Interplay between opers, quantum curves, WKB analysis, and Higgs bundles (Q2023811)

Let \(C\) be a smooth projective algebraic curve over \(\mathbb{C}\) with a choice of a theta characteristic \(K_{C}^{\frac{1}{2}}\). Let also \(\eta\) denote the tautological section of the pullback \(\pi^{*}K_{C}\) on \(T^{*}C\). For an \(\text{SL}(n, \mathbb{C})\)-Higgs bundle over \(C\) with a holomorphic Higgs field \(\Phi\), \textit{N. Hitchin} introduced [Duke Math. J. 54, 91--114 (1987; Zbl 0627.14024)] a smooth curve \(\Sigma \subset T^{*}C\) given by the equation \(\text{det}(\eta\text{Id} - \pi^{*}\Phi) = 0\); such curves are today called \textit{Hitchin spectral curves} and have been considered also for meromorphic Higgs fields, as well as in much broader contexts with a non-exhaustive list of applications. In the setting of Hitchin spectral curves, the authors of the article under review provide in Section 2 a geometric framework for \textit{quantum curves}, which have first appeared in the physics literature. In particular, a quantum curve associated with the spectral curve \(\Sigma \subset T^{*}C\) of a holomorphic Higgs bundle over \(C\) is defined as a Rees \(\tilde{\mathcal{D}}_{C}\)-module whose semi-classical limit is the curve \(\Sigma\); here \(\tilde{\mathcal{D}}_{C}\) denotes the Rees ring of the sheaf of differential operators on an open subset of \(C\). The authors extend their framework for meromorphic Higgs bundles too, as many important classical examples of differential equations are naturally defined over \(\mathbb{P}^{1}\) with regular and irregular singularities; the definition of quantum curves in this case involves the meromorphic extension of a Rees \(\tilde{\mathcal{D}}_{C}\)-module on \(C \setminus \text{supp}(D)\), where \(D\) is a fixed effective divisor on \(C\). A deformation parameter that appears in the definition of Rees \(\mathcal{D}\)-modules is the \textit{Planck constant} \(\hbar\), which is a purely formal parameter for the asymptotic expansion in WKB analysis. However, the quantum curves constructed via quantization of Hitchin spectral curves are depending \textit{holomorphically} on \(\hbar\). In Section 3, the authors view this parameter from a rather geometric viewpoint, that is, as an element \(\hbar \in H^{1}(C, K_{C}) = \text{Ext}^{1}(K_{C}^{-\frac{1}{2}}, K_{C}^{\frac{1}{2}}) \cong \mathbb{C}\) and use the concept of \textit{opers}, as introduced by \textit{A. Beilinson} and \textit{V. Drinfeld} [``Opers'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:math/0501398}], in order to explain this holomorphic dependence. The main theorem of the article involves an explicit construction of an \(\hbar\)-family of \(\text{SL}(n, \mathbb{C})\)-opers over \(C\) and a unique quantization of the Hitchin spectral curve for a holomorphic or a meromorphic \(\text{SL}(n, \mathbb{C})\)-Higgs bundle. The Rees \(\mathcal{D}\)-module as the quantization result recovers the initial Hitchin spectral curve via the semi-classical limit. This biholomorphic quantization is also \(\mathbb{C}^{*}\)-equivariant and quite non-trivial; generalizations of this result for more general semisimple Lie groups can be also obtained using the method described in the paper. From yet another point of view, \textit{D. Gaiotto} [``Opers and TBA'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1403.6137}] conjectured that such a biholomorphic map would be canonically constructed through a scaling limit of connections built via the non-abelian Hodge correspondence. For a choice of a projective structure of \(C\) of genus \(g \ge 2\) coming from the Fuchsian uniformization, this conjecture has been verified [J. Differ. Geom. 117, No. 2, 223--253 (2021; Zbl 1458.53035)] and the limit oper of the latter article is, in fact, a connection in the \(\hbar\)-filtered extension appearing in the construction of the 1-parameter family of the authors. Thus, unlike the non-abelian Hodge correspondence, this point-by-point correspondence is biholomorphic. In the sequel of the article, the authors deal with the problem of understanding the relation between the quantization mechanism described above and the one via topological recursion. In their preceding work [Lett. Math. Phys. 104, No. 6, 635--671 (2014; Zbl 1296.14026)], the authors have implemented PDE recursions of topological type that capture the local nature of the functions involved leading to an all-order WKB analysis of quantum curves for \(\text{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})\)-Higgs bundles. It is shown here that quantization of Hitchin spectral curves through this PDE recursion of topological type and the one via the construction of an \(\hbar\)-family of opers are equivalent for the case of holomorphic or meromorphic \(\text{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})\)-Higgs bundles. Simple examples of \(\text{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})\)-meromorphic Higgs bundles over \(C=\mathbb{P}^{1}\) for the Airy function are included to further illustrate the interplay between the various notions involved in this article.