Ellipsoidal superpotentials and stationary descendants

Abstract

We compute stationary gravitational descendants in symplectic ellipsoids of any dimension, and use these to derive a number of new recursive formula for punctured curve counts in symplectic manifolds with ellipsoidal ends. Along the way we develop a framework in which punctured curve counts can be explicitly computed using the standard complex structure on affine space. Finally, we initiate the study of "infinitesimal symplectic cobordisms", which serve as elementary building blocks for symplectic cobordisms between ellipsoids.