Floor diagrams relative to a conic, and GW-W invariants of Del Pezzo surfaces (Q2344276)

This outstanding paper resolves two important enumerative problems. One principal result of the author is a recursive formula for computing Gromov-Witten invariants of any genus on arbitrary del Pezzo surfaces, i.e., for the counting of complex curves of any degree and genus on arbitrary del Pezzo surfaces. Another equally interesting result is a series of recursive formulas for the computation of Welschinger invariants of many real del Pezzo surfaces, in particular, surfaces of degree one, which were not accessible by previously used methods. These formulas are similar to the so-called floor-diagram formulas in tropical geometry introduced by the author jointly with \textit{G. Mikhalkin} [in: Proceedings of the 15th Gökova geometry-topology conference, Gökova, Turkey, May 26--31, 2008. Cambridge, MA: International Press. 64--90 (2009; Zbl 1200.14106)]. The main ideas can be traced back to the work by \textit{L. Caporaso} and \textit{J. Harris} [Invent. Math. 131, No. 2, 345--392 (1998; Zbl 0934.14040)] and the version of the symplectic sum formula due to \textit{J. Li} [J. Differ. Geom. 60, No. 2, 199--293 (2002; Zbl 1063.14069)]. The geometric background of the new formulas is a degeneration of a given real or complex rational surface into the union of ruled surfaces and the respective degeneration of the counted curves into certain reducible curves. Besides computation of several previously unknown Gromov-Witten and Welschinger invariants, the author indicates potential applications, among them criteria for positivity of certain Welschinger invariants.