D0-D6 states counting and GW invariants (Q1928837)

In recent years we have witnessed tremendous progress in understanding enumerative invariants associated to Calabi-Yau manifolds. Apart from ideas in algebraic geometry and related fields in mathematics, this progress was also often inspired by physics, in particular by analysis of properties of the so-called bound states of D-branes (such as D0, D2, D4 and D6-branes) in string theory. In many cases predictions from physics were subsequently generalized or made rigorous by mathematicians. In this paper a correspondence between certain Donaldson-Thomas (DT) invariants and Gromov-Witten (GW) invariants is discussed. DT invariants in question represent D0-D6 bound states on a Calabi-Yau three-fold. Mathematically they can be described by Joyce-Song theory, as well as by Kontsevich-Soibelman theory. Firstly, the authors show that Joyce-Song and Kontsevich-Soibelman wall-crossing formulae are consistent, and write an explicit formula and prove integrality of DT invariants up to rank 3. Secondly, the authors find a correspondence between these invariants and Gromov-Witten invariants of rational curves in a family of blowups of weighted projective planes. In addition, counting of DT invariants is compared to earlier results found by physicists, and physical arguments are provided to explain discrepancies between these two approaches. This is a nice article which combines many enumerative ideas developed independently, and illustrates them in an explicit example. While the paper is essentially of mathematical nature, it also includes important remarks regarding physical interpretation. It is recommended to algebraic geometers, as well as to physicists interested in mathematical aspects of string theory.