The goal of this article is to motivate and describe how Gromov-Witten theory can and has provided tools to understand the moduli space of curves. For example, ideas and methods from Gromov-Witten theory have led to both conjectures and theorems showing that the tautological part of the cohomology ring has a remarkable and profound structure. As an illustration, we describe a new approach to Faber's intersection number conjecture via branched covers of the projective line (work with I.P. Goulden and D.M. Jackson, based on work with T. Graber). En route we review the work of a large number of mathematicians.
In this expository article, we explain how to use localization to compute Gromov-Witten invariants of smooth toric varieties and orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of smooth toric Deligne-Mumford stacks.
We give a formula of the framed one-leg orbifold Gromov-Witten vertex where the leg is gerby with isotropy group $\bZ_m$. Then we use this formula to compute the Gromov-Witten invariants of the local $\cB\bZ_m$ gerbe. We will also compute some examples of the degree 1 and degree 2 $\bZ_2$-Hodge integrals.
We derive a recursive formula for certain relative Gromov-Witten invariants with maximal tangency condition via the Witten-Dijkgraaf-Verlinde-Verlinde equation. For certain relative pairs, we get explicit formulae of invariants using the recursive formula.
Gromov-Witten invariants have been constructed to be deformation invariant, but their behavior under other transformations is subtle. In this note we show that logarithmic Gromov-Witten invariants are also invariant under appropriately defined logarithmic modifications.
We construct the Gromov-Witten invariants of moduli of stable morphisms to $\Pf$ with fields. This is the all genus mathematical theory of the Guffin-Sharpe-Witten model, and is a modified twisted Gromov-Witten invariants of $\Pf$. These invariants are constructed using the cosection localization of Kiem-Li, an algebro-geometric analogue of Witten's perturbed equations in Landau-Ginzburg theory. We prove that these invariants coincide, up to sign, with the Gromov-Witten invariants of quintics.
We prove that genus zero Gromov--Witten invariants of a smooth scheme relative to a smooth divisor coincide with genus zero orbifold Gromov--Witten invariants of an appropriate root stack construction along the divisor.
Theta functions were defined for varieties with effective anticanonical divisor and are related to certain punctured Gromov-Witten invariants. In this paper we show that in the case of a log Calabi-Yau surface (X,D) with smooth very ample anticanonical divisor we can circumvent the notion of punctured Gromov-Witten invariants and relate theta functions and their multiplicative structure to certain 2-marked log Gromov-Witten invariants. This is a natural extension of the correspondence between wall functions and 1-marked log Gromov-Witten invariants.
We build the abstract theory of Gromov-Witten invariants of genus 0 for quantum minimal Fano varieties (a minimal natural (with respect to Gromov-Witten theory) class of varieties). In particular, we consider ``the minimal Gromov-Witten ring'', i. e. a commutative algebra with generators and relations of the form used in the Gromov-Witten theory of Fano variety (of unspecified dimension). Gromov-Witten theory of any quantum minimal variety is a homomorphism of this ring to $\mathbb C$. We prove the Abstract Reconstruction Theorem which states the particular isomorphism of this ring with a free…
We use Pixton's relations to prove a reconstruction theorem for genus 2 Gromov-Witten invariants in the style of Kontsevich-Manin (genus 0) and Getzler (genus 1). We also calculate genus 2 (descendant) Gromov-Witten invariants of $\mathbb{P}^2$ blown up at a finite number of points in general position.
We study the equivariant Gromov-Witten and Donaldson-Thomas theories of $\mathbf{P}^2$-bundles over curves. We show the equivariant GW/DT correspondence holds to first order for certain curve classes
We give a summation over graphs type formula for the permutation-equivariant K-theoretic Gromov-Witten total potential of a projective manifold X in terms of cohomological Gromov-Witten (GW) invariants of X. We achieve this by describing combinatorially the Kawasaki strata of the moduli spaces of stable maps to X.
We describe an algorithm for computing certain characteristic numbers of surface scrolls using degenerations. As a corollary we obtain a method for computing the corresponding Gromov-Witten invariants of Grassmannians.
This article accompanies my ICM talk in August 2002. Three conjectural directions in Gromov-Witten theory are discussed: Gorenstein properties, BPS states, and Virasoro constraints. Each points to basic structures in the subject which are not yet understood.
We extend the definition of relative Gromov--Witten invariants with negative contact orders to all genera. Then we show that relative Gromov--Witten theory forms a partial CohFT. Some cycle relations on the moduli space of stable maps are also proved.
For any smooth complex projective variety X and smooth very ample hypersurface Y in X, we develop the technique of genus zero relative Gromov-Witten invariants of Y in X in algebro-geometric terms. We prove an equality of cycles in the Chow groups of the moduli spaces of relative stable maps that relates these relative invariants to the Gromov-Witten invariants of X and Y. Given the Gromov-Witten invariants of X, we show that these relations are sufficient to compute all relative invariants, as well as all genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants of Y whose homology and cohomology classes are induc…
We study the Gromov-Witten and Donaldson-Thomas correspondence conjectured in [MNOP1, MNOP2], for trivial elliptic fibrations. In particular, we verify the Gromov-Witten and Donaldson-Thomas correspondence for primary fields when the threefold is $E \times S$ where $E$ is a smooth elliptic curve and $S$ is a smooth surface with numerically trivial canonical class.
