Orientability of moduli spaces of Spin(7)-instantons and coherent sheaves on Calabi-Yau 4-folds

\(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\) instanton Calabi-Yau 4-fold derived moduli stack Donaldson-Thomas theory DT4 invariants enumerative invariant moduli space of connections modulo gauge orientation on moduli space semistable coherent sheaves topological bundle of orientations

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Gromov-Witten invariants, quantum cohomology, Gopakumar-Vafa invariants, Donaldson-Thomas invariants (algebro-geometric aspects) (14N35) Gromov-Witten invariants, quantum cohomology, Frobenius manifolds (53D45)

Abstract: Suppose

(X, O m e g a, g)

is a compact Spin(7)-manifold, e.g. a Riemannian 8-manifold with holonomy Spin(7), or a Calabi-Yau 4-fold. Let

G

be U

(m)

or SU

(m)

, and

P o X

be a principal

G

-bundle. We show that the infinite-dimensional moduli space

{m a t h c a l B}_{P}

of all connections on

P

modulo gauge is orientable, in a certain sense. We deduce that the moduli space

{m a t h c a l M}_{P}^{S p i n (7)} s u b s e t {m a t h c a l B}_{P}

of irreducible Spin(7)-instanton connections on

P

modulo gauge, as a manifold or derived manifold, is orientable. This improves theorems of Cao and Leung arXiv:1502.01141 and Mu~noz and Shahbazi arXiv:1707.02998. If

X

is a Calabi-Yau 4-fold, the derived moduli stack

of (complexes of) coherent sheaves on

X

is a

- 2

-shifted symplectic derived stack

by Pantev-To"en-Vaqui'e-Vezzosi arXiv:1111.3209, and so has a notion of orientation by Borisov-Joyce arXiv:1504.00690. We prove that

is orientable, by relating algebro-geometric orientations on

to differential-geometric orientations on

{m a t h c a l B}_{P}

for U

(m)

-bundles

P o X

, and using orientability of

{m a t h c a l B}_{P}

. This has applications to the programme of defining Donaldson-Thomas type invariants counting moduli spaces of (semi)stable coherent sheaves on a Calabi-Yau 4-fold, as in Donaldson and Thomas 1998, Cao and Leung arXiv:1407.7659, and Borisov and Joyce arXiv:1504.00690. This is the third in a series arXiv:1811.01096, arXiv:1811.02405 on orientations of gauge-theoretic moduli spaces.

Review text

Let \((X,g)\) be a compact, connected, oriented, spin Riemannian 8-manifold, and let \(P\to X\) be a principal \(G\)-bundle with \(G=\mathrm{U}(m)\) or \(\mathrm{SU}(m)\). Denote \(\mathcal{B}_P\) the moduli space of gauge equivalence classes of connections on \(P\), considered as a topological stack. The first main result of the paper is that \(\mathcal{B}_P\) is orientable for any such \((X,g)\) and \(P\). Moreover, there is a method for choosing an orientation that constructively depends on a finite arbitrary choice. Analogous problem for moduli spaces of anti-self-dual instantons on 4-manifolds was solved by Donaldson, and the authors follow his techniques. However, orientability depends on effects involving submanifolds of codimension 3, which in the 8-dimensional case are much more complex than circles that Donaldson dealt with. The proof relies on the classification of compact, simply-connected 5-manifolds by \textit{D. Crowley} [``5-manifolds: 1-connected, Bull. Manifold Atlas 2011, 49-55 (2011)]. The theorem implies orientability of analogous moduli spaces for \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\) instantons, which will be needed to define enumerative invariants of \(\mathrm{Spin}(7)\) manifolds by `counting' them. The second main result concerns Calabi-Yau \(4m\)-folds \(X\), that is projective complex \(4m\)-manifolds with trivial canonical bundle. Let \(\mathcal{M}\) denote the derived moduli stack of coherent sheaves (or complexes thereof) on \(X\), taken as a derived stack in the sense of \textit{B. Toën} and \textit{G. Vezzosi} [NATO Sci. Ser. II, Math. Phys. Chem. 131, 173--216 (2004; Zbl 1076.14002)]. It has a \((2-4m)\)-shifted symplectic structure \(\omega\), and \textit{D. Borisov} and \textit{D. Joyce} [Geom. Topol. 21, No. 6, 3231--3311 (2017; Zbl 1390.14008)] defined a notion of orientation on \(k\)-shifted symplectic derived stacks \((\mathcal{M},\omega)\) for even \(k\), which form a principal \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-bundle \(O^\omega\to\mathcal{M}\). Let \(\mathcal{M}^{\mathrm{top}}\) denote the topological realization of \(\mathcal{M}\), and \(\mathcal{C}\) denote the space of continuous maps from \(X\) to the classifying space for complex K-theory. The authors prove that one can build a continuous map \(\Gamma\!\!: \mathcal{M}^{\mathrm{top}}\to\mathcal{C}\), that produces an isomorphism of principal \(\mathbb{Z}_2\)-bundles between \((O^\omega)^{\mathrm{top}}\to\mathcal{M}^{\mathrm{top}}\) and the pullback by \(\Gamma\) of the topological bundle of orientations on \(\mathcal{C}\). In particular, if the latter trivializes then so does \(O^\omega\to\mathcal{M}\) and \(\mathcal{M}\) is orientable. Moreover, there is a canonical choice of the above isomorphism. Combining these two results we get a nice application to defining Donaldson-Thomas type `DT4 invariants' based on counting semistable coherent sheaves on Calabi-Yau 4-folds, as proposed by Donaldson-Thomas, Cao-Leung, and Borisov-Joyce. For Calabi-Yau 4-folds the derived moduli stack \(\mathcal{M}\) of (complexes of) coherent sheaves on \(X\) is a \(-2\)-shifted symplectic derived stack \((\mathcal{M},\omega)\), which was here proved to be orientable. Considering the corresponding semistable derived moduli schemes (at least when semistable implies stable) and using the orientations of this paper one can pair the virtual cycle with certain cohomology classes on the scheme, and obtain the proposed DT4 invariants.

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