We have developed a mathematical theory of the topological vertexa theory that was originally proposed by M Aganagic, A Klemm, M Mario and C Vafa on effectively computing GromovWitten invariants of smooth toric CalabiYau threefolds derived from duality between open string theory of smooth CalabiYau threefolds and ChernSimons theory on three-manifolds.

The DK Flip Conjecture of Bondal-Orlov and Kawamata states that there should be an embedding of derived categories for any flip, which is known to be true for toroidal flips. In this paper, we construct new examples of Grassmannian flips that satisfy the DK Flip Conjecture.

Let Λ be a numerical semigroup, C⊆An the monomial curve singularity associated to Λ, and T its tangent cone. In this paper we provide a sharp upper bound for the least positive integer in Λ in terms of the codimension and the maximum degree of the equations of T, when T is not a complete intersection. A special case of this result settles a question of J. Herzog and D. Stamate.

A method of constructing Cohomological Field Theories (CohFTs) with unit using minimal classes on the moduli spaces of curves is developed. As a simple consequence, CohFTs with unit are found which take values outside of the tautological cohomology of the moduli spaces of curves. A study of minimal classes in low genus is presented in the Appendix by D. Petersen.

We consider surfaces of geometric genus 3 with the property that their transcendental cohomology splits into 3 pieces, each piece coming from a K3 surface. For certain families of surfaces with this property, we can show there is a similar splitting on the level of Chow groups (and Chow motives).