Related papers: Quantum curves and $q$-deformed Painlev\'e equatio…
In arXiv:hep-th/0310113 we started a program of creating a reference-book on matrix-model tau-functions, the new generation of special functions, which are going to play an important role in string theory calculations. The main focus of…
We consider branes in refined topological strings. We argue that their wave-functions satisfy a Schr\"odinger equation depending on multiple times and prove this in the case where the topological string has a dual matrix model description.…
We establish the precise relation between the Nekrasov-Shatashvili (NS) quantization scheme and Grassi-Hatsuda-Marino conjecture for the mirror curve of arbitrary toric Calabi-Yau threefold. For a mirror curve of genus $g$, the NS…
This thesis presents several new insights on the interface between mathematics and theoretical physics, with a central role for fermions on Riemann surfaces. First of all, the duality between Vafa-Witten theory and WZW models is embedded…
We analyze the moduli spaces of Calabi-Yau threefolds and their associated conformally invariant nonlinear sigma-models and show that they are described by an unexpectedly rich geometrical structure. Specifically, the Kahler sector of the…
We use mirror symmetry to establish the first concrete arena of spacetime topology change in string theory. In particular, we establish that the {\it quantum theories} based on certain nonlinear sigma models with topologically distinct…
From the work of Lian, Liu, and Yau on "Mirror Principle", in the explicit computation of the Euler data $Q=\{Q_0, Q_1, ... \}$ for an equivariant concavex bundle ${\cal E}$ over a toric manifold, there are two places the structure of the…
Genus one amplitude for topological strings on Calabi-Yau 3-folds can be computed using mirror symmetry: The partition function at genus one gets mapped to a holomorphic version of Ray-Singer torsion on the mirror Calabi-Yau. On the other…
We find an interpretation of the recent connection found between topological strings on Calabi-Yau threefolds and crystal melting: Summing over statistical mechanical configuration of melting crystal is equivalent to a quantum gravitational…
The universal character is a polynomial attached to a pair of partitions and is a generalization of the Schur polynomial. In this paper, we introduce an integrable system of q-difference lattice equations satisfied by the universal…
We prove that for any autonomous 4-dimensional integral system of Painlev\'e type, the Jacobian of the generic spectral curve has a unique polarization, and thus by Torelli's theorem cannot be isomorphic as an unpolarized abelian surface to…
These are notes of a series of lectures on mirror symmetry and topological string theory given at the Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University. The N=2 superconformal algebra, its deformations and its chiral ring are reviewed. A…
We study the relations between two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the torus, topological string theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold whose local geometry is the sum of two line bundles over the torus, and Chern-Simons theory on torus bundles.…
The tau-function formalism for a class of generalized ``zero-curvature'' integrable hierarchies of partial differential equations, is constructed. The class includes the Drinfel'd-Sokolov hierarchies. A direct relation between the variables…
We present some mathematical aspects of Landau-Ginzburg string vacua in terms of toric geometry. The one-to-one correspondence between toric divisors and some of (-1,1) states in Landau-Ginzburg model is presented for superpotentials of…
We describe the tropical curves in toric varieties and define the tropical Gromov-Witten invariants. We introduce amplitudes for the higher topological quantum mechanics (HTQM) on special trees and show that the amplitudes are equal to the…
We conjecture that appropriate K-theoretic Gromov-Witten invariants of complex flag manifolds G/B are governed by finite-difference versions of Toda systems constructed in terms of the Langlands-dual quantized universal enveloping algebras…
I review the appearance of classical integrable systems as an effective tool for the description of non-perturbative exact results in quantum string and gauge theories. Various aspects of this relation: spectral curves, action-angle…
The Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit of the refined topological string on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds and the resulting quantum geometry is studied from a non-perturbative perspective. The quantum differential and thus the quantum periods exhibit…
We introduce the notion of stringy E-function for an arbitrary normal irreducible algebraic variety X with at worst log-terminal singularities. We prove some basic properties of stringy E-functions and compute them explicitly for arbitrary…