Simple Type and the Boundary of Moduli Space

Abstract

We measure, in two distinct ways, the extent to which the boundary region of moduli space contributes to the ``simple type'' condition of Donaldson theory. Using a geometric representative of \mu(pt), the boundary region of moduli space contributes 6/64 of the homology required for simple type, regardless of the topology or geometry of the underlying 4-manifold. The simple type condition thus reduces to the interior of the k+1st ASD moduli space, intersected with two representatives of (4 times) the point class, being homologous to 58 copies of the k-th moduli space. This is peculiar, since the only known embeddings of the k-th moduli space into the k+1st involve Taubes gluing, and the images of such embeddings lie entirely in the boundary region. When using de Rham representatives of mu(pt), the boundary region contributes 1/8 of what is needed for simple type, again regardless of the topology or geometry of the underlying 4-manifold. The difference between this and the geometric representative answer is surprising but not contradictory, as the contribution of a fixed region to the Donaldson invariants is geometric, not topological.