Rational curves on Calabi-Yau manifolds: verifying predictions of Mirror Symmetry

Abstract

Mirror symmetry, a phenomenon in superstring theory, has recently been used to give tentative calculations of several numbers in algebraic geometry. In this paper, the numbers of lines and conics on various hypersurfaces which satisfy certain incidence properties are calculated, and shown to agree with the numbers predicted by Greene, Morrison, and Plesser using mirror symmetry in every instance. This increases the number of verified predictions from 3 to 65. Calculations are performed using the Maple package {\sc schubert} written by Katz and Strømme.

12 pages, LaTeX (Replaced version corrects an error in the formula for bundle $B'$ on page 5, and changes the order of some entries in tables 2 and 3 for compatibility with the associated computer file)