In this paper, we give a simple proof of Mirzakhanis recursion formula of Weil-Petersson volumes of moduli spaces of curves using the Witten-Kontsevich theorem. We also briefly describe a very general recursive phenomenon in the intersection theory of moduli spaces of curves. In particular, we present several new recursion formulas for higher degree classes.

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Let X_\Sigma be a toric surface and let (\check {X}, W) be its Landau-Ginzburg (LG) mirror where W is the Hori-Vafa potential as shown in their preprint. We apply asymptotic analysis to study the extended deformation theory of the LG model (\check {X}, W), and prove that semi-classical limits of Fourier modes of a specific class of Maurer-Cartan solutions naturally give rise to tropical disks in X with Maslov index 0 or 2, the latter of which produces a universal unfolding of W. For X = \mathbb{P}^2, our construction reproduces Gross' perturbed potential W_n [Adv. Math. 224 (2010), pp. 169-245] which was proven to be the universal unfolding of W written in canonical coordinates. We also explain how the extended deformation theory can be used to reinterpret the jumping phenomenon of W_n across walls of the scattering diagram formed by Maslov index 0 tropical disks originally observed by Gross in the same work (in the case of X = \mathbb{P}^2).

We construct a smooth algebraic stack of tuples consisting of genus two nodal curves, line bundles, and twisted fields. It leads to a desingularization of the moduli of genus two stable maps to projective spaces. The construction is based on systematical application of the theory of stacks with twisted fields (STF), which has its prototype appeared in arXiv:1906.10527 and arXiv:1201.2427 and is fully developed in this article. The results of this article are the second step of a series of works toward the resolutions of the moduli of stable maps of higher genera.

We study BPS states of 5d N=1 SU(2) Yang-Mills theory on S^1×R^4. Geometric engineering relates these to enumerative invariants for the local Hirzebruch surface F_0. We illustrate computations of Vafa-Witten invariants via exponential networks, verifying fiber-base symmetry of the spectrum at certain points in moduli space, and matching with mirror descriptions based on quivers and exceptional collections. Albeit infinite, parts of the spectrum organize in families described by simple algebraic equations. Varying the radius of the M-theory circle interpolates smoothly with the spectrum of 4d N=2 Seiberg-Witten theory, recovering spectral networks in the limit.