Tau-function on Hurwitz spaces

The isomonodromic tau-function for the Hurwitz spaces of branched coverings of genus zero and one are constructed explicitly. Such spaces may be equipped with the structure of a Frobenius manifold and this introduces a flat coordinate system on the manifold. The isomonodromic tau-function, and in particular the associated $G$-function, are rewritten in these coordinates and an interpretation in terms of the caustics (where the multiplication is not semisimple) is given.

We consider $d$-fold branched coverings of the projective plane $\mathbb{RP}^2$ and show that the hypergeometric tau function of the BKP hierarchy of Kac and van de Leur is the generating function for weighted sums of the related Hurwitz numbers. In particular we get the $\mathbb{RP}^2$ analogues of the $\mathbb{CP}^1$ generating functions proposed by Okounkov and by Goulden and Jackson. Other examples are Hurwitz numbers weighted by the Hall-Littlewood and by the Macdonald p...

We study the K\"ahler geometry of the classical Hurwitz space $\mathcal{H}^{n,b}$ of simple branched coverings of the Riemann sphere $\mathbb{P}^1$ by compact hyperbolic Riemann surfaces. A generalized Weil-Petersson metric on the Hurwitz space was recently introduced. Deformations of simple branched coverings fit into the more general framework of Horikawa's deformation theory of holomorphic maps, which we equip with distinguished representatives in the presence of hermitian...

Correlation function of twist operators is a natural quantity of interest in two-dimensional conformal field theory (2d CFT) and finds relevance in various physical contexts. For computing twist operator correlators associated with generic branched covers of genus zero and one, we present a generalization of the conventional stress-tensor method to encompass generic 2d CFTs without relying on any free field realization. This is achieved by employing a generalization of the ar...

This article is an extended version of preprint math.AG/9902104. We find an explicit formula for the number of topologically different ramified coverings of a sphere by a genus g surface with only one complicated branching point in terms of Hodge integrals over the moduli space of genus g curves with marked points.

We use algebraic methods to compute the simple Hurwitz numbers for arbitrary source and target Riemann surfaces. For an elliptic curve target, we reproduce the results previously obtained by string theorists. Motivated by the Gromov-Witten potentials, we find a general generating function for the simple Hurwitz numbers in terms of the representation theory of the symmetric group S_n. We also find a generating function for Hodge integrals on the moduli space M_{g,2} of Riemann...

We describe projective structures on a Riemann surface corresponding to monodromy groups which have trivial $SL(2)$ monodromies around singularities and trivial $PSL(2)$ monodromies along homologically non-trivial loops on a Riemann surface. We propose a natural higher genus analog of Stieltjes-Bethe equations. Links with branched projective structures and with Hurwitz spaces with ramifications of even order are established. We find a higher genus analog of the genus zero Yan...

Weighted constellations give graphical representations of weighted branched coverings of the Riemann sphere. They were introduced to provide a combinatorial interpretation of the $2$D Toda $\tau$-functions of hypergeometric type serving as generating functions for weighted Hurwitz numbers in the case of polynomial weight generating functions. The product over all vertex and edge weights of a given weighted constellation, summed over all configurations, reproduces the $\tau$-f...

We derive a closed-form expression for all genus 1 Hurwitz numbers, and give a simple new graph-theoretic interpretation of Hurwitz numbers in genus 0 and 1. (Hurwitz numbers essentially count irreducible genus g covers of the sphere, with arbitrary specified branching over one point, simple branching over other specified points, and no other branching. The problem is equivalent to counting transitive factorisations of permutations into transpositions.) These results prove a ...

In this paper we find an explicit formula for the number of topologically different ramified coverings $C\to\CP^1$ (C is a compact Riemann surface of genus g) with only one complicated branching point in terms of Hodge integrals over the moduli space of genus g curves with marked points.