Quantum curves and q-deformed Painlevé equations

Letters in Mathematical Physics - We propose that the grand canonical topological string partition functions satisfy finite-difference equations in the closed string moduli. In the case of genus...     

Linking observables in perturbed topological field theories

The topological antisymmetric tensor field theory in n-dimensions is perturbed by the introduction of local metric dependent interaction terms in the curvatures. The correlator describing the linking number between two surfaces in n-dimensions is shown to be not affected by the quantum corrections.     

Multi-instantons, supersymmetry and topological field theories

In this letter we argue that instanton-dominated Green's functions in N=2 Super Yang–Mills theories can be equivalently computed either using the so-called constrained instanton method or making reference to the topological twisted version of the theory. Defining an appropriate BRST operator (as a supersymmetry plus a gauge variation), we also show that the expansion coefficients of the Seiberg–Witten effective action for the low-energy degrees of freedom can be written as integrals of total derivatives over the moduli space of self-dual gauge connections.     

Seiberg–Witten theory as a Fermi gas

We explore a new connection between Seiberg–Witten theory and quantum statistical systems by relating the dual partition function of SU(2) Super Yang–Mills theory in a self-dual \(\Omega \) background to the spectral determinant of an ideal Fermi gas. We show that the spectrum of this gas is encoded in the zeroes of the Painlevé \(\mathrm{III}_3\) \(\tau \) function. In addition, we find that the Nekrasov partition function on this background can be expressed as an O(2) matrix model. Our construction arises as a four-dimensional limit of a recently proposed conjecture relating topological strings and spectral theory. In this limit, we provide a mathematical proof of the conjecture for the local \({\mathbb P}^1 \times {\mathbb P}^1\) geometry.     

On Painlevé/gauge theory correspondence

We elucidate the relation between Painlevé equations and four-dimensional rank one \(\mathcal {N} = 2\) theories by identifying the connection associated with Painlevé isomonodromic problems with the oper limit of the flat connection of the Hitchin system associated with gauge theories and by studying the corresponding renormalization group flow. Based on this correspondence, we provide long-distance expansions at various canonical rays for all Painlevé \(\tau \)-functions in terms of magnetic and dyonic Nekrasov partition functions for \(\mathcal {N} = 2\) SQCD and Argyres–Douglas theories at self-dual Omega background \(\epsilon _1 + \epsilon _2 = 0\) or equivalently in terms of \(c=1\) irregular conformal blocks.     

Gauge Theories on ALE Space and Super Liouville Correlation Functions

We present a relation between ${\mathcal{N}=2}$ quiver gauge theories on the ALE space ${\mathcal{O}_{\mathbb{P}^1}(-2)}$ and correlators of ${\mathcal{N}=1}$ super Liouville conformal field theory, providing checks in the case of punctured spheres and tori. We derive a blow-up formula for the full Nekrasov partition function and show that, up to a U(1) factor, the ${\mathcal{N}=2^*}$ instanton partition function is given by the product of the character of ${\widehat{SU}(2)_2}$ times the super Virasoro conformal block on the torus with one puncture. Moreover, we match the perturbative gauge theory contribution with super Liouville three-point functions.