On enumerative problems for maps and quasimaps: freckles and scars

Abstract

We address the question of counting maps between projective spaces such that images of cycles on the source intersect cycles on the target. In this paper we do it by embedding maps into quasimaps that form a projective space of their own. When a quasimap is not a map, it contains freckles (studied earlier) and/or scars, appearing when the complex dimension of the source is greater than one. We consider a lot of examples showing that freckle/scar calculus (using excess intersection theory) works. We also propose the "smooth conjecture" that may lead to computation of the number of maps by an integral over the space of quasimaps.