Takagi lectures on Donaldson-Thomas theory (Q1731898)

In this Takagi lecture notes, the author reviewed Donaldson-Thomas theory on complex threefolds and their connections with other branches of mathematics/mathematical physics. \par DT theory is a way to count coherent sheaves (or complexes of coherent sheaves) on Calabi-Yau threefolds. If one is interested in curve counting and consider ideal sheaves of curves (or stable pairs in the sense of \textit{R. Pandharipande} and \textit{R. P. Thomas} [Invent. Math. 178, No. 2, 407--447 (2009; Zbl 1204.14026)]), the theory can be extended to any smooth complex projective threefold. \par Generally speaking, DT invariants are very difficult to compute. One useful tool comes from degeneration of the threefold into two pieces which are glued along a common divisor. In Section 2, J. Li's theory of expanded degeneration is reviewed (see [\textit{J. Li} and \textit{B. Wu}, Commun. Anal. Geom. 23, No. 4, 841--921 (2015; Zbl 1349.14014)]). \par There is a remarkable conjectural relation between (rank one) DT invariants and Gromov-Witten invariants proposed by [\textit{D. Maulik} et al., Compos. Math. 142, No. 5, 1263--1285 (2006; Zbl 1108.14046)]. Corresponding relative theories using expanded degenerations are developed by \textit{D. Maulik} et al. [Compos. Math. 142, No. 5, 1286--1304 (2006; Zbl 1108.14047)] and finally a proof of such DT/GW correspondence is obtained on toric 3-folds by \textit{D. Maulik} et al. [Invent. Math. 186, No. 2, 435--479 (2011; Zbl 1232.14039)]. These are reviewed in Section 3, 4 of the notes. \par In Section 5, the membrane/sheaves theory on (non-compact) Calabi-Yau fivefolds developed by Nekrasov-Okounkov is reviewed (see also the review [\textit{N. Nekrasov} and \textit{A. Okounkov}, Algebr. Geom. 3, No. 3, 320--369 (2016; Zbl 1369.14069)] for more details). Here $K$-theoretic enhancement of DT theory plays an important role. The vertex formalism for $K$-theoretic invariants is reviewed in Section 6. Finally in the last section, the link between ($K$-theoretic) DT theory and geometric representation theory (e.g. on Nakajima quiver varieties) is reviewed. \par There are many other interesting insights, ideas and results which we have not been able to touch and they deserve more careful reading. We leave them to the readers to explore.