Spectral curves and the Schroedinger equations for the Eynard-Orantin recursion

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that certain A-model enumerative geometry problems have B-model duals where the partition function satisfies a Schrödinger equation, with the spectral curve emerging from the characteristic variety of the operator.

Contribution

It provides concrete mathematical examples linking A-model enumerative invariants to B-model Schrödinger equations and spectral curves via the Eynard-Orantin recursion.

Findings

Laplace transforms of counting functions satisfy Eynard-Orantin recursion

Partition functions satisfy KP equations

Principal specialization satisfies a Schrödinger equation

Abstract

It is predicted that the principal specialization of the partition function of a B-model topological string theory, that is mirror dual to an A-model enumerative geometry problem, satisfies a Schroedinger equation, and that the characteristic variety of the Schroedinger operator gives the spectral curve of the B-model theory, when an algebraic K-theory obstruction vanishes. In this paper we present two concrete mathematical A-model examples whose mirror dual partners exhibit these predicted features on the B-model side. The A-model examples we discuss are the generalized Catalan numbers of an arbitrary genus and the single Hurwitz numbers. In each case, we show that the Laplace transform of the counting functions satisfies the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion, that the B-model partition function satisfies the KP equations, and that the principal specialization of the partition function satisfies a Schroedinger equation whose total symbol is exactly the Lagrangian immersion of the spectral curve of the Eynard-Orantin theory.