Higher rank K-theoretic Donaldson-Thomas Theory of points

Abstract

We exploit the critical structure on the Quot scheme $\text {Quot}_{{{\mathbb {A}}}^3}({\mathscr {O}}^{\oplus r}\!,n)$, in particular the associated symmetric obstruction theory, in order to study rank r K-theoretic Donaldson-Thomas (DT) invariants of the local Calabi-Yau $3$-fold ${{\mathbb {A}}}^3$. We compute the associated partition function as a plethystic exponential, proving a conjecture proposed in string theory by Awata-Kanno and Benini-Bonelli-Poggi-Tanzini. A crucial step in the proof is the fact, nontrival if $r>1$, that the invariants do not depend on the equivariant parameters of the framing torus $({{\mathbb {C}}}^\ast )^r$. Reducing from K-theoretic to cohomological invariants, we compute the corresponding DT invariants, proving a conjecture of Szabo. Reducing further to enumerative DT invariants, we solve the higher rank DT theory of a pair $(X,F)$, where F is an equivariant exceptional locally free sheaf on a projective toric $3$-fold X.

Keywords

• 14N35
• 14C05