We give detailed descriptions of gluing pseudoholomorphic maps in symplectic geometry, especially in the presence of an obstruction bundle. The main motivation is to try to compare the symplectic and enumerative invariants of algebraic manifolds. These descriptions can also be used to enumerate rational curves with high-order degeneracies of local nature in projective spaces.
Following the approach of Gromov and Witten, we define invariants under deformation of stongly semipositive real symplectic six-manifolds. These invariants provide lower bounds in real enumerative geometry, namely for the number of real rational $J$-holomorphic curves which realize a given homology class and pass through a given real configuration of points.
We build a bridge between Floer theory on open symplectic manifolds and the enumerative geometry of holomorphic disks inside their Fano compactifications, by detecting elements in symplectic cohomology which are mirror to Landau-Ginzburg potentials. We also treat the higher Maslov index versions of the potentials. We discover a relation between higher disk potentials and symplectic cohomology rings of smooth anticanonical divisor complements (themselves conjecturally related to closed-string Gromov-Witten invariants), and explore several other applications to the geometry of Liouville domains.
We first present the construction of the moduli space of real pseudo-holomorphic curves in a given real symplectic manifold. Then, following the approach of Gromov and Witten, we construct invariants under deformation of real rational symplectic 4-manifolds. These invariants provide lower bounds for the number of real rational $J$-holomorphic curves in a given homology class passing through a given real configuration of points.
In this paper we establish new restrictions on symplectic embeddings of certain convex domains into symplectic vector spaces. These restrictions are stronger than those implied by the Ekeland-Hofer capacities. By refining an embedding technique due to Guth, we also show that they are sharp.
In this paper we are interested in the isotopy classes of symplectic log Calabi-Yau divisors in a fixed symplectic rational surface. We give several equivalent definitions and prove the stability, finiteness and rigidity results. Motivated by the problem of counting toric actions, we obtain a general counting formula of symplectic log Calabi-Yau divisors in a restrictive region of $c_1$-nef cone. A detailed count in the case of 2- and 3-point blow-ups of complex projective space for all symplectic forms is also given. In our framework the complexity of the combinatorics of analyzing Delzant po…
In determining when a four-dimensional ellipsoid can be symplectically embedded into a ball, McDuff and Schlenk found an infinite sequence of "ghost" obstructions that generate an infinite "ghost staircase" determined by the even index Fibonacci numbers. The ghost obstructions are not visible for the four-dimensional embedding problem because strictly stronger obstructions also exist. We show that in contrast, the embedding constraints associated to the ghost obstructions are sharp for the stabilized problem; moreover, the corresponding optimal embeddings are given by symplectic folding. The p…
ECH (embedded contact homology) capacities give obstructions to symplectically embedding one four-dimensional symplectic manifold with boundary into another. These obstructions are known to be sharp when the domain and target are ellipsoids (proved by McDuff), and more generally when the domain is a "concave toric domain" and the target is a "convex toric domain" (proved by Cristofaro-Gardiner). However ECH capacities often do not give sharp obstructions, for example in many cases when the domain is a polydisk. This paper uses more refined information from ECH to give stronger symplectic embed…
We prove that a compact log symplectic manifold has a class in the second cohomology group whose powers, except maybe for the top, are nontrivial. This result gives cohomological obstructions for the existence of b-log symplectic structures similar to those in symplectic geometry.
