Gluing pseudoholomorphic curves along branched covered cylinders. II. (Q1026950)

In this paper and its companion part I [J. Symplectic Geom. 5, No.~1, 43--137 (2007; Zbl 1157.53047)], the authors prove a gluing theorem for pseudoholomorphic curves in the symplectization \(\mathbb{R} \times Y\) of any compact contact 3-manifold \(Y\). They assume that all Reeb orbits of \(Y\) are nondegenerate. They ask how many different ways one can glue index 1 pseudoholomorphic curves together, assuming only that the total multiplicity of negative ends of one along each embedded Reeb orbit matches the total multiplicity of positive ends of the other one along the same embedded Reeb orbit. They carry out this gluing by attaching genus \(0\) branched covers of cylinders invariant under translation in \(\mathbb{R}\). They prove that the count of the number of different gluings that can occur in this way is precisely the count of the number of zeroes of a section of a certain vector bundle over the moduli space of branched covers of the cylinder. This vector bundle is the cokernel of the infinitesimal deformation operator. They apply this to prove that \(\partial^2=0\) in embedded contact homology.