A square root of Hurwitz numbers (Q2309420)

The author compares the generating functions of Hurwitz numbers and spin Hurwitz numbers. The Hurwitz generating function can be written via Schur functions and the spin Hurwitz generating function via Schur Q-functions that are tau functions of the BKP hierarchy. More precisely the aim of the paper is to exhibit a generating function of spin Hurwitz numbers analogous to (disconnected) double Hurwitz numbers that is a tau function of the two-component BKP (2-BKP) hierarchy and is a square root of a tau function of the two-component KP (2-KP) hierarchy defined by related Hurwitz numbers. This paper is organized as follows: The first section is an introduction to the subject. Section 2 deals with symmetric functions. With transition matrices between linear bases of algebras, the author expresses the Hurwitz generating function via Schur functions and shifted symmetric power sums, whereas he expresses the spin Hurwitz generating function via Schur Q-functions and odd power-sum symmetric functions. Section 3 deals with the fermion operator formalism which is a handy tool for handling various generating functions. In this section the famous Boson-Fermion correspondence converts some expressions to vacuum expectations of corresponding operators. In section 4 the author uses the vacuum expectations to prove the main result. The proof is based on the reduction of the KP hierarchy to the BKP hierarchy. Both hierarchies are formulated by a single tau function such that the square of the BKP tau function is a KP tau function. Finally a discussion on a conjectural spin curve is presented in section 5.