Hamiltonian \(S^1\)-manifolds are uniruled (Q1000601)

A projective manifold is called uniruled if there is a rational projective curve through every point. Hu, Li and Ruan suggested a generalization to symplectic manifolds -- existence of a non-zero Gromov-Witten (GW) invariant of genus zero with a point insertion. Then, a manifold is called strongly uniruled if this invariant is \(3\)-point. The two notions are equivalent in the projective category, and both are preserved by symplectic blow-ups. Symplectic manifolds with Hamiltonian \(S^1\) action are good candidates for being uniruled because there is an invariant pseudoholomorphic sphere through every point for any compatible almost complex structure. Unfortunately, unless the action is semifree there is no way to guarantee that this sphere's contribution to a GW invariant is not canceled by another curve in the same homology class This forces the author to blow up the original manifold \(M\) twice into \(\widetilde{M}\) and to work with the Seidel representation of the fundamental group of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms in the quantum homology ring of \(\widetilde{M}\). Although the structure of this ring is in general unclear, its quotient by the ideal not involving the exceptional divisor can be computed provided \(M\) is \textit{not} uniruled. Thus, the exceptional divisor becomes a marker indicating that certain GW invariants of \(M\) do not vanish. The proof is finalized by counting section invariants of Hamiltonian bundles with fiber \(\widetilde{M}\) over \(S^2\). The argument generalizes to manifolds admitting a loop of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms with a non-degenerate fixed maximum of the Hamiltonian. Calculations are based on the gluing rule for relative GW invariants and the Lee-Pandharipande identity in genus zero, which are reviewed in the second half of the paper. The Appendix is dedicated to characterization of uniruling and strong uniruling in terms of quantum homology. The two notions appear to be very close. For Hamiltonian \(S^1\) manifolds they coincide in particular, if the quantum cohomology is generated by degree two classes.