The \(\operatorname{SO}(3)\)-instanton moduli space and tensor products of ADHM data (Q2414535)

Let \(\mathcal{M}^{K}_{n}\) be the moduli space of framed \(K\)-instantons with the instanton number \(n\) over the 4-sphere. When \(K\) is a classical compact Lie group, other than \(\operatorname{SO}(3,\mathbb{R})\), the instanton partition function for \(\mathcal{M}^{K}_{n}\) is given by the Nekrasov-Shadchin integral formula for the Uhlenbeck partial compactification, which integrates an equivariant \(K\)-theory class defined over a vector space of ADHM quiver representations. But for \(K=\operatorname{SO}(3,\mathbb{R})\) there is a difference arising from the non-reduced components of the ADHM space. The main result of this paper clarifies this difference, and completes the interpretation of the Nekrasov partition function for classical groups. Due to [\textit{S. K. Donaldson}, Commun. Math. Phys. 93, 453--460 (1984; Zbl 0581.14008)], the scheme structure of \(\mathcal{M}^{K}_{n}\) can be given by the smooth locus of the GIT quotient \(\mu^{-1}(0)/\!\!/SP(V)\), where \(\mu\) is the moment map on the associated symplectic vector space of the ADHM data. According to the first main result, \(\mu\) is flat and \(\mu^{-1}(0)\) is a non-reduced complete intersection of dimension \(\frac{k^2+3k}2\) with \(\lfloor\frac{k}4\rfloor+1\) irreducible components, where \(k=\dim V\). Moreover, \(\mu^{-1}(0)/\!\!/SP(V)\) is also non-reduced, with the same number of components, and of dimension \(k\). A birational model for each component is given explicitly. The flatness gives some useful étale open subsets over which geometric properties, such as normality, can be checked. The second main result is a quiver description of scheme-theoretic isomorphisms \(\mathcal{M}^{K}_{n}\simeq\mathcal{M}^{K'}_{n}\) in terms of the ADHM data. The precise statement involves a limit of the tensor product of the ADHM data with respect to a \(\mathbb{C}^*\) action and a dilation of the ADHM space. There are precisely five pairs \(K,K'\) of classical groups that give rise to such isomorphisms, meaning that the corresponding instanton spaces have two different scheme structures. The isomorphisms of the Lie algebras of \(K,K'\) induce their isomorphisms as Gieseker spaces, which are, in turn, isomorphic to the spaces of ADHM data via the monad construction.