On blowup formulae for the \(S\)-duality conjecture of Vafa and Witten (Q1298084)

This is the first part of a series of three papers on the blowup formula of the \(S\)-duality conjecture formulated by \textit{C. Vafa} and \textit{P. Witten} [Nucl. Phys. B 431, No. 1-2, 3-77 (1994)] and on its relation with vertex algebras. In this part, we prove the blowup formulae for virtual Hodge polynomials of Gieseker moduli spaces of rank-2 stable sheaves and Uhlenbeck compactification spaces over algebraic surfaces. In particular, we verify the blowup formula for the \(S\)-duality conjecture of Vafa and Witten, i.e., the blowup formula for the Euler numbers of Gieseker moduli spaces over algebraic surfaces. For part II of this paper see Math. Res. Lett. 5, No. 4, 439-453 (1998).