For any asymptotically dynamically convex contact manifold $Y$, we show that $SH_*(W)=0$ is a property independent of the choice of topologically simple (i.e.\ $c_1(W)=0$ and $π_{1}(Y)\rightarrow π_1(W)$ is injective) Liouville filling $W$. In particular, if $Y$ is the boundary of a flexible Weinstein domain, then any topologically simple Liouville filling $W$ has vanishing symplectic homology. As a consequence, we answer a question of Lazarev partially: a contact manifold $Y$ admitting flexible fillings determines the integral cohomology of all the topologically simple Liouville fillings of $…
Embedded contact homology gives a sequence of obstructions to four-dimensional symplectic embeddings, called ECH capacities. In "Symplectic embeddings into four-dimensional concave toric domains", the author, Choi, Frenkel, Hutchings and Ramos computed the ECH capacities of all "concave toric domains", and showed that these give sharp obstructions in several interesting cases. We show that these obstructions are sharp for all symplectic embeddings of concave toric domains into "convex" ones. In an appendix with Choi, we prove a new formula for the ECH capacities of convex toric domains, which …
Several types of generically-nondegenerate Poisson structures can be effectively studied as symplectic structures on naturally associated Lie algebroids. Relevant examples of this phenomenon include log-, elliptic, $b^k$-, scattering and elliptic-log Poisson structures. In this paper we discuss topological obstructions to the existence of such Poisson structures, obtained through the characteristic classes of their associated symplectic Lie algebroids. In particular we obtain the full obstructions for surfaces to carry such Poisson structures.
ECH capacities give obstructions to symplectically embedding one symplectic four-manifold with boundary into another. We compute the ECH capacities of a large family of symplectic four-manifolds with boundary, called "concave toric domains". Examples include the (nondisjoint) union of two ellipsoids in $\mathbb{R}^4$. We use these calculations to find sharp obstructions to certain symplectic embeddings involving concave toric domains. For example: (1) we calculate the Gromov width of every concave toric domain; (2) we show that many inclusions of an ellipsoid into the union of an ellipsoid and…
In this note, we obtain new obstructions to symplectic embeddings of a product of disks (a polydisk) into a 4-dimensional ball. The polydisk P(r,s) is the product of the disk of area r with the disk of area s. The ball of capacity a, denoted B(a), is the ball with πr^2 \le a. We show P(1,2) embeds in B^4(a) if and only if a is at least 3. This shows the inclusion of P(1,2) in B^4(3) is optimal. The necessity of a \ge 3 implies that for this particular embedding problem neither the Ekeland-Hofer nor ECH capacities give a sharp obstruction. We contrast this with the case of ellipsoid embeddings …
In this paper we obtain sharp obstructions to the symplectic embedding of the lagrangian bidisk into four-dimensional balls, ellipsoids and symplectic polydisks. We prove, in fact, that the interior of the lagrangian bidisk is symplectomorphic to a concave toric domain using ideas that come from billiards on a round disk. In particular, we answer a question of Ostrover. We also obtain sharp obstructions to some embeddings of ellipsoids into the lagrangian bidisk.
Branched covers of orbit cylinders are the basic examples of holomorphic curves studied in symplectic field theory. Since all curves with Fredholm index one can never be regular for any choice of cylindrical almost complex structure, we generalize the obstruction bundle technique of Taubes for determining multiple cover contributions from Gromov-Witten theory to the case of moduli spaces with boundary. Our result proves that the differential in rational symplectic field theory and contact homology is strictly decreasing with respect to the natural action filtration.
We classify weakly exact, rational Lagrangian tori in $T^* \mathbb{T}^2- 0_{\mathbb{T}^2}$ up to Hamiltonian isotopy. This result is related to the classification theory of closed $1$-forms on $\mathbb{T}^n$ and also has applications to symplectic topology. As a first corollary, we strengthen a result due independently to Eliashberg-Polterovich and to Giroux describing Lagrangian tori in $T^* \mathbb{T}^2-0_{\mathbb{T}^2}$ which are homologous to the zero section. As a second corollary, we exhibit pairs of disjoint totally real tori $K_1, K_2 \subset T^*\mathbb{T}^2$, each of which is isotopic…
We express the genus-two fixed-complex-structure enumerative invariants of P^2 and P^3 in terms of the genus-zero enumerative invariants. The approach is to relate each genus-two fixed-complex-structure enumerative invariant to the corresponding symplectic invariant.
