Changes of variables in ELSV-type formulas

In [5] I.P. Goulden, D.M. Jackson, and R. Vakil formulated a conjecture relating certain Hurwitz numbers (enumerating ramified coverings of the sphere) to the intersection theory on a conjectural Picard variety. We are going to use their formula to study the intersection theory on this variety (if it is ever to be constructed) by methods close to those of M. Kazarian and S. Lando in [7]. In particular, we prove a Witten-Kontsevich-type theorem relating the intersection theory and integrable hierarchies. We also extend the results of [7] to include the Hodge integrals over the moduli spaces, involving one lambda-class.Comment: 25 pages. Final versio

Deformations of semisimple Poisson pencils of hydrodynamic type are unobstructed

We prove that the bihamiltonian cohomology of a semisimple pencil of Poisson brackets of hydrodynamic type vanishes for almost all degrees. This implies the existence of a full dispersive deformation of a semisimple bihamiltonian structure of hydrodynamic type starting from any infinitesimal deformation.Comment: 22 pages. v2: corrected typos. v3: small improvements of the presentation. v4: typos, small improvements in the introduction and the presentatio

The spectral curve and the Schroedinger equation of double Hurwitz numbers and higher spin structures

We derive the spectral curves for $q$-part double Hurwitz numbers, $r$-spin simple Hurwitz numbers, and arbitrary combinations of these cases, from the analysis of the unstable (0,1)-geometry. We quantize this family of spectral curves and obtain the Schroedinger equations for the partition function of the corresponding Hurwitz problems. We thus confirm the conjecture for the existence of quantum curves in these generalized Hurwitz number cases.Comment: 15 pages, journal publication versio

Tautological relations and the r-spin Witten conjecture

In a series of two preprints, Y.-P. Lee studied relations satisfied by all formal Gromov-Witten potentials, as defined by A. Givental. He called them "universal relations" and studied their connection with tautological relations in the cohomology ring of moduli spaces of stable curves. Building on Y.-P. Lee's work, we give a simple proof of the fact that every tautological relation gives rise to a universal relation (which was also proved by Y.-P. Lee modulo certain results announced by C. Teleman). In particular, this implies that in any semi-simple Gromov-Witten theory where arbitrary correlators can be expressed in genus 0 correlators using only tautological relations, the formal and the geometric Gromov-Witten potentials coincide. As the most important application, we show that our results suffice to deduce the statement of a 1991 Witten conjecture on r-spin structures from the results obtained by Givental for the corresponding formal Gromov-Witten potential. The conjecture in question states that certain intersection numbers on the moduli space of r-spin structures can be arranged into a power series that satisfies the r-KdV (or r-th higher Gelfand-Dikii) hierarchy of partial differential equations.Comment: 46 pages, 7 figures, A discussion of the analyticity of Gromov-Witten potentials and a more careful description of Givental's group action added in Section 5; minor changes elsewher

Pre-Lie deformation theory

In this paper, we develop the deformation theory controlled by pre-Lie algebras; the main tool is a new integration theory for pre-Lie algebras. The main field of application lies in homotopy algebra structures over a Koszul operad; in this case, we provide a homotopical description of the associated Deligne groupoid. This permits us to give a conceptual proof, with complete formulae, of the Homotopy Transfer Theorem by means of gauge action. We provide a clear explanation of this latter ubiquitous result: there are two gauge elements whose action on the original structure restrict its inputs and respectively its output to the homotopy equivalent space. This implies that a homotopy algebra structure transfers uniformly to a trivial structure on its underlying homology if and only if it is gauge trivial; this is the ultimate generalization of the $dd^c$-lemma.Comment: Final version. Minor corrections. To appear in the Moscow Mathematical Journa

Topological recursion for monotone orbifold Hurwitz numbers: a proof of the Do-Karev conjecture

We prove the conjecture of Do and Karev that the monotone orbifold Hurwitz numbers satisfy the Chekhov-Eynard-Orantin topological recursion.Comment: 11 pages. V2: Updated grant acknowledgments of A.P. and mail address of R.

Bihamiltonian cohomology of KdV brackets

Using spectral sequences techniques we compute the bihamiltonian cohomology groups of the pencil of Poisson brackets of dispersionless KdV hierarchy. In particular this proves a conjecture of Liu and Zhang about the vanishing of such cohomology groups.Comment: 16 pages. v2: corrected typos, in particular formulas (28), (78

De Rham cohomology and homotopy Frobenius manifolds

We endow the de Rham cohomology of any Poisson or Jacobi manifold with a natural homotopy Frobenius manifold structure. This result relies on a minimal model theorem for multicomplexes and a new kind of a Hodge degeneration condition.Comment: 11 pages, v2: added some reference