$K$-theory of moduli spaces of sheaves and large Grassmannians

Abstract

We prove a theorem classifying the equivariant $K$-theoretic pushforwards of the product of arbitrary Schur functors applied to the tautological bundle on the moduli space of framed rank $r$ torsion-free sheaves on $\mathbb{P}^2$, and its dual. This is done by deriving a formula for similar coefficients on Grassmannian varieties, and by thinking of the moduli space as a class in the $K$-theory of the Grassmannian, in analogy with the construction of the Hilbert scheme when the rank is one. Our motivations stem from some vertex operator calculus studied recently by Nekrasov, Okounkov, and the author when the rank is one, with applications to four-dimensional gauge theory.