Stable pair invariants of local Calabi-Yau 4-folds

Abstract: In 2008, Klemm-Pandharipande defined Gopakumar-Vafa type invariants of a Calabi-Yau 4-fold $X$ using Gromov-Witten theory. Recently, Cao-Maulik-Toda proposed a conjectural description of these invariants in terms of stable pair theory. When $X$ is the total space of the sum of two line bundles over a surface $S$, and all stable pairs are scheme theoretically supported on the zero section, we express stable pair invariants in terms of intersection numbers on Hilbert schemes of points on $S$. As an application, we obtain new verifications of the Cao-Maulik-Toda conjectures for low degree curve classes and find connections to Carlsson-Okounkov numbers. Some of our verifications involve genus zero Gopakumar-Vafa type invariants recently determined in the context of the log-local principle by Bousseau-Brini-van Garrel. Finally, using the vertex formalism, we provide a few more verifications of the Cao-Maulik-Toda conjectures when thickened curves contribute and also for the case of local $\mathbb{P}^3$.