Relative Gromov-Witten invariants and the mirror formula

Abstract.

Let X be a smooth complex projective variety, and let $Y \subset X$ be a smooth very ample hypersurface such that $-K_Y$ is nef. Using the technique of relative Gromov-Witten invariants, we give a new short and geometric proof of (a version of) the “mirror formula”, i.e. we show that the generating function of the genus zero 1-point Gromov-Witten invariants of Y can be obtained from that of X by a certain change of variables (the so-called “mirror transformation”). Moreover, we use the same techniques to give a similar expression for the (virtual) numbers of degree-d plane rational curves meeting a smooth cubic at one point with multiplicity 3d, which play a role in local mirror symmetry.