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Vincent Bouchard

Publications and source records attributed to Vincent Bouchard.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

An Anarchist Approach to the Undergraduate Mathematics Curriculum

Contemporary anarchism centers around three tenets: (1) a constant challenge of and resistance to all forms of domination, (2) so-called "prefigurative politics", in which all decisions are made in a manner that is consistent with a set of non-hierarchical values such as equality, decentralization and voluntary cooperation, (3) a focus on diversity and open-endedness (Gordon, 2008). Within this philosophy the notion of end goals becomes moot; progress, then, is measured by process, in which the values of diversity, pluralism, cooperation, autonomy and experimentation are celebrated. In this perspective piece we propose anarchism as a philosophical framework to address the perceived cognitive dissonances of the current undergraduate mathematics curriculum. Are learning outcomes appropriate in an anarchist approach to education? How can we address the power dynamics of grading and assessment? How can assessment be done in the context of a process-based and horizontal approach that celebrates diversity and autonomy? Should grades be used, and if so, how could they be assigned non-hierarchically? At its core, anarchism aims at aligning thoughts and actions, and we argue that an anarchist viewpoint on undergraduate mathematics addresses the cognitive dissonances that currently plague our curriculum. We propose food for thought for individual instructors' practice, including ideas for incremental and large-scale changes.

math.HO↗
arXiv2025

Theta classes: generalized topological recursion, integrability and $\mathcal{W}$-constraints

We study the intersection theory of the $\Theta^{r,s}$-classes, where $r \geq 2$ and $1 \le s \le r-1$, which are cohomological field theories obtained as the top degrees of Chiodo classes. We show that the recently introduced generalized topological recursion on the $(r,s)$ spectral curves computes the descendant integrals of the $\Theta^{r,s}$-classes. As a consequence, we deduce that the descendant potential of the $\Theta^{r,s}$-classes is a tau function of the $r$-KdV hierarchy, generalizing the Br\'ezin--Gross--Witten tau function (the special case $r=2$, $s=1$). We also explicitly compute the $\mathcal{W}$-constraints satisfied by the descendant potential, obtained as differential representations of the $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{gl}_r)$-algebra at self-dual level. This work extends previously known results on the Witten $r$-spin class, the $r$-spin $\Theta$-classes (the case $s=r-1$), and the Norbury $\Theta$-classes (the special case $r=2$, $s=1$).

math.AG↗
arXiv2024

Highest weight vectors, shifted topological recursion and quantum curves

We extend the theory of topological recursion by considering Airy structures whose partition functions are highest weight vectors of particular $\mathcal{W}$-algebra representations. Such highest weight vectors arise as partition functions of Airy structures only under certain conditions on the representations. In the spectral curve formulation of topological recursion, we show that this generalization amounts to adding specific terms to the correlators $ \omega_{g,1}$, which leads to a ``shifted topological recursion'' formula. We then prove that the wave-functions constructed from this shifted version of topological recursion are WKB solutions of families of quantizations of the spectral curve with $ \hbar$-dependent terms. In the reverse direction, starting from an $\hbar$-connection, we find that it is of topological type if the exact same conditions that we found for the Airy structures are satisfied. When this happens, the resulting shifted loop equations can be solved by the shifted topological recursion obtained earlier.

math-ph↗
arXiv2024

Les Houches lecture notes on topological recursion

You may have seen the words "topological recursion" mentioned in papers on matrix models, Hurwitz theory, Gromov-Witten theory, topological string theory, knot theory, topological field theory, JT gravity, cohomological field theory, free probability theory, gauge theories, to name a few. The goal of these lecture notes is certainly not to explain all these applications of the topological recursion framework. Rather, the intention is to provide a down-to-earth (and hopefully accessible) introduction to topological recursion itself, so that when you see these words mentioned, you can understand what it is all about. These lecture notes accompanied a series of lectures at the Les Houches school "Quantum Geometry (Mathematical Methods for Gravity, Gauge Theories and Non-Perturbative Physics)" in Summer 2024.

math-ph↗
arXiv2023

Taking limits in topological recursion

When does topological recursion applied to a family of spectral curves commute with taking limits? This problem is subtle, especially when the ramification structure of the spectral curve changes at the limit point. We provide sufficient (straightforward-to-use) conditions for checking when the commutation with limits holds, thereby closing a gap in the literature where this compatibility has been used several times without justification. This takes the form of a stronger result of analyticity of the topological recursion along suitable families. To tackle this question, we formalise the notion of global topological recursion and provide sufficient conditions for its equivalence with local topological recursion. The global version facilitates the study of analyticity and limits. For nondegenerate algebraic curves, we reformulate these conditions purely in terms of the structure of its underlying singularities. Finally, we apply this to study deformations of $ (r,s) $-spectral curves, spectral curves for weighted Hurwitz numbers, and provide several other examples and non-examples (where the commutation with limits fails).

