Gromov-Witten invariants of symplectic quotients and adiabatic limits

Abstract

We study pseudoholomorphic curves in symplectic quotients as adiabatic limits of solutions of a system of nonlinear first order elliptic partial differential equations in the ambient symplectic manifold. The symplectic manifold carries a Hamiltonian group action. The equations involve the Cauchy-Riemann operator over a Riemann surface, twisted by a connection, and couple the curvature of the connection with the moment map. Our main theorem asserts that the genus zero invariants of Hamiltonian group actions defined by these equations are related to the genus zero Gromov--Witten invariants of the symplectic quotient (in the monotone case) via a natural ring homomorphism from the equivariant cohomology of the ambient space to the quantum cohomology of the quotient.