Hodge integrals and Gromov-Witten theory

We establish new universal equations for higher genus Gromov--Witten invariants of target manifolds, by studying both the Chern character and Chern classes of the Hodge bundle on the moduli space of curves. As a consequence, we find new push-forward relations on the moduli space of stable curves.

Degenerate contributions to higher genus Gromov-Witten invariants of Calabi-Yau 3-folds are computed via Hodge integrals. The vanishing of contributions of covers of elliptic curves conjectured by Gopakumar and Vafa is proven. A formula for degree 1 covers for all genus pairs is computed in agreement with M-theoretic calculations of Gopakumar and Vafa. Finally, these results lead to a proof of a formula in the tautological ring of the moduli space of curves previously conject...

In this paper, we show that the generating function for linear Hodge integrals over moduli spaces of stable maps to a nonsingular projective variety $X$ can be connected to the generating function for Gromov-Witten invariants of $X$ by a series of differential operators $\{ L_m \mid m \geq 1 \}$ after a suitable change of variables. These operators satisfy the Virasoro bracket relation and can be seen as a generalization of the Virasoro operators appeared in the Virasoro cons...

In this paper, we propose $\lambda_{g}$ conjecture for Hodge integrals with target varieties. Then we establish relations between Virasoro conjecture and $\lambda_{g}$ conjecture, in particular, we prove $\lambda_{g}$ conjecture in all genus for smooth projective varieties with semisimple quantum cohomology or smooth algebraic curves. Meanwhile, we also prove $\lambda_{g}$ conjecture in genus zero for any smooth projective varieties. In the end, together with DR formula for $...

For a smooth projective curve, we derive a closed formula for the generating series of its Gromov--Witten invariants in genus $g$ and degree zero. It is known that the calculation of these invariants can be reduced to that of the $\lambda_g$ and $\lambda_{g-1}$ integrals on the moduli space of stable algebraic curves. The closed formula for the $\lambda_g$ integrals is given by the $\lambda_g$ conjecture, proved by Faber and Pandharipande. We compute in this paper the $\lambd...

Virasoro constraints are applied to degree zero Gromov-Witten theory of weighted projective stacks $\mathbb{P}(1,N)$ and $\mathbb{P}(1,1,N)$ to obtain formulas of descendant cyclic Hurwitz-Hodge integrals in higher genera.

The Virasoro conjecture is a conjectured sequence of relations among the descendent Gromov-Witten invariants of a smooth projective variety in all genera; the only varieties for which it is known to hold are a point (Kontsevich) and Calabi-Yau threefolds (S. Katz). We review the statement of the conjecture and its proof in genus 0, following Eguchi, Hori and Xiong. This version incorporates many changes and improvements compared with the first, and a small number of misprin...

We analyse the consequences of the Virasoro conjecture of Eguchi, Hori and Xiong for Gromov-Witten invariants, in the case of zero degree maps to the manifolds CP^1 and CP^2 (or more generally, smooth projective curves and smooth simply-connected projective surfaces). We obtain predictions involving intersections of psi and lambda classes on the compactification of M_{g,n}. In particular, we show that the Virasoro conjecture for CP^2 implies the numerical part of Faber's conj...

We prove a closed formula for integrals of the cotangent line classes against the top Chern class of the Hodge bundle on the moduli space of stable pointed curves. These integrals are computed via relations obtained from virtual localization in Gromov-Witten theory. An analysis of several natural matrices indexed by partitions is required.

Hurwitz numbers, which count certain covers of the projective line (or, equivalently, factorizations of permuations into transpositions), have been extensively studied for over a century. The Gromov-Witten potential F of a point, the generating series for Hodge integrals on the moduli space of curves, has been a central object of study in Gromov-Witten theory. We define a slightly enriched Gromov-Witten potential G (including integrals involving one "lambda-class"), and show ...