Open topological strings and integrable hierarchies: remodeling the A-model (Q443859)

Topological strings on Calabi-Yau threefolds contain non-trivial information about the topological phases of type II string compactifications and determine the low energy Wilsonian action of \(N=2\) supergravity. The topological A-model computes Gromov-Witten invariants which ``count'' holomorphic curves, while the B-model is associated with the theory of (quantum) variations of Hodge structures. The two models are dual to each other when defined on mirror Calabi-Yaus. The properties and structures associated with the two models, play an important role in the study of mathematical aspects of string theory and quantum field theory, as well as in algebraic geometry and the theory of integrable systems. In this article the author considers toric Calabi-Yau threefolds with Lagrangian D-branes. The result is a novel formalism to compute the global solution of the open and closed A-model. In this context already two formalism exists: the topological vertex of Aganagic-Klemm-Marino-Vafa and its connection with integrable hierarchies, and the ``remodeling the B-model'' proposal of Bouchard-Klemm-Marino-Pasquetti. Both formalisms rely on string dualities, and the purpose of the paper is to offer a solution based on a direct A-model instanton analysis, using localization and integrable hierarchies. The paper is well written and most of the necessary ingredients are clearly reviewed in Section 2. The formalism is presented in Section 3, where the author explains in detail and abstractly all the steps needed. The new formalism is essentially based on the computation of the disc amplitude, which specifies the form of the brane insertion, and on the connection between the closed string amplitudes and integrable hierarchies. Once the (equivariant) closed string side is known, the open string side can be computed by acting on it with an appropriate differential operator, which depends on the disc amplitude. The paper contains several examples where the formalism is applied in details. The computations are rather technical but laid down clearly and can be followed explicitly. Furthermore the examples give strong checks of the formalism, recovering non-trivial results (such as the quasi-modular properties of framed open string amplitudes on local \(\mathbb{P}^2\)). The formalism can also be used to recover the mirror geometry by a direct instanton resummation, which is quite remarkable.