Computing period integrals of rigid double octic Calabi-Yau threefolds with Picard-Fuchs operator

Abstract

We present a method for numerical computation of period integrals of a rigid Calabi-Yau threefold using Picard-Fuchs operator of a one-parameter smoothing. Our method gives a possibility of computing the lattice of period integrals of a rigid double octic without any explicit knowledge of its geometric properties, employing only simple facts from the theory of Fuchsian equations and computations in MAPLE with a library for differential equations. As a surprising consequence we also get approximations of additional integrals related to a singular (nodal) model of considered Calabi-Yau threefold.