Log-concavity from enumerative geometry of planar curve singularities
Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications(北京数学与应用数学研究所);Tsinghua University(清华大学);Center for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Fudan University(复旦大学交叉科学中心);Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SIMIS)(上海数学与交叉学科研究院)
Suppose $X^{N}$ is a closed oriented manifold, $α\in H^*(X;\mathbb{R})$ is a cohomology class, and $Z \in H_{N-k}(X)$ is an integral homology class. We ask the following question: is there an oriented embedded submanifold $Y^{N-k} \subset X$ with homology class $Z$ such that $α|_Y = 0 \in H^*(Y;\mathbb{R})$? In this article, we provide a family of computable obstructions to the existence of such 'exact' submanifolds in a given homology class which arise from studying formal deformations of the de Rham complex. In the final section, we apply these obstructions to prove that the following symple…
We transform the positive-genus real Gromov-Witten invariants of many real-orientable symplectic threefolds into signed counts of curves. These integer invariants provide lower bounds for counts of real curves of a given genus that pass through conjugate pairs of constraints. We conclude with some implications and related conjectures for one- and two-partition Hodge integrals.
This note constructs sharp obstructions for stabilized symplectic embeddings of an ellipsoid into a ball, in the case when the initial four-dimensional ellipsoid has `eccentricity' of the form 3n-1 for some integer n.
We characterize transversality, non-transversality properties on the moduli space of genus 0 stable maps to a semipositive symplectic manifold of dimension 4, when GW([point],...,[point]) is enumerative. In particular, we show that the intersection theoretic property depends on the existence of a critical point on a stable map.
We answer the natural question: when are a regular Poisson structure along with a complex structure transverse to its symplectic leaves induced by generalized complex structure? The leafwise symplectic form and transverse complex structure determine an obstruction class in a certain cohomology, which vanishes if and only if our question has an affirmative answer. We first study a component of this obstruction, which gives the condition that the leafwise cohomology class of the symplectic form must be transversely pluriharmonic. As a consequence, under certain topological hypotheses, we infer t…
It is shown that the normalized trace of Fedosov star product for quantum moment map depends only on the path component in the cohomology class of the symplectic form and the cohomology class of the closed formal 2-form required to define Fedosov connections (Theorem 1.3). As an application we obtain a family of obstructions to the existence of closed Fedosov star products naturally attached to symplectic manifolds (Theorem 1.5) and Kähler manifolds (Theorem 1.6). These obstructions are integral invariants depending only on the path component of the cohomology class of the symplectic form. Res…
We generalize the familiar notions of overtwistedness and Giroux torsion in 3-dimensional contact manifolds, defining an infinite hierarchy of local filling obstructions called planar torsion, whose integer-valued order $k \ge 0$ can be interpreted as measuring a gradation in "degrees of tightness" of contact manifolds. We show in particular that any contact manifold with planar torsion admits no contact type embeddings into any closed symplectic 4-manifold, and has vanishing contact invariant in Embedded Contact Homology, and we give examples of contact manifolds that have planar k-torsion fo…
The shape invariant of a symplectic manifold encodes the possible area classes of embedded Lagrangian tori. Potentially this is a powerful invariant, but for most manifolds the shape is unknown. We compute the shape for 4 dimensional symplectic ellipsoids where the ratio of the factors is an integer. The full shape invariant gives stronger embedding obstructions than results by considering only monotone tori.
Gromov-Witten invariants of a symplectic manifold are a count of holomorphic curves. We describe a formula expressing the GW invariants of a symplectic sum $X# Y$ in terms of the relative GW invariants of $X$ and $Y$. This formula has several applications to enumerative geometry. As one application, we obtain new relations in the cohomology ring of the moduli space of complex structures on a genus g Riemann surface with n marked points.
This survey presents some recent results by the authors and Polterovich on the topological properties of ruled symplectic manifolds. The bundle M \to P \to B that is associated with a ruled manifold has the group of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of M as structure group if the base is simply connected. Thus information about Hamiltonian bundles gives stability results for ruled structures as well as obstructions to their existence.
