Harmonic Cheeger-Simons characters with applications

We initiate the study of harmonic Cheeger-Simons characters, with applications to smooth versions of the Geometric Langlands program in the abelian case.Comment: 13 pages, Latex2e, final version, Journal of Geometry and Physics (to appear

Virtual refinements of the Vafa-Witten formula

We conjecture a formula for the generating function of virtual $\chi_y$-genera of moduli spaces of rank 2 sheaves on arbitrary surfaces with holomorphic 2-form. Specializing the conjecture to minimal surfaces of general type and to virtual Euler characteristics, we recover (part of) a formula of C. Vafa and E. Witten. These virtual $\chi_y$-genera can be written in terms of descendent Donaldson invariants. Using T. Mochizuki's formula, the latter can be expressed in terms of Seiberg-Witten invariants and certain explicit integrals over Hilbert schemes of points. These integrals are governed by seven universal functions, which are determined by their values on $\mathbb{P}^2$ and $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$. Using localization we calculate these functions up to some order, which allows us to check our conjecture in many cases. In an appendix by H. Nakajima and the first named author, the virtual Euler characteristic specialization of our conjecture is extended to include $\mu$-classes, thereby interpolating between Vafa-Witten's formula and Witten's conjecture for Donaldson invariants.Comment: 44 pages. Published version. Appendix C by first named author and H. Nakajim

Multivariable Hodge theoretical invariants of germs of plane curves

We describe methods for calculation of polytopes of quasiadjunction for plane curve singularities which are invariants giving a Hodge theoretical refinement of the zero sets of multivariable Alexander polynomials. In particular we identify some hyperplanes on which all polynomials in multivariable Bernstein ideal vanish