Generalized Brézin-Gross-Witten tau-function as a hypergeometric solution of the BKP hierarchy (Q2111218)

The aim of this paper is to prove that the generalized Brézin-Gross-Witten (BGW) tau-function is a hypergeometric solution of the B-type Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (BKP) hierarchy (one of the two sub-hierarchies of of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili hierarchy) with simple weight generating function. The author claims that it describes a spin version of the strictly monotone Hurwitz numbers. A family of the hypergeometric tau-functions of the BKP hierarchy, corresponding to the rational weight generating functions, is investigated. In particular, the cut-and-join operators are constructed, and the explicit description of the BKP Sato Grassmannian points is derived. Representatives of this family can be associated with interesting families of spin Hurwitz numbers including a spin version of the monotone Hurwitz numbers. The author points out that after few days the current paper was posted on the arXiv, a new paper [\textit{X. Liu} and \textit{C. Yang}, Adv. Math. 404, Part B, Article ID 108456, 28 p. (2022; Zbl 07537719)] appeared where the authors prove a conjecture of Alexandrov that the generalized Brezin-Gross-Witten tau-functions are hypergeometric tau functions of BKP hierarchy after re-scaling. In particular, this shows that the original BGW tau-function, which has enumerative geometric interpretations, can be represented as a linear combination of Schur Q-polynomials with simple coefficients. The current paper is organized as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to the subject and statement of results. In Section 2 the author remembers the basics of the neutral fermion formalism and describes associated vertex operators and boson-fermion correspondence in the framework of the BKP hierarchy. The basic sources of this theory are [\textit{E. Date} et al., Proc. Japan Acad., Ser. A 57, 387--392 (1981; Zbl 0538.35066); Physica D 4, No. 3, 343--365 (1982; Zbl 0571.35100); \textit{J. van de Leur}, J. Math. Phys. 36, No. 9, 4940--4951 (1995; Zbl 0844.35109); \textit{A. Yu. Orlov}, Theor. Math. Phys. 137, No. 2, 1574--1589 (2003; Zbl 1178.33015); translation from Teor. Mat. Fiz. 137, No. 2, 253--270 (2003)]. Section 3 is devoted to the \(w^B_{1+8}\) algebra and its central extension, \(W^B_{1+8}\). In particular, the author explicitly describes the convenient bases for these algebras. Content of this section is closely related to the results of \textit{J. van de Leur} [J. Math. Phys. 36, No. 9, 4940--4951 (1995; Zbl 0844.35109)]. In Section 4, the author briefly summarizes some properties of the Sato Grassmannian. He describes the space of solutions of the KP hierarchy [\textit{M. Sato} and \textit{Y. Sato}, in: Nonlinear partial differential equations in applied science, Proc. U.S. - Jap. Semin., Tokyo 1982, North-Holland Math. Stud. 81, 259--271 (1983; Zbl 0528.58020)] and its BKP version. He also describes the action of the \(w^B_{1+8}\) algebra on the BKP Sato Grassmannian and clarifies the difference between the points of the KP and BKP Sato Grassmannians for the solutions of the KdV hierarchy. Section 5 deals with generalized BGW model. The author describes the diagonal group element, associated with the generalized BGW tau-function and proves that this tau-function is a hypergeometric solution of the BKP hierarchy. Section 6 is devoted to higher models where the generalization of this tau-function to the family with rational weight generating functions is investigated. The author discusses a family of hypergeometric tau-functions for the \(2\)-component BKP hierarchy. This family includes the model, considered in the previous section, and can serve as a deep generalization of this model.