We propose a variation of the classical Hilbert scheme of points, the double nested Hilbert scheme of points, which parametrizes flags of zero-dimensional subschemes whose nesting is dictated by a Young diagram. Over a smooth quasi-projective curve, we compute the generating series of topological Euler characteristic of these spaces, by exploiting the combinatorics of reversed plane partitions. Moreover, we realize this moduli space as the zero locus of a section of a vector bundle over a smooth ambient space, which therefore admits a virtual fundamental class. We apply this construction to the stable pair theory of a local curve, that is the total space of the direct sum of two line bundles over a curve. We show that the invariants localize to virtual intersection numbers on double nested Hilbert scheme of points on the curve, and that the localized contributions to the invariants are controlled by three universal series for every Young diagram, which can be explicitly determined after the anti-diagonal restriction of the equivariant parameters. Under the anti-diagonal restriction, the invariants are matched with the Gromov–Witten invariants of local curves of Bryan–Pandharipande, as predicted by the Maulik–Nekrasov–Okounkov–Pandharipande (MNOP) correspondence. Finally, we discuss $K$-theoretic refinements à la Nekrasov–Okounkov.

The Hanna Neumann conjecture is a statement about the rank of the intersection of two finitely generated subgroups of a free group. The conjecture was posed by Hanna Neumann in 1957. In 2011, a strengthened version of the conjecture was proved independently by Joel Friedman and by Igor Mineyev. In this paper we show that the strengthened Hanna Neumann conjecture holds not only in free groups but also in non-solvable surface groups. In addition, we show that a retract in a free group and in a surface group is inert. This implies the Dicks–Ventura inertia conjecture for free and surface groups.

We introduce the process of symplectic reduction along a submanifold as a uniform approach to taking quotients in symplectic geometry. This construction holds in the categories of smooth manifolds, complex analytic spaces, and complex algebraic varieties, and has an interpretation in terms of derived stacks in shifted symplectic geometry. It also encompasses Marsden–Weinstein–Meyer reduction, Mikami–Weinstein reduction, the pre-images of Poisson transversals under moment maps, symplectic cutting, symplectic implosion, and the Ginzburg–Kazhdan construction of Moore–Tachikawa varieties in topological quantum field theory. A key feature of our construction is a concrete and systematic association of a Hamiltonian $G$-space $\mathfrak {M}_{G, S}$ to each pair $(G,S)$, where $G$ is any Lie group and $S\subseteq \mathrm {Lie}(G)^{*}$ is any submanifold satisfying certain non-degeneracy conditions. The spaces $\mathfrak {M}_{G, S}$ satisfy a universal property for symplectic reduction which generalizes that of the universal imploded cross-section. Although these Hamiltonian $G$-spaces are explicit and natural from a Lie-theoretic perspective, some of them appear to be new.