A_{n-1} singularities and nKdV hierarchies

According to a conjecture of E. Witten proved by M. Kontsevich, a certain generating function for intersection indices on the Deligne -- Mumford moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces coincides with a certain tau-function of the KdV hierarchy. The generating function is naturally generalized under the name the {\em total descendent potential} in the theory of Gromov -- Witten invariants of symplectic manifolds. The papers arXiv: math.AG/0108100 and arXive: math.DG/0108160 contain two equivalent constructions, motivated by some results in Gromov -- Witten theory, which associate a total descendent potential to any semisimple Frobenius structure. In this paper, we prove that in the case of K.Saito's Frobenius structure on the miniversal deformation of the $A_{n-1}$-singularity, the total descendent potential is a tau-function of the $n$KdV hierarchy. We derive this result from a more general construction for solutions of the $n$KdV hierarchy from $n-1$ solutions of the KdV hierarchy.Comment: 29 pages, to appear in Moscow Mathematical Journa

Explicit reconstruction in quantum cohomology and K-theory

Cohomological genus-0 Gromov-Witten invariants of a given target space can be encoded by the "descendant potential," a generating function defined on the space of power series in one variable with coefficients in the cohomology space of the target. Replacing the coefficient space with the subspace multiplicatively generated by degree-2 classes, we explicitly reconstruct the graph of the differential of the restricted generating function from one point on it. Using the Quantum Hirzebruch--Riemann--Roch Theorem from our joint work with Valentin Tonita, we derive a similar reconstruction formula in genus-0 quantum K-theory. The results amplify the role of the divisor equations, and the structures of $D$-modules and $D_q$-modules in quantum cohomology and quantum K-theory with respect to Novikov's variables.Comment: 13 page