The virtual intersection theory of isotropic Quot schemes (Q6123209)

The isotropic Grassmannian \(SG(r,\mathbb C^N)\) (or \(OG(r,\mathbb C^N)\)) is the variety parameterizing \(r\) dimensional isotropic subspaces of a vector space \(\mathbb C^N\) endowed with symplectic (or symmetric) non-degenerate bilinear form. The classical intersection theory of the Grassmannian \(G(r,\mathbb C^N )\) and isotropic Grassmannians has been an important subject connecting many areas of mathematics. The Quot scheme is a natural generalization of Grassmannian. Fix a smooth projective curve \(\mathcal C\) of genus \(g\). The Quot scheme Quot \(d(V ,r, \mathcal C)\) (for short Quot \(d\)) parameterizes degree \(-d\), rank \(r\) sub-sheaves of a fixed vector bundle \(V\) over \(\mathcal C\). Let \(L\) be a line bundle over \(\mathcal C\) and let \(\sigma\) be a symplectic or symmetric non-degenerate \(L\)-valued form on \(V\): \[ \sigma: V\otimes V\rightarrow L. \] A subsheaf \(S \subset V\) is isotropic if the restriction \(\sigma|_{S\otimes S=} 0.\) The isotropic Quot scheme \(IQ_d(V ,\sigma,r, \mathcal C)\) (for short \(IQ_d\)) is the closed subscheme of Quot\(_d\) consisting of isotropic subsheaves. When \(V\) is the trivial rank \(N\) bundle, Quot\(_d\) provides a natural compactification of Mor\(_d (\mathcal C, G(r,\mathbb C^N ))\), the scheme parameterizing degree \(d\) maps from \(\mathcal C\) to the Grassmannian \(G(r,\mathbb C^N )\). Moreover, when \(L\) is trivial and \(\sigma\) is induced by a symplectic or symmetric form on \(\mathbb C^N\) (we call such \(\sigma\) standard), \(IQ_d\) gives a natural compactification for the space of maps Mor\(_d(\mathcal C, SG(r,\mathbb C^N ))\) and Mor\(_d(C, OG(r,\mathbb C^N ))\) respectively. Another way to compactify the morphism space is via stable maps. This compactification is important for defining quantum cohomology. A geometric comparison between the Quot scheme and the stable map compactification was done in [\textit{M. Popa} and \textit{M. Roth}, Invent. Math. 152, No. 3, 625--663 (2003; Zbl 1024.14015)]. In this paper, the authors construct a virtual fundamental class for \(IQ_d\) for all \(V\) , all ranks \(r\), all degrees and all genera. When \(V\) is trivial and \(\sigma\) is standard, they use virtual localization to study the virtual intersection theory of \(IQ_d\). They prescribe a way to calculate top intersection numbers of tautological classes, and obtain explicit formulas when \(r = 2\). They also compute the Gromov-Ruan-Witten invariants obtained via the stable map compactification for the corresponding isotropic Grassmannians and compare the answers.