Toward an algebraic theory of Welschinger invariants

Let $S$ be a smooth del Pezzo surface over a field $k$ of characteristic $\neq 2, 3$. We define an invariant in the Grothendieck-Witt ring $GW(k)$ for "counting" rational curves in a curve class $D$ of fixed positive degree (with respect to the anti-canonical bundle $-K_S$) and containing a collection of distinct closed points $\mathfrak{p}=\sum_ip_i$ of total degree $r:=-D\cdot K_S-1$ on $S$. This recovers Welschinger's invariant in case $k=\mathbb{R}$ by applying the signature map. The main result is that this quadratic invariant depends only on the $\mathbb{A}^1$-connected component containing $\mathfrak{p}$ in $Sym^r(S)^0(k)$, where $Sym^r(S)^0$ is the open subscheme of $Sym^r(S)$ parametrizing geometrically reduced 0-cycles.