Ap\'ery extensions

The Ap\'ery numbers of Fano varieties are asymptotic invariants of their quantum differential equations. In this paper, we initiate a program to exhibit these invariants as (mirror to) limiting extension classes of higher cycles on the associated Landau-Ginzburg models -- and thus, in particular, as periods. We also construct an ``Ap\'ery motive'', whose mixed Hodge structure is shown, as an application of the decomposition theorem, to contain the limiting extension classes in question. Using a new technical result on the inhomogeneous Picard-Fuchs equations satisfied by higher normal functions, we illustrate this proposal with detailed calculations for LG-models mirror to several Fano threefolds. By describing the ``elementary'' Ap\'ery numbers in terms of regulators of higher cycles (i.e., algebraic $K$-theory/motivic cohomology classes), we obtain a satisfying explanation of their arithmetic properties. Indeed, in each case, the LG-models are modular families of $K3$ surfaces, and the distinction between multiples of $\zeta(2)$ and $\zeta(3)$ (or $(2\pi\mathbf{i})^3$) translates ultimately into one between algebraic $K_1$ and $K_3$ of the family.