Descendents on local curves: Rationality

We study the stable pairs theory of local curves in 3-folds with descendent insertions. The rationality of the partition function of descendent invariants is established for the full local curve geometry (equivariant with respect to the scaling 2-torus) including relative conditions and odd degree insertions for higher genus curves. The capped 1-leg descendent vertex (equivariant with respect to the 3-torus) is also proven to be rational. The results are obtained by combining geometric constraints with a detailed analysis of the poles of the descendent vertex.Comment: Second revision. The paper includes new results constraining the poles in q of the descendent partition functions to roots of unity (Theorem 5). As a corollary, the poles in q arising in the 3-point functions of the quantum cohomology of the Hilbert schemes of points of the plane are similarly constrained. 54 page

Socle pairings on tautological rings

We study some aspects of the $\lambda_g$ pairing on the tautological ring of $M_g^c$, the moduli space of genus $g$ stable curves of compact type. We consider pairing kappa classes with pure boundary strata, all tautological classes supported on the boundary, or the full tautological ring. We prove that the rank of this restricted pairing is equal in the first two cases and has an explicit formula in terms of partitions, while in the last case the rank increases by precisely the rank of the $\lambda_g\lambda_{g - 1}$ pairing on the tautological ring of $M_g$.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure; v3: journal version; v2: minor revisions to sections 1.1 and 4.1, results unchange

Descendent theory for stable pairs on toric 3-folds

We prove the rationality of the descendent partition function for stable pairs on nonsingular toric 3-folds. The method uses a geometric reduction of the 2- and 3-leg descendent vertices to the 1-leg case. As a consequence, we prove the rationality of the relative stable pairs partition functions for all log Calabi-Yau geometries of the form (X,K3) where X is a nonsingular toric 3-fold.Comment: Revised verison, 38 page

Tautological relations via r-spin structures

Relations among tautological classes on the moduli space of stable curves are obtained via the study of Witten's r-spin theory for higher r. In order to calculate the quantum product, a new formula relating the r-spin correlators in genus 0 to the representation theory of sl2 is proven. The Givental-Teleman classification of CohFTs is used at two special semisimple points of the associated Frobenius manifold. At the first semisimple point, the R-matrix is exactly solved in terms of hypergeometric series. As a result, an explicit formula for Witten's r-spin class is obtained (along with tautological relations in higher degrees). As an application, the r=4 relations are used to bound the Betti numbers of the tautological ring of the moduli of nonsingular curves. At the second semisimple point, the form of the R-matrix implies a polynomiality property in r of Witten's r-spin class. In the Appendix (with F. Janda), a conjecture relating the r=0 limit of Witten's r-spin class to the class of the moduli space of holomorphic differentials is presented.Comment: Corrected powers of phi in the analysis of the second shift. Appendix on the moduli of holomorphic differentials by F. Janda, R. Pandharipande, A. Pixton, and D.Zvonkine. Final versio

Gromov-Witten/Pairs descendent correspondence for toric 3-folds

We construct a fully equivariant correspondence between Gromov-Witten and stable pairs descendent theories for toric 3-folds X. Our method uses geometric constraints on descendents, A_n surfaces, and the topological vertex. The rationality of the stable pairs descendent theory plays a crucial role in the definition of the correspondence. We prove our correspondence has a non-equivariant limit. As a result of the construction, we prove an explicit non-equivariant stationary descendent correspondence for X (conjectured previously by MNOP). Using descendent methods, we establish the relative GW/Pairs correspondence for X/D in several basic new log Calabi-Yau geometries. Among the consequences is a rationality constraint for non-equivariant descendent Gromov-Witten series for P^3.Comment: 83 pages, minor change