Topological Strings on Non-commutative Resolutions

Abstract In this paper we propose a definition of torsion refined Gopakumar–Vafa (GV) invariants for Calabi–Yau threefolds with terminal nodal singularities that do not admit Kähler crepant resolutions. Physically, the refinement takes into account the charge of five-dimensional BPS states under a discrete gauge symmetry in M-theory. We propose a mathematical definition of the invariants in terms of the geometry of all non-Kähler crepant resolutions taken together. The invariants are encoded in the A-model topological string partition functions associated to non-commutative (nc) resolutions of the Calabi–Yau. Our main example will be a singular degeneration of the generic Calabi–Yau double cover of {P}³ P 3 and leads to an enumerative interpretation of the topological string partition function of a hybrid Landau–Ginzburg model. Our results generalize a recent physical proposal made in the context of torus fibered Calabi–Yau manifolds by one of the authors and clarify the associated enumerative geometry.