# 4D limit of melting crystal model and its integrable structure

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the 4D limit of the melting crystal model related to 5D SUSY $U(1)$ Yang-Mills theory, revealing its integrable structure and connection to Gromov-Witten invariants via quantum spectral curves.

## Contribution

It introduces a systematic 4D limit procedure for the melting crystal model, linking it to Gromov-Witten theory and establishing its tau function properties within integrable hierarchies.

## Key findings

- The 4D limit yields a difference equation matching the quantum spectral curve of Gromov-Witten theory.
- The 4D counterpart of the partition function is a tau function of the KP hierarchy.
- Extensions to deformations produce tau functions of the 1D Toda hierarchy.

## Abstract

This paper addresses the problems of quantum spectral curves and 4D limit for the melting crystal model of 5D SUSY $U(1)$ Yang-Mills theory on $\mathbb{R}^4\times S^1$. The partition function $Z(\mathbf{t})$ deformed by an infinite number of external potentials is a tau function of the KP hierarchy with respect to the coupling constants $\mathbf{t} = (t_1,t_2,\ldots)$. A single-variate specialization $Z(x)$ of $Z(\mathbf{t})$ satisfies a $q$-difference equation representing the quantum spectral curve of the melting crystal model. In the limit as the radius $R$ of $S^1$ in $\mathbb{R}^4\times S^1$ tends to $0$, it turns into a difference equation for a 4D counterpart $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(X)$ of $Z(x)$. This difference equation reproduces the quantum spectral curve of Gromov-Witten theory of $\mathbb{CP}^1$. $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(X)$ is obtained from $Z(x)$ by letting $R \to 0$ under an $R$-dependent transformation $x = x(X,R)$ of $x$ to $X$. A similar prescription of 4D limit can be formulated for $Z(\mathbf{t})$ with an $R$-dependent transformation $\mathbf{t} = \mathbf{t}(\mathbf{T},R)$ of $\mathbf{t}$ to $\mathbf{T} = (T_1,T_2,\ldots)$. This yields a 4D counterpart $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(\mathbf{T})$ of $Z(\mathbf{t})$. $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(\mathbf{T})$ agrees with a generating function of all-genus Gromov-Witten invariants of $\mathbb{CP}^1$. Fay-type bilinear equations for $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(\mathbf{T})$ can be derived from similar equations satisfied by $Z(\mathbf{t})$. The bilinear equations imply that $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(\mathbf{T})$, too, is a tau function of the KP hierarchy. These results are further extended to deformations $Z(\mathbf{t},s)$ and $Z_{\mathrm{4D}}(\mathbf{T},s)$ by a discrete variable $s \in \mathbb{Z}$, which are shown to be tau functions of the 1D Toda hierarchy.