math.AG↗
arXiv2023

Topological recursion on transalgebraic spectral curves and Atlantes Hurwitz numbers

Given a spectral curve with exponential singularities (which we call a "transalgebraic spectral curve"), we extend the definition of topological recursion to include contributions from the exponential singularities in a way that is compatible with limits of sequences of spectral curves. This allows us to prove the topological recursion/quantum curve correspondence for a large class of transalgebraic spectral curves. As an application, we find that Atlantes Hurwitz numbers, which were previously thought to fall outside the scope of topological recursion, satisfy (our extended version of) topological recursion, and we construct the corresponding quantum curve directly from topological recursion.

math-ph↗
arXiv2022

Airy ideals, transvections and $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{sp}_{2N})$-algebras

In the first part of the paper we propose a different viewpoint on the theory of higher Airy structures (or Airy ideals) which may shed light on its origin. We define Airy ideals in the $\hbar$-adic completion of the Rees Weyl algebra, and show that Airy ideals are defined exactly such that they are always related to the canonical left ideal generated by derivatives by automorphisms of the Rees Weyl algebra of a simple type, which we call transvections. The standard existence and uniqueness result in the theory of Airy structures then follows immediately. In the second part of the paper we construct Airy ideals generated by the non-negative modes of the strong generators of the principal $\mathcal W$-algebra of $\mathfrak{sp}_{2N}$ at level $N-1/2$, following the approach developed in arXiv:1812.08738. This provides an example of an Airy ideal in the Heisenberg algebra that requires realizing the zero modes as derivatives instead of variables, which leads to an interesting interpretation for the resulting partition function.

math-ph↗
arXiv2021

Whittaker vectors for $\mathcal{W}$-algebras from topological recursion

We identify Whittaker vectors for $\mathcal{W}_k(\mathfrak{g})$-modules with partition functions of higher Airy structures. This implies that Gaiotto vectors, describing the fundamental class in the equivariant cohomology of a suitable compactification of the moduli space of $G$-bundles over $\mathbb{P}^2$ for $G$ a complex simple Lie group, can be computed by a non-commutative version of the Chekhov-Eynard-Orantin topological recursion. We formulate the connection to higher Airy structures for Gaiotto vectors of type A, B, C, and D, and explicitly construct the topological recursion for type A (at arbitrary level) and type B (at self-dual level). On the physics side, it means that the Nekrasov partition function for pure $\mathcal{N} = 2$ four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories can be accessed by topological recursion methods.

math-ph↗
arXiv2020

A New Class of Higher Quantum Airy Structures as Modules of $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{gl}_r)$-Algebras

Quantum $r$-Airy structures can be constructed as modules of $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{gl}_r)$-algebras via restriction of twisted modules for the underlying Heisenberg algebra. In this paper we classify all such higher quantum Airy structures that arise from modules twisted by automorphisms of the Cartan subalgebra consisting of products of disjoint cycles of the same length. An interesting feature of these higher quantum Airy structures is that the dilaton shifts must be chosen carefully to satisfy a matrix invertibility condition, with a natural choice being roots of unity. We explore how these higher quantum Airy structures may provide a definition of the Chekhov, Eynard, and Orantin topological recursion for reducible algebraic spectral curves. We also study under which conditions quantum $r$-Airy structures that come from modules twisted by arbitrary automorphisms can be extended to new quantum $(r+1)$-Airy structures by appending a trivial one-cycle to the twist without changing the dilaton shifts.

math-ph↗
arXiv2020

$\mathcal{N}=1$ Super Topological Recursion

We introduce the notion of $\mathcal{N}=1$ abstract super loop equations, and provide two equivalent ways of solving them. The first approach is a recursive formalism that can be thought of as a supersymmetric generalization of the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion, based on the geometry of a local super spectral curve. The second approach is based on the framework of super Airy structures. The resulting recursive formalism can be applied to compute correlation functions for a variety of examples related to 2d supergarvity.

math-ph↗
arXiv2019

Super Quantum Airy Structures

We introduce super quantum Airy structures, which provide a supersymmetric generalization of quantum Airy structures. We prove that to a given super quantum Airy structure one can assign a unique set of free energies, which satisfy a supersymmetric generalization of the topological recursion. We reveal and discuss various properties of these supersymmetric structures, in particular their gauge transformations, classical limit, peculiar role of fermionic variables, and graphical representation of recursion relations. Furthermore, we present various examples of super quantum Airy structures, both finite-dimensional -- which include well known superalgebras and super Frobenius algebras, and whose classification scheme we also discuss -- as well as infinite-dimensional, that arise in the realm of vertex operator super algebras.

