The enumerative geometry of rational and elliptic curves in projective space (Q4520951)

In the paper under review, the author studies the geometry of moduli spaces of rational and elliptic curves in the projective space with specified contact with a fixed hyperplane. Certain intersection numbers on these spaces which correspond to enumerative invariants of the projective space are computed. These intersection numbers are recursively computed by degenerating conditions. More specifically, let \(H\) be a fixed hyperplane in the projective space \(\mathbb{P}^n\). The enumerative invariants count the number of degree \(d\) curves (of genus \(0\) or \(1\)) incident to various general linear spaces of \(\mathbb{P}^n\), and tangent to \(H\) with various multiplicities along various general linear subspaces of \(H\). These enumerative invariants can be viewed as intersection numbers on the moduli space of stable maps from marked genus \(0\) or \(1\) curves to \(\mathbb{P}^n\). The basic ideas to compute these intersection numbers are to degenerate general linear spaces of \(\mathbb{P}^n\) to general linear spaces of \(H\), and to use three more reductions (reductions A, B, C) to reduce the situation to the special case when \(n=1\). In section two, the author presents four interesting and simple examples motivating the ideas. In section three, necessary definitions and notations are introduced. The basic degeneration strategy is outlined. In section four, the author investigates the case \(n=1\). This is technically the most intricate part of the paper. In section five, the three reductions (reductions A, B, C) are justified. In section six, the author determines the structure of certain divisors on the relevant moduli spaces of stable maps to \(\mathbb{P}^n\). In section seven, recursive formulas for computing the enumerative invariants are given.