Gopakumar-Vafa invariants via vanishing cycles (Q1671167)

Let \(X\) be a smooth projective Calabi-Yau threefold over \(\mathbb C\). The paper under review proposes a general definition of Gopakumar-Vafa invariants for \(X\) as follows. This generalizes/modifies the formerly existing proposals of GV invariants. These invariants are preserved under smooth deformations of \(X\). For \(\beta \in H_2(X,\mathbb Z)\) denote by \(\text{Sh}_\beta(X)\) the fine moduli space of 1-dimensional stable sheaves \(E\) on \(X\) such that \([E]=\beta\) and \(\chi(E)=1\). There is a Hilbert-Chow morphism \(\pi : \text{Sh}_\beta^{\text{red}}(X)\to \text{Chow}_\beta(X)\) such that \(\pi(E)=[E]\). \(\text{Sh}_\beta(X)\) is equipped with a certain perverse sheaf of vanishing cycles \(\phi_{\mathcal Sh}\), which is supported on \(\text{Sh}_\beta^{\text{red}}(X)\). \(\phi_{\mathcal Sh}\) depends on the choice of orientation data, and for this the paper under review imposes an additional condition by conjecturing the existence of Calabi-Yau orientations, i.e. orientations whose restriction to the fibers of \(\pi\) are trivial. Then, the GV invariants \(n_{g,\beta}\) are uniquely defined by the following formula \[ \sum_{i\in \mathbb Z}\chi\big(^p\mathcal H^i(R\pi_*\phi_{\mathcal Sh})\big)y^i=\sum_{g\geq 0}n_{g,\beta}\big(y^{\frac 12}+y^{-\frac 12}\big)^{2g}. \] In fact \(\phi_{\mathcal Sh}\) is self-dual and by Verdier duality the LHS is uniquely written as the form of RHS. The invariants \(n_{g,\beta}\) are integers and they vanish for \(g \gg 0\), moreover, they are independent of the choice of Calabi-Yau orientation data. The paper under review also defines a constructible function \(n_{g,-}^{\text{loc}}: \text{Chow}_\beta(X)\to \mathbb Z\) by replacing the LHS of formula above by \(\sum_{i\in \mathbb Z}\chi\big(^p\mathcal H^i(R\pi_*\phi_{\mathcal Sh})|_\gamma\big)y^i\) for any \(\gamma \in \text{Chow}_\beta(X)\). Clearly the integral of this constructible function over \(\text{Chow}_\beta(X)\) is \(n_{g,\beta}\). One can also define the constructible functions \(n^{P,\text{loc}}_{g,-}: \text{Chow}(X)\to \mathbb Z\) by means of local stable pair invariants of Pandharipande-Thomas. The paper review conjectures that \(n^{P,\text{loc}}_{g,\gamma}=n^{\text{loc}}_{g,\gamma}\) for any \(\gamma \in \text{Chow}_\beta(X)\). By integrating over the Chow variety this conjecture implies that the invariants \(n_{g,\beta}\) coincides with the GV invariants defined via stable pair invariants. The paper under review proves the conjecture above when 1) \(C\subset X\) is a nonsingular curve and \(\gamma=[C]\), 2) \(X\) is the total space of the canonical bundle of a smooth projective surface \(S\) with \(H^1(\mathcal O_S)=0\) and the pushdown of \(\gamma\) to \(S\) is an irreducible 1-cycle. The paper under review also constructs family of examples for which the above conjecture holds for 1-cycles which are not reduced, planar, nor primitive.