Tau functions for the Dirac operator in the Euclidean plane (Q689743)

In this paper, the \(\tau\)-functions introduced by M. Sato, M. Miwa, and T. Jimbo in their study of monodromy preserving deformations of the Dirac equation are rigorously identified as determinants of singular Dirac operators. The singular Dirac operators have branched functions in their domains that reflect the monodromy in the deformation theory. The principal result is a new formula for the \(\tau\)-function, obtained by trivializing a suitable determinant bundle, that can be simply related to the deformation theory and which may also be computed in the transfer matrix formalism. These two different ways of understanding the \(\tau\)- function provide the link between the deformation theory and the quantum field theory significance of \(\tau\)-function as a correlation function. This connection is the central result of the Sato-Miwa-Jimbo theory of Holonomic Fields.