Simple type and the boundary of moduli space (Q1840570)

This is a very interesting paper in the geometry and topology of anti-self-dual Yang-Mills moduli spaces. For \(N\) a compact oriented Riemannian 4-manifold, the authors consider the moduli space of irreducible \(SU(2)\) or \(SO(3)\) anti-self-dual connections with instanton number \(k\). The Donaldson invariants are then defined using a map \(\mu\). The authors consider manifolds of simple type; this means that the \((k+1)\)st moduli space intersected with certain varieties, has the homology of a certain multiple of the \(k\)th moduli space. The main results are the following: Using natural geometric representatives for \(\mu\), the boundary region of moduli space contributes \(6/64\) of the homology required for simple type, regardless of the topology or geometry of the underlying 4-manifold. The simple type condition thus reduces to the interior of the \((k+1)\)th moduli space, intersected with two representatives of (4 times) the point class, being homologous to 58 copies of the \(k\)th moduli space. When using the natural de Rham representatives of \(\mu\) considered by Witten, the boundary region contributes \(1/8\) of what is needed for simple type, again regardless of the topology or geometry of the underlying 4-manifold. All this provides a new landscape of Donaldson invariants.