Generalized Donaldson-Thomas invariants $\bar{DT}^\alpha(\tau)$ defined by Joyce and Song are rational numbers which 'count' both $\tau$-stable and $\tau$-semistable coherent sheaves with Chern character $\alpha$ on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold X, where $\tau$ denotes Gieseker stability for some ample line bundle on X. The theory of Joyce and Song is valid only over the field $\mathbb C$. We will extend it to algebraically closed fields $\mathbb K$ of characteristic zero.
We will describe the local structure of the moduli stack $\mathfrak M$ of coherent sheaves on X, showing that an atlas for $\mathfrak M$ may be written locally as the zero locus of an almost closed 1-form on an \'etale open subset of the tangent space of $\mathfrak M$ at a point, and use this to deduce identities on the Behrend
function $\nu_{\mathfrak M}$ of $\mathfrak M$. This also yields an extension of generalized Donaldson-Thomas theory to noncompact Calabi-Yau 3-folds.
Finally, we will investigate how our argument might yield generalizations of the theory to a even wider context, for example the derived framework using Toen's theory and to motivic Donaldson-Thomas theory in the style of Kontsevich and Soibelman.