Local Mirror Symmetry at Higher Genus

Albrecht Klemm, Eric Zaslow

Published 1999-06-04, updated 1999-06-11Version 3

We discuss local mirror symmetry for higher-genus curves. Specifically, we consider the topological string partition function of higher-genus curves contained in a Fano surface within a Calabi-Yau. Our main example is the local P^2 case. The Kodaira-Spencer theory of gravity, tailored to this local geometry, can be solved to compute this partition function. Then, using the results of Gopakumar and Vafa and the local mirror map, the partition function can be rewritten in terms of expansion coefficients, which are found to be integers. We verify, through localization calculations in the A-model, many of these Gromov-Witten predictions. The integrality is a mystery, mathematically speaking. The asymptotic growth (with degree) of the invariants is analyzed. Some suggestions are made towards an enumerative interpretation, following the BPS-state description of Gopakumar and Vafa.