Quantum cohomology and birational geometry of Verra fourfolds

Abstract

We compute the small quantum cohomology ring of a Verra fourfold. Using the theory of atoms recently developped by Katzarkov--Kontsevich--Pantev--Yu, and building on recent papers of the authors, we deduce that a Verra fourfold is never birational to a very general cubic fourfold, nor to a very general Gushel--Mukai fourfold, whereas it was previously known that a general Verra fourfold is birational to a general nodal Gushel--Mukai fourfold. More precisely, we show that for every smooth cubic fourfold or smooth Gushel--Mukai fourfold that is birational to some Verra fourfold, the primitive cohomology is isomorphic, as a rational Hodge structure, to the middle cohomology of some projective K3 surface.