Instanton counting on blowup. I: 4-dimensional pure gauge theory (Q2574961)

The main result of this paper is a proof of Nekrasov's conjecture [see \textit{N. A. Nekrasov}, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 7, No.~5, 831--864 (2003; Zbl 1056.81068)]. This conjecture sheds some light on the relationship between Donaldson invariants and periods of Seiberg-Witten curves, which was discovered and studied with methods from physics. The main player in this context is Nekrasov's partition function. This is the generating function for the integrals of the equivariant unit cohomology class on \(M(r,n)\), the framed moduli space of torsion free sheaves on \(\mathbb{P}^2\) of fixed rank \(r\) and with second Chern class equal to \(n\geq 0\). The framing is a trivialisation on a line. The change of framing and a standard two-torus symmetry on the complement of this line induce a natural action of an \((r+2)\)-dimensional torus on \(M(r,n)\). Non-compactness of \(M(r,n)\) forces the use of Atiyah-Bott localisation in order to define such an integral rigorously. Nekrasov's conjecture relates his partition function in a precise way to the instanton part of the Seiberg-Witten prepotential, whose mathematical definition uses the periods of the so-called Seiberg-Witten hyperelliptic curves. As their main tool to prove the conjecture, the authors use a blow-up formula. This is a differential equation, satisfied by Nekrasov's partition function, which allows to determine the coefficients of the partition function recursively. This equation is derived from a relationship between the partition functions obtained on \(\mathbb{P}^2\) and on \(\widehat{\mathbb{P}}^2\), the blow-up of \(\mathbb{P}^2\) at a fixed point of the action of the two-torus, hence its name. The proof of the blow-up formula is based on a detailed description of the action of the torus on the tangent spaces at the finitely many fixed points in the framed moduli spaces over \(\mathbb{P}^2\) and its blow-up \(\widehat{\mathbb{P}}^2\). Other proofs of Nekrasov's conjecture can be found in [\textit{N. A. Nekrasov, A. Okounkov}, in: The unity of mathematics, 525--596, Progr. Math., 244, (2006; Zbl 1233.14029)] and in [\textit{A. Braverman, P. Etingof}, Instanton counting via affine Lie algebras II: from Whittaker vectors to the Seiberg-Witten prepotential, preprint arXiv.org, \texttt{math.AG/0409441}]. In their excellent lecture notes [\textit{H. Nakajima, K. Yoshioka} in: Algebraic structures and moduli spaces. Proc. CRM workshop, Montréal, Canada, July 14--20, 2003. CRM Proceedings \& Lecture Notes 38, 31--101 (2004; Zbl 1080.14016)], the authors generalise results of the paper under review and survey recent progress in Donaldson theory and Seiberg-Witten geometry.