Modular ordinary differential equations on \(\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})\) of third order and applications (Q2078970)

In this article, the authors are interested in a Fuchsian ordinary differential equation of third order \[y'''+Q_2(z)y'+Q_3(z)y=0,\quad z\in\mathbb H=\{z\in\mathbb C|\text{Im} z>0\},\tag{1} \] where \(Q_2(z)\) and \(Q_3(z)-\dfrac{1}{2}Q_2'(z)\) are two meromorphic modular forms on \(\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\) of weight \(4\) and \(6\) respectively. Such an equation, refered as a modular ordinary differential equation (in short, a MODE), and its generalizations of higher order appear prominently in the study of rational conformal field theories since they provide a practical tool for their classification. Their study is also interesting from the point of view of the theory of modular forms since a MODE is an object of this theory. In a first result, the authors prove that the MODE (1) can be derived from quasimodular forms of depth \(2\). Reciprocally, introducing the so-called Bol representation \(\hat{\rho}:\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)\longrightarrow \mathrm{SL}_3(\mathbb C)\) of the MODE (1), they give a necessary and sufficient condition for the irreducibility (resp. reducibility) of \(\hat{\rho}\). In particular, they show that the irreducibility yields the quasimodularity of some solution of this MODE, while the reducibility yields the modularity of all solutions and leads to solutions of certain \(\mathrm{SU}(3)\) Toda systems.