J Holomorphic Curves And Quantum Cohomology

$J$-holomorphic curves revolutionized the study of symplectic geometry when Gromov first introduced them in 1985. Through quantum cohomology, these curves are now linked to many of the most exciting new ideas in mathematical physics. This book presents the first coherent and full account of the theory of $J$-holomorphic curves, the details of which are presently scattered in various research papers. The first half of the book is an expository account of the field, explaining the main technical aspects. McDuff and Salamon give complete proofs of Gromov's compactness theorem for spheres and of the existence of the Gromov-Witten invariants. The second half of the book focuses on the definition of quantum cohomology. The authors establish that this multiplication exists, and give a new proof of the Ruan-Tian result that is associative on appropriate manifolds. They then describe the Givental-Kim calculation of the quantum cohomology of flag manifolds, leading to quantum Chern classes and Witten's calculation for Grassmannians, which relates to the Verlinde algebra. The Dubrovin connection, Gromov-Witten potential on quantum cohomology, and curve counting formulas are also discussed. The book closes with an outline of connections to Floer theory.

The main goal of this book is to establish the fundamental theorems of the subject in full and rigourous detail. In particular, the book contains complete proofs of Gromov's compactness theorem for spheres, of the gluing theorem for spheres, and of the associatively of quantum multiplication in the semipositive case. The book can also serve as an introduction to current work in symplectic topology.

The book gathers the lectures given at the C.I.M.E. summer school "Quantum Cohomology" held in Cetraro (Italy) from June 30th to July 8th, 1997. The lectures and the subsequent updating cover a large spectrum of the subject on the field, from the algebro-geometric point of view, to the symplectic approach, including recent developments of string-branes theories and q-hypergeometric functions.

Elementary introduction to stable maps and quantum cohomology presents the problem of counting rational plane curves Viewpoint is mostly that of enumerative geometry Emphasis is on examples, heuristic discussions, and simple applications to best convey the intuition behind the subject Ideal for self-study, for a mini-course in quantum cohomology, or as a special topics text in a standard course in intersection theory

This book presents the original proof of Gromov's compactness theorem for pseudo-holomorphic curves in detail. Local properties of pseudo-holomorphic curves are investigated and proved from a geometric viewpoint. Properties of particular interest are isoperimetric inequalities, a monotonicity formula, gradient bounds and the removal of singularities.

Gauge theory, symplectic geometry and symplectic topology are important areas at the crossroads of several mathematical disciplines. The present book, with expertly written surveys of recent developments in these areas, includes some of the first expository material of Seiberg-Witten theory, which has revolutionised the subjects since its introduction in late 1994. Topics covered include: introductions to Seiberg-Witten theory, to applications of the S-W theory to four-dimensional manifold topology, and to the classification of symplectic manifolds; an introduction to the theory of pseudo-holomorphic curves and to quantum cohomology; algebraically integrable Hamiltonian systems and moduli spaces; the stable topology of gauge theory, Morse-Floer theory; pseudo-convexity and its relations to symplectic geometry; generating functions; Frobenius manifolds and topological quantum field theory.

This is a two-volume series research monograph on the general Lagrangian Floer theory and on the accompanying homological algebra of filtered $A_\infty$-algebras. This book provides the most important step towards a rigorous foundation of the Fukaya category in general context. In Volume I, general deformation theory of the Floer cohomology is developed in both algebraic and geometric contexts. An essentially self-contained homotopy theory of filtered $A_\infty$ algebras and $A_\infty$ bimodules and applications of their obstruction-deformation theory to the Lagrangian Floer theory are presented. Volume II contains detailed studies of two of the main points of the foundation of the theory: transversality and orientation. The study of transversality is based on the virtual fundamental chain techniques (the theory of Kuranishi structures and their multisections) and chain level intersection theories. A detailed analysis comparing the orientations of the moduli spaces and their fiber products is carried out. A self-contained account of the general theory of Kuranishi structures is also included in the appendix of this volume.