Donaldson invariants of CP^1 x CP^1 and Mock Theta Functions

We compute the Moore-Witten regularized u-plane integral on CP^1 x CP^1 directly in a chamber where the elliptic unfolding technique fails to work. This allows us to determine explicit formulas for its SU(2) and SO(3)-Donaldson invariants in terms of Mock modular forms.Comment: 20 pages, LaTe

Jacobian elliptic Kummer surfaces and special function identities

We derive formulas for the construction of all inequivalent Jacobian elliptic fibrations on the Kummer surface of two non-isogeneous elliptic curves from extremal rational elliptic surfaces by rational base transformations and quadratic twists. We then show that each such decomposition yields a description of the Picard-Fuchs system satisfied by the periods of the holomorphic two-form as either a tensor product of two Gauss' hypergeometric differential equations, an Appell hypergeometric system, or a GKZ differential system. As the answer must be independent of the fibration used, identities relating differential systems are obtained. They include a new identity relating Appell's hypergeometric system to a product of two Gauss' hypergeometric differential equations by a cubic transformation.Comment: 20 page

Normal forms for Kummer surfaces

We determine normal forms for the Kummer surfaces associated with abelian surfaces of polarization of type $(1,1)$, $(1,2)$, $(2,2)$, $(2,4)$, and $(1,4)$. Explicit formulas for coordinates and moduli parameters in terms of Theta functions of genus two are also given. The normal forms in question are closely connected to the generalized Riemann identities for Theta functions of Mumford's.Comment: 49 page

Kummer sandwiches and Greene-Plesser construction

In the context of K3 mirror symmetry, the Greene-Plesser orbifolding method constructs a family of K3 surfaces, the mirror of quartic hypersurfaces in $\mathbb{P}^3$, starting from a special one-parameter family of K3 varieties known as the quartic Dwork pencil. We show that certain K3 double covers obtained from the three-parameter family of quartic Kummer surfaces associated with a principally polarized abelian surface generalize the relation of the Dwork pencil and the quartic mirror family. Moreover, for the three-parameter family we compute a formula for the rational point-count of its generic member and derive its transformation behavior with respect to $(2,2)$-isogenies of the underlying abelian surface.Comment: 27 pages; minor typos corrected in version

Six line configurations and string dualities

We study the family of K3 surfaces of Picard rank sixteen associated with the double cover of the projective plane branched along the union of six lines, and the family of its Van Geemen-Sarti partners, i.e., K3 surfaces with special Nikulin involutions, such that quotienting by the involution and blowing up recovers the former. We prove that the family of Van Geemen-Sarti partners is a four-parameter family of K3 surfaces with $H \oplus E_7(-1) \oplus E_7(-1)$ lattice polarization. We describe explicit Weierstrass models on both families using even modular forms on the bounded symmetric domain of type $IV$. We also show that our construction provides a geometric interpretation, called geometric two-isogeny, for the F-theory/heterotic string duality in eight dimensions. As a result, we obtain novel F-theory models, dual to non-geometric heterotic string compactifications in eight dimensions with two non-vanishing Wilson line parameters.Comment: 42 pages; minor typos corrected in version

The signature of the Seiberg-Witten surface

The Seiberg-Witten family of elliptic curves defines a Jacobian rational elliptic surface $\Z$ over $\mathbb{C}\mathrm{P}^1$. We show that for the $\bar{\partial}$-operator along the fiber the logarithm of the regularized determinant $-1/2 \log \det' (\bar\partial^* \bar\partial)$ satisfies the anomaly equation of the one-loop topological string amplitude derived in Kodaira-Spencer theory. We also show that not only the determinant line bundle with the Quillen metric but also the $\bar{\partial}$-operator itself extends across the nodal fibers of $\mathrm{Z}$. The extension introduces current contributions to the curvature of the determinant line bundle at the points where the fibration develops nodal fibers. The global anomaly of the determinant line bundle then determines the signature of $\mathrm{Z}$ which equals minus the number of hypermultiplets.Comment: 22 page