A hyperkähler geometry associated to the BPS structure of the resolved conifold (Q2169843)

During the past decade, insights from theoretical physics have spurred many exciting developments in hyper-Kähler geometry (and geometry more generally). In particular, the seminal work of \textit{D. Gaiotto} et al., [Adv. Math. 234, 239--403 (2013; Zbl 1358.81150)] has led mathematicians and physicists alike to reconsider the hyper-Kähler structures on moduli spaces of Higgs bundles, first described by \textit{N. Hitchin} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 55, 59--126 (1987; Zbl 0634.53045)]. In their work [loc. cit.], \textit{D. Gaiotto} et al. describe the construction of an ``instanton corrected'' hyper-Kähler metric \(g\) on certain moduli spaces of Higgs bundles and conjecture it to be equal to the Hitchin metric \(g_{L^2}\). This begs the question: What is \(g\) a correction of? To answer it, we must take a detour. An affine special Kähler manifold (ASK) \(M\) is a (possibly indefinite) Kähler manifold endowed with a flat connection which satisfies certain compatibility conditions with the Kähler structure. Such manifolds, which also arise naturally in theoretical physics, have the important property that their cotangent bundle carries a natural (possibly indefinite) hyper-Kähler structure. This hyper-Kähler structure is often called semi-flat since the metric components are constant if we restrict to any fixed cotangent space \(T^*_pM\subset T^*M\). Returning to the moduli space of Higgs bundles \(\mathcal{M}\), it turns out that an open and dense subset \(\mathcal{M}'\subset \mathcal{M}\) can be described in this manner, and therefore admits a semi-flat hyper-Kähler structure. This semi-flat metric does not agree with the Hitchin metric (though there is a precise sense in which it approximates the Hitchin metric in a certain limit), and physically has the interpretation as a classical (as opposed to quantum) object, which receives quantum corrections, in particular from so-called instantons. This is the origin of the name of the instanton corrected metric \(g\). The methods of \textit{D. Gaiotto} et al. [loc. cit.] can be applied to obtain other hyper-Kähler manifolds than moduli spaces of Higgs bundles. In particular, given any ASK manifold, one can study the semi-flat and instanton corrected hyper-Kähler metrics on its cotangent bundle. Part of the \textit{D. Gaiotto} et al. [loc. cit.] conjectures is the claim that the instanton corrected metric extends smoothly to certain points where the semi-flat metric is not defined. One of the main results of the article under review is a verification of this claim for a non-trivial example. This example arises as the cotangent bundle of an affine special Kähler manifold that is naturally associated to the Calabi-Yau three-fold \(X\) which is the total space of the bundle \(\mathcal{O}(-1)\oplus\mathcal{O}(-1)\to \mathbb{P}^1\). The authors give a very explicit description of the hyper-Kähler structure and compare the situation to another well-understood example known as the Ooguri-Vafa space. The construction described involves certain preferred sets of local coordinates on the twistor space of the hyper-Kähler space. In the second half of the paper, a certain limit of these coordinates, restricted to a specific submanifold, are studied. The motivation for this procedure comes from further work of \textit{D. Gaiotto} [``Opers and TBA'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1403.6137}], who first considered this so-called conformal limit. The authors relate the conformal limit of the hyper-Kähler geometry to the solution of a Riemann-Hilbert problem which was studied by \textit{T. Bridgeland} [J. Diff. Geom. 115, No. 3, 395--435 (2020; Zbl 1485.14103)]. More precisely, they make analytical sense out of the formal expressions one obtains from the conformal limit and show that they satisfy certain properties that suggest a direct relation to the solution of the Riemann-Hilbert problem. The authors state this relation as a conjecture, and discuss its significance in determining the BPS spectrum associated to Calabi-Yau geometries.