From Fuchsian differential equations to integrable QFT

We establish an intriguing correspondence between a special set of classical solutions of the modified sinh-Gordon equation (i.e., Hitchin's "self-duality" equations) on a punctured Riemann sphere and a set of stationary states in the finite-volume Hilbert space of the integrable 2D QFT introduced by V.A. Fateev. Potential applications of this correspondence to the problem of non-perturbative quantization of classically integrable non-linear sigma models are briefly discussed. A detailed account of the results announced in this letter is contained in a separate publication arXiv:1310.4390.