Spectral curves and the Schrödinger equations for the Eynard-Orantin recursion (Q294006)

It is predicted that the principal specialization of the partition function of a B-model topological string theory, that is mirror dual to an A-model enumerative geometry problem, satisfies a Schrödinger equation, and that the characteristic variety of the Schrödinger operator gives the spectral curve of the B-model theory, when an algebraic K-theory obstruction vanishes. In this paper the authors present two concrete mathematical A-model examples whose mirror dual partners exhibit these predicted features on the B-model side. The A-model examples they discuss are the generalized Catalan numbers of an arbitrary genus and the single Hurwitz numbers. In each case, they show that the Laplace transform of the counting functions satisfies the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion, that the B-model partition function satisfies the KP equations, and that the principal specialization of the partition function satisfies a Schrödinger equation whose total symbol is exactly the Lagrangian immersion of the spectral curve of the Eynard-Orantin theory. The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, the authors give the definition of the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion. They emphasize the aspect of Lagrangian immersion in their presentation. In Section 3, they review the generalized Catalan numbers of [\textit{O. Dumitrescu} et al., Contemp. Math. 593, 263--315 (2013; Zbl 1293.14007)]. Then in Section 4, they derive the Schrödinger equation for the Catalan partition function. The equation for the Hurwitz partition function is given in Section 5. In Section 6, concerning the Schur function expansion of the Hurwitz partition function, the authors give the proof of a differential-difference equation (or a delay differential equation). They use the Schur function expansion of the Hurwitz generating function and its principal specialization.