We study the variation of relative cohomology for a pair consisting of a smooth projective hypersurface and an algebraic subvariety in it. We construct an inhomogeneous Picard-Fuchs equation by applying a Picard-Fuchs operator to the holomorphic top form on a toric Calabi-Yau hypersurface, and deriving a general formula for the d -exact form on one side of the equation. We also derive a double residue formula, giving a purely algebraic way to compute the inhomogeneous Picard-Fuchs equations for Abel-Jacobi map, which has played an important role in recent study of D-branes [25]. Using the variation formalism, we prove that the relative periods of toric B-branes on a toric Calabi-Yau hypersurface satisfy the enhanced GKZ-hypergeometric system proposed in physics literature [6], and discuss the relations between the works [25] [21] [6] in recent study of open string mirror symmetry. We also give the general solutions to the enhanced hypergeometric system.

We study period integrals of CY hypersurfaces in a partial flag variety. We construct a holonomic system of differential equations which govern the period integrals. By means of representation theory, a set of generators of the system can be described explicitly. The results are also generalized to CY complete intersections. The construction of these new systems of differential equations have lead us to the notion of a tautological system.

We develop a global Poincar\'e residue formula to study period integrals of families of complex manifolds. For any compact complex manifold X equipped with a linear system V ∗ of generically smooth CY hypersurfaces, the formula expresses period integrals in terms of a canonical global meromorphic top form on X . Two important ingredients of our construction are the notion of a CY principal bundle, and a classification of such rank one bundles. We also generalize our construction to CY and general type complete intersections. When X is an algebraic manifold having a sufficiently large automorphism group G and V ∗ is a linear representation of G , we construct a holonomic D-module that governs the period integrals. The construction is based in part on the theory of tautological systems we have developed in the paper \cite{LSY1}, joint with R. Song. The approach allows us to explicitly describe a Picard-Fuchs type system for complete intersection varieties of general types, as well as CY, in any Fano variety, and in a homogeneous space in particular. In addition, the approach provides a new perspective of old examples such as CY complete intersections in a toric variety or partial flag variety.

A tautological system, introduced in \cite{LSY}\cite{LY}, arises as a regular holonomic system of partial differential equations that govern the period integrals of a family of complete intersections in a complex manifold X , equipped with a suitable Lie group action. In this article, we introduce two formulas -- one purely algebraic, the other geometric -- to compute the rank of the solution sheaf of such a system for CY hypersurfaces in a generalized flag variety. The algebraic version gives the local solution space as a Lie algebra homology group, while the geometric one as the middle de Rham cohomology of the complement of a hyperplane section in X . We use both formulas to find certain degenerate points for which the rank of the solution sheaf becomes 1. These rank 1 points appear to be good candidates for the so-called large complex structure limits in mirror symmetry. The formulas are also used to prove a conjecture of Hosono, Lian and Yau on the completeness of the extended GKZ system when X is $\P^n$.

A tautological system, introduced in [16][17], arises as a regular holonomic system of partial differential equations that govern the period integrals of a family of complete intersections in a complex manifold X , equipped with a suitable Lie group action. A geometric formula for the holonomic rank of such a system was conjectured in [4], and was verified for the case of projective homogeneous space under an assumption. In this paper, we prove this conjecture in full generality. By means of the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence and Fourier transforms, we also generalize the rank formula to an arbitrary projective manifold with a group action.