In the symplectic category there is a `connect sum' operation that glues symplectic manifolds by identifying neighborhoods of embedded codimension two submanifolds. This paper establishes a formula for the Gromov-Witten invariants of a symplectic sum Z=X#Y in terms of the relative GW invariants of X and Y. Several applications to enumerative geometry are given.
We propose a produre of reduction a locally conformal symplectic structure. This procedure of reduction can be applied to wide class of submanifolds. There are no local obstructions for this procedure. But there are global obstructions. We find a necessary and sufficient condition when this reduction holds in terms of the special kind of de Rham cohomology class (tangent to the characteristic foliation) of the Lee form.
We define combinatorial counterparts to the geometric string vertices of Sen-Zwiebach and Costello-Zwiebach, which are certain closed subsets of the moduli spaces of curves. Our combinatorial vertices contain the same information as the geometric ones, are effectively computable, and act on the Hochschild chains of a cyclic $A_\infty$-algebra. This is the first in a series of two papers where we define enumerative invariants associated to a pair consisting of a cyclic $A_\infty$-algebra and a splitting of the Hodge filtration on its cyclic homology. These invariants conjecturally generalize th…
We show that any closed oriented 3-manifold can be topologically embedded in some simply-connected closed symplectic 4-manifold, and that it can be made a smooth embedding after one stabilization. As a corollary of the proof we show that the homology cobordism group is generated by Stein fillable 3-manifolds. We also find obstructions on smooth embeddings: there exists 3-manifolds which cannot smoothly embed in a way that appropriately respect orientations in any symplectic manifold with weakly convex boundary. This embedding obstruction can also be used to detect exotic smooth structures on 4…
This is an overview of some of the invariants that were discovered by Welschinger in the context of enumerative real algebraic geometry. Their definition finds a natural setup in real symplectic geometry. In particular, they can be studied using techniques from symplectic field theory, of which we also give a sample. Welschinger invariants are real analogues of certain Gromov-Witten invariants. This article is an extended set of notes for a talk at the Bourbaki seminar in April 2011.
In this short note we point out that not every star product is induced by a Drinfel'd twist by showing that not every Poisson structure is induced by a classical $r$-matrix. Examples include the higher genus symplectic Pretzel surfaces and the symplectic sphere $\mathbb{S}^2$.
McDuff and Schlenk determined when a four-dimensional ellipsoid can be symplectically embedded into a ball, and found that part of the answer is given by an infinite "Fibonacci staircase." Similarly, Frenkel and Müller determined when a four-dimensional ellipsoid can be symplectically embedded into the ellipsoid E(1,2) and found that part of the answer is given by a "Pell staircase." ECH capacities give an obstruction to symplectically embedding one four-dimensional ellipsoid into another, and McDuff showed that this obstruction is sharp. We use this result to give new proofs of the staircases…
The first part of this work constructs real positive-genus Gromov-Witten invariants of real-orientable symplectic manifolds of odd "complex" dimensions; the second part studies the orientations on the moduli spaces of real maps used in constructing these invariants. The present paper applies the results of the latter to obtain quantitative and qualitative conclusions about the invariants defined in the former. After describing large collections of real-orientable symplectic manifolds, we show that the real genus 1 Gromov-Witten invariants of sufficiently positive almost Kahler threefolds are s…
The natural sum operation for symplectic manifolds is defined by gluing along codimension two submanifolds. Specifically, let X be a symplectic 2n-manifold with a symplectic (2n-2)-submanifold V. Given a similar pair (Y,W) with a symplectic identification V=W and a complex anti-linear isomorphism between the normal bundles of V and W, we can form the symplectic sum Z=X # Y. This note announces a general formula for computing the Gromov-Witten invariants of the sum Z in terms of relative Gromov-Witten invariants of (X,V) and (Y,W). Two applications are presented: a short derivation of the Capor…