We state and prove a topological recursion relation that expresses any genus-g Gromov-Witten invariant of a projective manifold with at least a (3g-1)-st power of a cotangent line class in terms of invariants with fewer cotangent line classes. For projective spaces, we prove that these relations together with the Virasoro conditions are sufficient to calculate the full Gromov-Witten potential. This gives the first computationally feasible way to determine the higher genus Gromov-Witten invariants of projective spaces.
Seiberg duality conjecture asserts that the Gromov-Witten theories (Gauged Linear Sigma Models) of two quiver varieties related by quiver mutations are equal via variable change. In this work, we prove this conjecture for $A_n$ type quiver varieties.
Given two equivariant vector bundles over an algebraic GKM manifold with the same equivariant Chern classes, we show that the genus zero equivariant Gromov--Witten theory of their projective bundles are naturally isomorphic.
We study the enumerative significance of the s-pointed genus zero Gromov-Witten invariant on a homogeneous space X. For that, we give an interpretation in terms of rational curves on X.
We compute the degree of the variety parametrizing rational ruled surfaces of degree d in the projective space by relating the problem to Gromov-Witten invariants and Quantum cohomology.
We explore the theory of connected Gromov-Witten invariants of the symmetric product stack [Sym^n(A_r)]. We derive closed-form expressions for all equivariant invariants with two insertions and reveal a natural correspondence between the theory and the relative Gromov-Witten theory of the threefold A_r x P^1. When n is less than or equal to 3, we determine 3-point (usual) Gromov-Witten invariants of [Sym^n(A_1)].
We prove that the genus-0 invariants in K-theoretic Gromov--Witten theory are governed by an integrable hierarchy of hydrodynamic type. If the K-theoretic quantum product is semisimple, then we also prove the completeness of the hierarchy.
Given a smooth projective variety $X$ and a smooth divisor $D\subset X$. We study relative Gromov-Witten invariants of $(X,D)$ and the corresponding orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of the $r$-th root stack $X_{D,r}$. For sufficiently large $r$, we prove that orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of $X_{D,r}$ are polynomials in $r$. Moreover, higher genus relative Gromov-Witten invariants of $(X,D)$ are exactly the constant terms of the corresponding higher genus orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of $X_{D,r}$. We also provide a new proof for the equality between genus zero relative and orbifold G…
I prove a formula expressing the descendent genus g Gromov-Witten invariants of a projective variety X in terms of genus 0 invariants of its symmetric product stack S^{g+1}(X). When X is a point, the latter are structure constants of the symmetric group, and we obtain a new way of calculating the Gromov-Witten invariants of a point.
We prove that the Frobenius structure constructed from the Gromov-Witten theory for an orbifold projective line with at most three orbifold points is uniquely determined by the WDVV equations with certain natural initial conditions.
We show that the generating functions of Gromov--Witten invariants with ancestors are invariant under a simple flop, for all genera, after an analytic continuation in the extended Kähler moduli space. This is a sequel to [LLW].
We prove the equivariant Gromov-Witten theory of a nonsingular toric 3-fold X with primary insertions is equivalent to the equivariant Donaldson-Thomas theory of X. As a corollary, the topological vertex calculations by Agangic, Klemm, Marino, and Vafa of the Gromov-Witten theory of local Calabi-Yau toric 3-folds are proven to be correct in the full 3-leg setting.
The aim of Part II is to explore the technique of invariance of tautological equations in the realm of Gromov--Witten theory. The main result is a proof of Invariance Theorem (Invariance Conjecture~1 in [14]), via the techniques from Gromov--Witten theory. It establishes some general inductive structure of the tautological rings, and provides a new tool to the study of this area.
In this paper, we study the all genus Gromov-Witten theory for any GKM orbifold $X$. We generalize the Givental formula which is studied in the smooth case in \cite{Giv2} \cite{Giv3} \cite{Giv4} to the orbifold case. Specifically, we recover the higher genus Gromov-Witten invariants of a GKM orbifold $X$ by its genus zero data. When $X$ is toric, the genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants of $X$ can be explicitly computed by the mirror theorem studied in \cite{CCIT} and our main theorem gives a closed formula for the all genus Gromov-Witten invariants of $X$. When $X$ is a toric Calabi-Yau 3-orbi…
We consider four approaches to relative Gromov-Witten theory and Gromov-Witten theory of degenerations: Jun Li's original approach, Bumsig Kim's logarithmic expansions, Abramovich-Fantechi's orbifold expansions, and a logarithmic theory without expansions due to Gross-Siebert and Abramovich-Chen. We exhibit morphisms relating these moduli spaces and prove that their virtual fundamental classes are compatible by pushforward through these morphisms. This implies that the Gromov-Witten invariants associated to all four of these theories are identical.
