Let V be a convex vector bundle over a smooth projective manifold X, and let Y be the subset of X which is the zero locus of a regular section of V. This mostly expository paper discusses a conjecture which relates the virtual fundamental classes of X and Y. Using an argument due to Gathmann, we prove a special case of the conjecture. The paper concludes with a discussion of how our conjecture relates to the mirror theorems in the literature.

A reconstruction theorem for genus 0 gravitational quantum cohomology and quantum K-theory is proved. A new linear equivalence in the Picard group of the moduli space of genus 0 stable maps relating the pull-backs of line bundles from the target via different markings is used for the reconstruction result. Examples of calculations in quantum cohomology and quantum K-theory are given.

This work is devoted to the study of the foundations of quantum K-theory, a K-theoretic version of quantum cohomology theory. In particular, it gives a deformation of the ordinary K-ring K(X) of a smooth projective variety X, analogous to the relation between quantum cohomology and ordinary cohomology. This new quantum product also gives a new class of Frobenius manifolds.

We conjecture that appropriate K-theoretic Gromov-Witten invariants of complex flag manifolds G/B are governed by finite-difference versions of Toda systems constructed in terms of the Langlands-dual quantized universal enveloping algebras U_q(g'). The conjecture is proved in the case of classical flag manifolds of the series A. The proof is based on a refinement of the famous Atiyah-Hirzebruch argument for rigidity of arithmetical genus applied to hyperquot-scheme compactifications of spaces of rational curves in the flag manifolds.

The main goal of this paper is to prove the following two conjectures for genus up to two: 1. Witten's conjecture on the relations between higher spin curves and Gelfand--Dickey hierarchy. 2. Virasoro conjecture for target manifolds with conformal semisimple Frobenius manifolds. The main technique used in the proof is the invariance of tautological equations under loop group action.

We verify the Invariance Conjectures of tautological equations in genus two. In particular, a uniform derivation of all known genus two equations is given.

A new tautological equation of $\bar{M}_{3,1}$ in codimension 3 is derived and proved, using the invariance condition explained in earlier works.

The main goal of this paper is to introduce a set of conjectures on the relations in the tautological rings. In particular, the framework gives an efficient algorithm to calculate all tautological equations using only finite dimensional linear algebra. Other applications are also indicated.

We prove that all monomials of κ-classes and ψ-classes are independent in $R^k(\ocM_{g,n})/R^k(\partial\ocM_{g,n})$ for all k≤[g/3]. We also give a simple argument for κ_l≠0 in $R^l(\ocM_g)$ for l≤g−2.

The aim of Part II is to explore the technique of invariance of tautological equations in the realm of Gromov--Witten theory. The main result is a proof of Invariance Theorem (Invariance Conjecture~1 in [14]), via the techniques from Gromov--Witten theory. It establishes some general inductive structure of the tautological rings, and provides a new tool to the study of this area.