Rationality of capped descendent vertex in $K$-theory

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the fundamental solution of the \textit{quantum difference equation} (qde) for the moduli space of instantons on two-dimensional projective space. The qde is a $K$-theoretic generalization of the quantum differential equation in quantum cohomology. As in the quantum cohomology case, the fundamental solution of qde provides the capping operator in $K$-theory (the rubber part of the capped vertex). We study the dependence of the capping operator on the equivariant parameters $a_i$ of the torus acting on the instanton moduli space by changing the framing. We prove that the capping operator factorizes at $a_i\to 0$. The rationality of the $K$-theoretic 1-leg capped descendent vertex follows from factorization of the capping operator as a simple corollary.