The purpose of this short article is to prove a product formula relating the log Gromov-Witten invariants of $V \times W$ with those of $V$ and $W$ in the case the log structure on $V$ is trivial.
We define Gromov-Witten classes and invariants of smooth proper tame Deligne-Mumford stacks of finite presentation over a Dedekind domain. We prove that they are deformation invariants and verify the fundamental axioms. For a smooth proper tame Deligne-Mumford stack over a Dedekind domain, we prove that the invariants of fibers in different characteristics are the same. We show that genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants define a potential which satisfies the WDVV equation and we deduce from this a reconstruction theorem for genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants in arbitrary characteristic.
We define the Gromov-Witten invariants for the parabolic bundles over an orbifold $C$ in various situation. Those bring us to refine this notion to get an accurate computation of the number of maximal subbundles of a sufficiently general parabolic bundle by means of the Intriligator-Varfa formula.
We present a recursive algorithm computing all the genus-zero Gromov-Witten invariants from a finite number of initial ones, for Fano varieties with generically tame semi-simple quantum (and small quantum) (p, p)- type cohomology, whose first Chern class is a strictly positive combination of effective integral basic divisors.
New relations among the genus-zero Gromov-Witten invariants of a complex projective manifold $X$ are exhibited. When the cohomology of $X$ is generated by divisor classes and classes ``with vanishing one-point invariants,'' the relations determine many-point invariants in terms of one-point invariants.
We consider the question of how geometric structures of a Deligne-Mumford stack affect its Gromov-Witten invariants. The two geometric structures studied here are {\em gerbes} and {\em root constructions}. In both cases, we explain conjectures on Gromov-Witten theory for these stacks and survey some recent progress on these conjectures.
We prove that the Frobenius structure constructed from the Gromov-Witten theory for an orbifold projective line with at most $r$ orbifold points is uniquely determined by the WDVV equations with certain natural initial conditions.
We study the cycle-valued reduced Gromov-Witten theory of a nonsingular projective K3 surface. For primitive curve classes, we prove that the correspondence induced by the reduced virtual fundamental class respects the tautological rings. Our proof uses monodromy over the moduli space of K3 surfaces, degeneration formulae and virtual localization. As a consequence of the monodromy argument, we verify an invariance property for Gromov-Witten invariants of K3 surfaces in primitive curve class conjectured by Oberdieck-Pandharipande.
In this paper, we define genus-zero relative Gromov--Witten invariants with negative contact orders. Using this, we construct relative quantum cohomology rings and Givental formalism. A version of Virasoro constraints also follows from it.
We show that the equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of a projective homogeneous space G/P exhibit Graham-positivity: when expressed as polynomials in the positive roots, they have nonnegative coefficients.
We show that the standard generating functions for genus 0 two-point twisted Gromov-Witten invariants arising from concavex vector bundles over symplectic toric manifolds are explicit transforms of the corresponding one-point generating functions. The latter are, in turn, transforms of Givental's J-function. We obtain closed formulas for them and, in particular, for two-point Gromov-Witten invariants of non-negative toric complete intersections. Such two-point formulas should play a key role in the computation of genus 1 Gromov-Witten invariants (closed, open, and unoriented) of toric complete…
In math.AG/0207233, Okounkov and Pandharipande gave an operator formalism for computing the equivariant Gromov-Witten theory of the projective line. This thesis extends their result to orbifold lines. In the effective case the theory is again governed by the 2-Toda hierarchy. In the ineffective case the decomposition conjecture of hep-th/0606034 is verified.
Using obstruction bundles, composition law and the localization formula, we compute certain 3-point genus-0 Gromov-Witten invariants of the Hilbert scheme of 3-points on the complex projective plane. Our results partially verify Ruan's conjecture about quantum corrections for this Hilbert scheme.
We study Gromov-Witten theory of hypertoric Deligne-Mumford stacks from two points of view. From the viewpoint of representation theory, we calculate the operator of small quantum product by a divisor, following \cite{BMO}, \cite{MO}, \cite{MS}. From the viewpoint of Lawrence toric geometry, we compare Gromov-Witten invariants of a hypertoric Deligne-Mumford stack with those of its associated Lawrence toric stack.
We define Gromov-Witten classes and invariants of smooth projective schemes of finite presentation over a Dedekind domain. We prove that they are deformation invariants and verify the fundamental axioms. For a smooth projective scheme over a Dedekind domain, we prove that the invariants of fibers in different characteristics are the same. We show that genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants define a potential which satisfies the WDVV equation and we deduce from this a reconstruction theorem for genus zero Gromov-Witten invariants in arbitrary characteristic.
In the Gromov-Witten theory of a target curve we consider descendent integrals against the virtual fundamental class relative to the forgetful morphism to the moduli space of curves. We show that cohomology classes obtained in this way lie in the tautological ring.
