Relative Lefschetz Action and BPS State Counting

In this paper, we propose a mathematical definition of a new ``numerical invariants" of Calabi--Yau 3-folds from stable sheaves of dimension one, which is motivated by the Gopakumar-Vafa conjecture in M-theory. Moreover, we show that for any projective morphism $f:X -> Y$ of normal projective varieties, there exists a natural $sl_2 \times sl_2$ action on the intersection cohomology group $IH(X, \Q)$ which fits into the perverse Leray spectral sequence.