Quantum Cohomology and Virasoro Algebra

Abstract

We propose that the Virasoro algebra controls quantum cohomologies of general Fano manifolds $M$ ($c_1(M)>0$) and determines their partition functions at all genera. We construct Virasoro operators in the case of complex projective spaces and show that they reproduce the results of Kontsevich-Manin, Getzler etc. on the genus-0,1 instanton numbers. We also construct Virasoro operators for a wider class of Fano varieties. The central charge of the algebra is equal to $\chi(M)$, the Euler characteristic of the manifold $M$.