PU(2) monopoles and a conjecture of Mariño, Moore, and Peradze (Q1574702)

Seiberg-Witten invariants encode information of fundamental significance for the classification of 4-manifolds, but it can be difficult to harnass that information. An important tool for this purpose is an analytic generating function constructed from the Seiberg-Witten invariants. Using arguments from physics, \textit{M. Marino, G. Moore} and \textit{G. Peradze} identified in [Superconformal invariance and the geography of four-manifolds, Commun. Math. Phys. 205, No.3, 691-735 (1999)] a new property of 4-manifolds defined in terms of analytic features of this generating function. Called superconformal simple type, the property is equivalent to the vanishing of the generating function up to a certain order at the origin, and leads to new constraints on the homotopy types of 4-manifolds. In their paper [loc. cit.] Marino, Moore, and Peradze conjectured that all compact, oriented 4-manifolds with \(b_2^+>1\) and of SW-simple type are of superconformal simple type. In this paper the authors show how the PU(2)-monopole cobordism between the Seiberg-Witten and Instanton moduli spaces can be used to understand the superconformal simple type property and to address the above conjecture. Earlier results of Feehan and Lennes show how to use this same cobordism to obtain a precise relation between Seiberg-Witten and Donaldson invariants. These results require a very detailed understanding of the topology of this cobordism. Using this, the authors show that the Marino-Moore-Peradze conjecture reduces to a technical conjecture about reducible PU(2)-monopoles in the compactification of the cobordism. Under this technical assumption, the authors are not only able to prove the Marino et. al. conjecture, but are also able to deduce new vanishing results for Donaldson invariants.