Enumerative geometry, tau-functions and Heisenberg-Virasoro algebra (Q2354353)

It is a beautiful piece of modern mathematics and physics that generating functions for certain enumerative geometrical problems should be related, via matrix integrals, to the tau-functions of integrable systems. In this very nice paper, the author considers 3 generating functions: (1) \(\tau_{\mathrm{Hodge}}\), that of the linear Hodge integrals which encodes the intersection theory on the (compactified) moduli space of genus \(p\) Riemann surfaces with \(p\) marked points; (2) \(\tau_KW\), the Kontsevich-Witten tau-function for the KdV hierarchy; (3) that of Hurwitz numbers which counts the number of \(N\)-sheeted coverings of Riemann surfaces over \(\mathbb{P}^1\) with prescribed ramification structure. While it is known that (2) is (1) at a particular (\(u=0\) value) [\textit{M. Kontsevich}, Commun. Math. Phys. 147, No. 1, 1--23 (1992; Zbl 0756.35081); \textit{E. Witten}, in: Surveys in differential geometry. Vol. I: Proceedings of the conference on geometry and topology, held at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, April 27-29, 1990. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society; Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University. 243--310 (1991; Zbl 0757.53049)] and (3) is an explicit formula in terms of (1) [\textit{T. Ekedahl} et al., Invent. Math. 146, No. 2, 297--327 (2001; Zbl 1073.14041)], the author proves a new relation, that \[ \tau_{KW}(t^0) = C(u) \hat{G}_+ \;\tau_{\mathrm{Hodge}}(t, u), \] where the operator \(\hat{G}_+\) is an explicit operator in the Virasoro algebra and is inherited entirely from the group of symmetries of the KP hierarchy and \(C(u)\) is an analytic function which is \textit{conjectured} (and verified to \(\mathcal{O}(u^{30})\)) to be exactly 1. Moreover, while the constraints for (2) are known, that of (1) and (3) have been obtained here for the first time. It should also be mentioned that Sec 1 contains a nice review of various pieces of the correspondence.