The enumerative geometry of K3 surfaces and modular forms

Abstract

We prove the conjectures of Yau-Zaslow and Gottsche concerning the number curves on K3 surfaces. Specifically, let X be a K3 surface and C be a holomorphic curve in X representing a primitive homology class. We count the number of curves of geometric genus g with n nodes passing through g generic points in X in the linear system |C| for any g and n satisfying C^2=2g+2n-2. When g=0, this coincides with the enumerative problem studied by Yau and Zaslow who obtained a conjectural generating function for the numbers. Recently, Gottsche has generalized their conjecture to arbitrary g in terms of quasi-modular forms. We prove these formulas using Gromov-Witten invariants for families, a degeneration argument, and an obstruction bundle computation. Our methods also apply to P^2 blown up at 9 points where we show that the ordinary Gromov-Witten invariants of genus g constrained to g points are also given in terms of quasi-modular forms.