Painlevé III: a case study in the geometry of meromorphic connections (Q2399900)

The book deals with the Painlevé III equation of type \(P_{III}(D_6)\) and its relation to isomonodromic families of vector bundles on \(\mathbb{P}^1\) with meromorphic connections. The monograph explains geometric objects underlying Painlevé equations and offers new results on \(P_{III}(0,0,4,-4)\), a particular case of \(P_{III}(D_6)\), equivalent to the radial sine or sinh Gordon equation. Chapter 1 is devoted to fundamental notions such as the Painlevé property (the only movable singularities of an ordinary differential equation to be poles), to the definition of the spaces of initial and monodromy data of \(P_{III}\), the real solutions of \(P_{III}(0,0,4,-4)\) on \(\mathbb{R}_{>0}\), Hodge structures etc. The chapter finishes with open problems. Most of the remaining 17 chapters focus on specific problems connected with \(P_{III}(0,0,4,-4)\). (Chapter 9 recalls some generalities concerning Painlevé equations). The aim of the book is to discuss in all technical details the concrete example of this equation (which appears widely in geometry and physics) in the language of vector bundles with meromorphic connections, eventually with symmetries, of isomonodromic deformations and variations of Hodge structures. When necessary the authors explain the symmetries and behaviour of the multi-valued solutions on \(\mathbb{C}^*\) by figures. They give a new global picture of all zeros and poles of all real solutions of \(P_{III}(0,0,4,-4)\) on \(\mathbb{R}_{>0}\).