Equivariant \(K\)-theory and refined Vafa-Witten invariants (Q2192729)

The paper under review defines an equivariant \(K\)-theoretic refinement of the numerical Vafa-Witten invariants. More generally, suppose \(M\) is a quasi-projective scheme with a perfect obstruction theory \(E^\bullet\to \mathbb L_M\). Let \(K_{\mathrm{vir}}:=\det E^\bullet\), \([M]^{\mathrm{vir}}\in A_{\mathrm{vd}}(M)\), and \(\mathcal O_M^{\mathrm{vir}} \in K_0(M)\) be the corresponding virtual canonical bundle, virtual fundamental class and virtual structure sheaf of \(M\), respectively. When \(M\) is projective and the virtual dimension \(\mathrm{vd}\) is \(0\) we have \(\chi(\mathcal O_M^{\mathrm{vir}})=\deg [M]^{\mathrm{vir}}\). Suppose that \(M\) is equipped with a \(T = \mathbb C^*\)-action with projective fixed locus \(M^T\) and also that the perfect obstruction theory above is $T$-equivariant and symmetric. The paper proves that \(K_{\mathrm{vir}}|_{M^T}\) admits a canonical square root \(K_{\mathrm{vir}}^{\frac 1 2}|_{M^T} \in K^0_T (M^T) \otimes_{\mathbb Z[t]}\mathbb Q(t^{ \frac 1 2})\). The paper then defines an equivariant \(K\)-theoretic refinement of \(\chi(\mathcal O_M^{\mathrm{vir}})\) by the virtual localization formula \[ \chi_t(M^T,\frac{\mathcal O^{\mathrm{vir}}_M}{\Lambda^\bullet (N^{\mathrm{vir}})^\vee}\otimes K_{\mathrm{vir}}^{\frac 1 2}|_{M^T})\in \mathbb Q(t^{ \frac 1 2}). \] Here, \(N^{\mathrm{vir}}\) is the virtual normal bundle of \(M^T\) and the twist by \(K_{\mathrm{vir}}^{\frac 1 2}|_{M^T}\) has physical motivations following Nekrasov-Okounkov ideas. The paper indeed shows that this expression is a rational function of \(t^{\frac 1 2}\), it is invariant under \(t^{\frac 1 2}\leftrightarrow t^{-\frac 1 2}\), and it is deformation invariant. Let \(S\) be a nonsingular projective surface over \(\mathbb C\). Fix a rank \(r>0\) and Chern classes \(c_1,c_2\). The paper applies what said above to define refined Vafa-Witten invariants \(VW_{r,c_1,c_2}\in \mathbb Q(t^{ \frac 1 2})\), when semistability implies stability. Substituting \(t=1\) recovers the numerical invariants. In general, the paper conjectures that the refined VW invariants appear as certain coefficients of explicit universal expressions for equivariant \(K\)-theoretic refinements of Joyce-Song pairs invariants. The paper proves the conjecture when \(H^1(\mathcal O_S)=0=H^2(\mathcal O_S)\). The conjecture is also partially proven in other cases, using an important vanishing result that the paper proves for refined VW invariants when \(p_g(S)>0\) by means of cosection localization. The paper carries out a number of calculations for these refined invariants and finds agreements with the predictions made by Göttsche-Kool. When \(S\) is a \(K3\) surface the paper conjectures a nice closed formula for the generating series of refined VW invariants expressed in terms of the Jacobi forms, and proves the conjectural formula when \(r\) is a prime. Among other things, the paper determines the \(K\)-theoretic virtual fundamental classes of degeneracy loci using Eagon-Northcott complexes. This has a direct application in refined Vafa-Witten theory.