Analytic torsion for Calabi-Yau threefolds (Q951976)

This paper studies the geometry of Calabi-Yau threefolds. The authors call a projective algebraic threefold Calabi-Yau if it has trivial canonical bundle and if the Hodge number \(h^{0,1}\) vanishes. A classical result of Bogomolov-Tian-Todorov shows that the Kuranishi space, that parametrizes deformations of the complex structure of the manifold, is a smooth manifold. In this paper, the authors consider an analytic family of Calabi-Yau threefolds parametrized by \(\mathbb{CP}^1\). Following the fundamental paper of \textit{M. Bershadsky, S. Cecotti, H. Ooguri} and \textit{C. Vafa} [Commun. Math. Phys. 165, No. 2, 311--427 (1994; Zbl 0815.53082)], the authors define an invariant of a Calabi-Yau threefold that they call the BCOV torsion, which is defined in a way analogous to the classical Ray-Singer analytic torsion. In the setting of a family over \(\mathbb{CP}^1\), the BCOV torsion gives a real function on \(\mathbb{CP}^1\), and the main result of the paper is an explicit formula for this function in terms of the Weil-Petersson and Hodge metrics induced on \(\mathbb{CP}^1\) by the family. The authors then specialize this formula to the famous example of the family of quintic Calabi-Yau threefolds in \(\mathbb{CP}^4\) given by \[ z_0^5+z_1^5+z_2^5+z_3^5+z_4^5-5\psi z_0z_1z_2z_3z_4=0, \] where \(\psi \in \mathbb{CP}^1\). In this case, the authors confirm a conjectural formula of Bershadsky-Cecotti-Ooguri-Vafa that relates the BCOV invariant of the quintics (with \(\psi\) near infinity) to a generating function that counts holomorphic curves of genus zero and one in the quintic. The fact that the generating functions actually counts holomorphic curves has only been recently established by \textit{A. Zinger} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 22, 691--737 (2009)].