with $δ$-nodes and one singularity of type $A_k$, tangent to a given line, provided $δ+ k \leq 8$. We use a topological method, namely the method of dynamic intersections to compute the degenerate…
We give an introduction to Joyce's construction of the motivic Hall algebra of coherent sheaves on a variety M. When M is a Calabi-Yau threefold we define a semi-classical integration map from a Poisson subalgebra of this Hall algebra to the ring of functions on a symplectic torus. This material will be used in arxiv:1002.4374 to prove some basic properties of Donaldson-Thomas curve-counting invariants on Calabi-Yau threefolds.
We give an asymptotic formula for the number of elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Q}$ with bounded Faltings height. Silverman has shown that the Faltings height for elliptic curves over number fields can be expressed in terms of modular functions and the minimal discriminant of the elliptic curve. We use this to recast the problem as one of counting lattice points in a particular region in $\mathbb{R}^2$.
Hirzebruch surfaces provide an excellent example to underline the fact that in general symplectic manifolds, Gromov-Witten invariants might well count curves in the boundary components of the moduli space. We use this example to explain in detail that the counting argument given by Batyrev in "Quantum cohomology rings of toric manifolds" (Asterisque 218:9-34, 1993) does not work.
We introduce a new algorithm to compute the zeta function of a curve over a finite field. This method extends previous work of ours to all curves for which a good lift to characteristic zero is known. We develop all the necessary bounds, analyse the complexity of the algorithm and provide a complete implementation.
Given a quasi-projective scheme M over complex numbers equipped with a perfect obstruction theory and a morphism to a nonsingular quasi-projective variety B, we show it is possible to find an affine bundle M'/ M that admits a perfect obstruction theory relative to B. We study the resulting virtual cycles on the fibers of M'/B and relate them to the image of the virtual cycle [M]^vir under refined Gysin homomorphisms. Our main application is when M is a moduli space of stable codimension 1 sheaves with a fixed determinant L on a nonsingular projective surface or Fano threefold, B is the linear …
We introduce a new algorithm to compute the zeta function of a curve over a finite field. This method extends Kedlaya's algorithm to a very general class of curves using a map to the projective line. We develop all the necessary bounds, analyse the complexity of the algorithm and provide some examples computed with our implementation.
Let $E$ be a rank 2, degree $d$ vector bundle over a genus $g$ curve $C$. The loci of stable pairs on $E$ in class $2[C]$ fixed by the scaling action are expressed as products of $\Quot$ schemes. Using virtual localization, the stable pairs invariants of $E$ are related to the virtual intersection theory of $\Quot E$. The latter theory is extensively discussed for an $E$ of arbitrary rank; the tautological ring of $\Quot E$ is defined and is computed on the locus parameterizing rank one subsheaves. In case $E$ has rank 2, $d$ and $g$ have opposite parity, and $E$ is sufficiently generic, it is…
We show how to define and count lattice points in the moduli space $\modm_{g,n}$ of genus g curves with n labeled points. This produces a polynomial with coefficients that include the Euler characteristic of the moduli space, and tautological intersection numbers on the compactified moduli space.
This is a survey describing recents developments in enumerative geometry of curves on projective varieties. Various methods to arrive at results such as Kontsevich's formula for plane rational curves, or Caporaso-Harris's formula for plane curves of any genus, are illustrated on concrete examples It will appear on the Proceedings of the European Congress of Mathematics, Budapest 1996.
Göttsche gave a formula for the dimension of the cohomology of Hilbert schemes of points on a smooth projective surface $S$. When $S$ admits an action by a finite group $G$, we describe the action of $G$ on the Hodge structure. In the case that $S$ is a K3 surface, each element of $G$ gives a trace on $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}(-1)^{i}H^{i}(S^{[n]},\mathbb{C})q^{n}$. When $G$ acts faithfully and symplectically on $S$, the resulting generating function is of the form $q/f(q)$, where $f(q)$ is a cusp form. We relate the Hodge structure of Hilbert schemes of points to the Hodge struc…
These notes are intended as an easy-to-read supplement to part of the background material presented in my talks on enumerative geometry. In particular, the numbers $n_3$ and $n_4$ of plane rational cubics through eight points and of plane rational quartics through eleven points are determined via the classical approach of counting curves. The computation of the latter number also illustrates my topological approach to counting the zeros of a fixed vector bundle section that lie in the main stratum of a compact space. The arguments used in the computation of the number $n_4$ extend easily to co…
We obtain a recursive formula answering the following question: How many irreducible, plane curves of degree d and (geometric) genus g pass through 3d-1+g general points in the plane? The formula is proved by studying suitable degenerations of plane curves.
For a given conic bundle X over a curve C defined over F_q, we count irreducible branch covers of C in X of degree d and height e>>1. As a special case, we get the number of algebraic numbers of degree d and height e over the function field F_q (C).
In this paper we produce a generating function for the number of hyperelliptic curves (up to translation) on a polarized Abelian surfaces using the crepant resolution conjecture and the Yau-Zaslow formula. We present a formula to compute these in terms of MacMahon's generalized sum-of-divisors functions, and prove that they are quasi-modular forms.
We describe an algorithm for counting points on an arbitrary hyperelliptic curve over a finite field of odd characteristic, using Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology to compute a p-adic approximation to the characteristic polynomial of Frobenius. For fixed p, the asymptotic running time for a curve of genus g over the field of p^n elements is O(g^{4+ε} n^{3+ε}).
This paper has been rendered obsolete by our newer eprint alg-geom/9411005 "Bott's formula and enumerative geometry", which is a considerably expanded version of the same paper, in spite of the change of titles. Please download alg-geom/9411005 instead, and update possible references.
We study the problem of lifting curves from finite fields to number fields in a genus and gonality preserving way. More precisely, we sketch how this can be done efficiently for curves of gonality at most four, with an in-depth treatment of curves of genus at most five over finite fields of odd characteristic, including an implementation in Magma. We then use such a lift as input to an algorithm due to the second author for computing zeta functions of curves over finite fields using $p$-adic cohomology.