math-ph↗
arXiv2018

Higher Airy structures, W algebras and topological recursion

We define higher quantum Airy structures as generalizations of the Kontsevich-Soibelman quantum Airy structures by allowing differential operators of arbitrary order (instead of only quadratic). We construct many classes of examples of higher quantum Airy structures as modules of $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{g})$ algebras at self-dual level, with $\mathfrak{g}= \mathfrak{gl}_{N+1}$, $\mathfrak{so}_{2 N }$ or $\mathfrak{e}_N$. We discuss their enumerative geometric meaning in the context of (open and closed) intersection theory of the moduli space of curves and its variants. Some of these $\mathcal{W}$ constraints have already appeared in the literature, but we find many new ones. For $\mathfrak{gl}_{N+1}$ our result hinges on the description of previously unnoticed Lie subalgebras of the algebra of modes. As a consequence, we obtain a simple characterization of the spectral curves (with arbitrary ramification) for which the Bouchard-Eynard topological recursion gives symmetric $\omega_{g,n}$s and is thus well defined. For all such cases, we show that the topological recursion is equivalent to $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{gl})$ constraints realized as higher quantum Airy structures, and obtain a Givental-like decomposition for the corresponding partition functions.

math-ph↗
arXiv2018

Hecke Operators on Vector-Valued Modular Forms

We study Hecke operators on vector-valued modular forms for the Weil representation $\rho_L$ of a lattice $L$. We first construct Hecke operators $\mathcal{T}_r$ that map vector-valued modular forms of type $\rho_L$ into vector-valued modular forms of type $\rho_{L(r)}$, where $L(r)$ is the lattice $L$ with rescaled bilinear form $(\cdot, \cdot)_r = r (\cdot, \cdot)$, by lifting standard Hecke operators for scalar-valued modular forms using Siegel theta functions. The components of the vector-valued Hecke operators $\mathcal{T}_r$ have appeared in [Comm. Math. Phys. 350 (2017), 1069-1121] as generating functions for D4-D2-D0 bound states on K3-fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds. We study algebraic relations satisfied by the Hecke operators $\mathcal{T}_r$. In the particular case when $r=n^2$ for some positive integer $n$, we compose $\mathcal{T}_{n^2}$ with a projection operator to construct new Hecke operators $\mathcal{H}_{n^2}$ that map vector-valued modular forms of type $\rho_L$ into vector-valued modular forms of the same type. We study algebraic relations satisfied by the operators $\mathcal{H}_{n^2}$, and compare our operators with the alternative construction of Bruinier-Stein [Math. Z. 264 (2010), 249-270] and Stein [Funct. Approx. Comment. Math. 52 (2015), 229-252].

math.NT↗
arXiv2017

Reconstructing WKB from topological recursion

We prove that the topological recursion reconstructs the WKB expansion of a quantum curve for all spectral curves whose Newton polygons have no interior point (and that are smooth as affine curves). This includes nearly all previously known cases in the literature, and many more; in particular, it includes many quantum curves of order greater than two. We also explore the connection between the choice of ordering in the quantization of the spectral curve and the choice of integration divisor to reconstruct the WKB expansion.

math-ph↗
arXiv2016

Quantizing Weierstrass

We study the connection between the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion and quantum curves for the family of genus one spectral curves given by the Weierstrass equation. We construct quantizations of the spectral curve that annihilate the perturbative and non-perturbative wave-functions. In particular, for the non-perturbative wave-function, we prove, up to order hbar^5, that the quantum curve satisfies the properties expected from matrix models. As a side result, we obtain an infinite sequence of identities relating A-cycle integrals of elliptic functions and quasi-modular forms.

math-ph↗
arXiv2016

Vertical D4-D2-D0 bound states on K3 fibrations and modularity

An explicit formula is derived for the generating function of vertical D4-D2-D0 bound states on smooth K3 fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds, generalizing previous results of Gholampour and Sheshmani. It is also shown that this formula satisfies strong modularity properties, as predicted by string theory. This leads to a new construction of vector valued modular forms which exhibits some of the features of a generalized Hecke transform.

hep-th↗
arXiv2013

Think globally, compute locally

We introduce a new formulation of the so-called topological recursion, that is defined globally on a compact Riemann surface. We prove that it is equivalent to the generalized recursion for spectral curves with arbitrary ramification. Using this global formulation, we also prove that the correlation functions constructed from the recursion for curves with arbitrary ramification can be obtained as suitable limits of correlation functions for curves with only simple ramification. It then follows that they both satisfy the properties that were originally proved only for curves with simple ramification.

math-ph↗