No Arabic abstract
We work on a projective threefold $X$ which satisfies the Bogomolov-Gieseker conjecture of Bayer-Macr`i-Toda, such as $mathbb P^3$ or the quintic threefold. We prove certain moduli spaces of 2-dimensional torsion sheaves on $X$ are smooth bundles over Hilbert schemes of ideal sheaves of curves and points in $X$. When $X$ is Calabi-Yau this gives a simple wall crossing formula expressing curve counts (and so ultimately Gromov-Witten invariants) in terms of counts of D4-D2-D0 branes. These latter invariants are predicted to have modular properties which we discuss from the point of view of S-duality and Noether-Lefschetz theory.
We provide a definition of Tanaka-Thomass Vafa-Witten invariants for etale gerbes over smooth projective surfaces using the moduli spaces of $mu_r$-gerbe twisted sheaves and Higgs sheaves. Twisted sheaves and their moduli are naturally used to study the period-index theorem for the corresponding $mu_r$-gerbe in the Brauer group of the surfaces. Deformation and obstruction theory of the twisted sheaves and Higgs sheaves behave like general sheaves and Higgs sheaves. We define virtual fundamental classes on the moduli spaces and define the twisted Vafa-Witten invariants using virtual localization and the Behrend function on the moduli spaces. As applications for the Langlands dual group $SU(r)/zz_r$ of $SU(r)$, we define the $SU(r)/zz_r$-Vafa-Witten invariants using the twisted invariants for etale gerbes, and prove the S-duality conjecture of Vafa-Witten for the projective plane in rank two and for K3 surfaces in prime ranks. We also conjecture for other surfaces.
For a nonsingular projective 3-fold $X$, we define integer invariants virtually enumerating pairs $(C,D)$ where $Csubset X$ is an embedded curve and $Dsubset C$ is a divisor. A virtual class is constructed on the associated moduli space by viewing a pair as an object in the derived category of $X$. The resulting invariants are conjecturally equivalent, after universal transformations, to both the Gromov-Witten and DT theories of $X$. For Calabi-Yau 3-folds, the latter equivalence should be viewed as a wall-crossing formula in the derived category. Several calculations of the new invariants are carried out. In the Fano case, the local contributions of nonsingular embedded curves are found. In the local toric Calabi-Yau case, a completely new form of the topological vertex is described. The virtual enumeration of pairs is closely related to the geometry underlying the BPS state counts of Gopakumar and Vafa. We prove that our integrality predictions for Gromov-Witten invariants agree with the BPS integrality. Conversely, the BPS geometry imposes strong conditions on the enumeration of pairs.
Here we survey questions and results on the Hodge theory of hyperkaehler quotients, motivated by certain S-duality considerations in string theory. The problems include L^2 harmonic forms, Betti numbers and mixed Hodge structures on the moduli spaces of Yang-Mills instantons on ALE gravitational instantons, magnetic monopoles on R^3 and Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface. Several of these spaces and their hyperkaehler metrics were constructed by Nigel Hitchin and his collaborators.
We study moduli spaces of twisted quasimaps to a hypertoric variety $X$, arising as the Higgs branch of an abelian supersymmetric gauge theory in three dimensions. These parametrise general quiver representations whose building blocks are maps between rank one sheaves on $mathbb{P}^1$, subject to a stability condition, associated to the quiver, involving both the sheaves and the maps. We show that the singular cohomology of these moduli spaces is naturally identified with the Ext group of a pair of holonomic modules over the `quantized loop space of $X$, which we view as a Higgs branch for a related theory with infinitely many matter fields. We construct the coulomb branch of this theory, and find that it is a periodic analogue of the coulomb branch associated to $X$. Using the formalism of symplectic duality, we derive an expression for the generating function of twisted quasimap invariants in terms of the character of a certain tilting module on the periodic coulomb branch. We give a closed formula for this generating function when $X$ arises as the abelianisation of the $N$-step flag quiver.
We study the moduli spaces of flat SL(r)- and PGL(r)-connections, or equivalently, Higgs bundles, on an algebraic curve. These spaces are noncompact Calabi-Yau orbifolds; we show that they can be regarded as mirror partners in two different senses. First, they satisfy the requirements laid down by Strominger-Yau-Zaslow (SYZ), in a suitably general sense involving a B-field or flat unitary gerbe. To show this, we use their hyperkahler structures and Hitchins integrable systems. Second, their Hodge numbers, again in a suitably general sense, are equal. These spaces provide significant evidence in support of SYZ. Moreover, they throw a bridge from mirror symmetry to the duality theory of Lie groups and, more broadly, to the geometric Langlands program.