The first part of this work constructs positive-genus real Gromov-Witten invariants of real-orientable symplectic manifolds of odd "complex" dimensions; the present part focuses on their properties that are essential for actually working with these invariants. We determine the compatibility of the orientations on the moduli spaces of real maps constructed in the first part with the standard node-identifying immersion of Gromov-Witten theory. We also compare these orientations with alternative ways of orienting the moduli spaces of real maps that are available in special cases. In a sequel, we …
Our previous paper introduces topological notions of normal crossings symplectic divisor and variety and establishes that they are equivalent, in a suitable sense, to the desired geometric notions. Friedman's d-semistability condition is well-known to be an obstruction to the smoothability of a normal crossings variety in a one-parameter family with a smooth total space in the algebraic geometry category. We show that the direct analogue of this condition is the only obstruction to such smoothability in the symplectic topology category. Every smooth fiber of the families of smoothings we descr…
The present note overviews our recent construction of real Gromov-Witten theory in arbitrary genera for many real symplectic manifolds, including the odd-dimensional projective spaces and the renowned quintic threefold, its properties, and its connections with real enumerative geometry. Our construction introduces the principle of orienting the determinant of a differential operator relative to a suitable base operator and a real setting analogue of the (relative) spin structure of open Gromov-Witten theory. Orienting the relative determinant, which in the now-standard cases is canonically equ…
We define relative Gromov-Witten invariants of a symplectic manifold relative to a codimension two symplectic submanifold. These invariants are the key ingredients in the symplectic sum formula of [IP4]. The main step is the construction of a compact space of `V-stable' maps. Simple special cases include the Hurwitz numbers for algebraic curves and the enumerative invariants of Caporaso and Harris.
This paper derives an equality between the slab functions in Gross-Siebert program and generating functions of open Gromov-Witten invariants for toric Calabi-Yau manifolds, and thereby confirms a conjecture of Gross-Siebert on symplectic enumerative meaning of slab functions. The proof is based on the open mirror theorem of Chan-Cho-Lau-Tseng \cite{CCLT13}. It shows an instance of correspondence between tropical and symplectic geometry in the open sector.
In this paper, we present foundational material towards the development of a rigorous enumerative theory of stable maps with Lagrangian boundary conditions, ie stable maps from bordered Riemann surfaces to a symplectic manifold, such that the boundary maps to a Lagrangian submanifold. Our main application is to a situation where our proposed theory leads to a well-defined algebro-geometric computation very similar to well-known localization techniques in Gromov-Witten theory. In particular, our computation of the invariants for multiple covers of a generic disc bounding a special Lagrangian su…
We show that various notions of integrability for Poisson brackets are all equivalent, and we give the precise obstructions to integrating Poisson manifolds. We describe the integration as a symplectic quotient, in the spirit of the Poisson sigma-model of Cattaneo and Felder. For regular Poisson manifolds we express the obstructions in terms of variations of symplectic areas. As an application of these results, we show that a Poisson manifold admits a complete symplectic realization if, and only if, it is integrable. We discuss also the integration of submanifolds and Morita equivalence of Poi…
In [LP] the authors defined symplectic "Local Gromov-Witten invariants" associated to spin curves and showed that the GW invariants of a Kahler surface X with p_g>0 are a sum of such local GW invariants. This paper describes how the local GW invariants arise from an obstruction bundle (in the sense of Taubes) over the space of stable maps into curves. Together with the results of [LP], this reduces the calculation of the GW invariants of complex surfaces to computations in the GW theory of curves.
In their 2007 paper, Jarvis, Kaufmann, and Kimura defined the full orbifold $K$-theory of an orbifold ${\mathfrak X}$, analogous to the Chen-Ruan orbifold cohomology of ${\mathfrak X}$ in that it uses the obstruction bundle as a quantum correction to the multiplicative structure. We give an explicit algorithm for the computation of this orbifold invariant in the case when ${\mathfrak X}$ arises as an abelian symplectic quotient. Our methods are integral $K$-theoretic analogues of those used in the orbifold cohomology case by Goldin, Holm, and Knutson in 2005. We rely on the $K$-theoretic Kirwa…