A simple recurrence for covers of the sphere with branch points of arbitrary ramification

Pruned double Hurwitz numbers

Hurwitz numbers count ramified genus $g$, degree $d$ coverings of the projective line with with fixed branch locus and fixed ramification data. Double Hurwitz numbers count such covers, where we fix two special profiles over $0$ and $\infty$ and only simple ramification else. These objects feature insteresting structural behaviour and connections to geometry. In this paper, we introduce the notion of pruned double Hurwitz numbers, generalizing the notion of pruned simple Hurwitz numbers in \cite{DN13}. We show that pruned double Hurwitz numbers, similar to usual double Hurwitz numbers, satisfy…

关于 Hurwitz 数与广义 dessin 计数的 ℕ 系数二项式多项式性

On $\mathbb N$-Coefficient Binomial Polynomiality of Hurwitz Numbers and Generalized Dessin Counting

本文研究含一个任意分歧类型分支点的 Hurwitz 数，证明其对分歧部分的依赖为多项式，且二项式展开系数均为非负整数，并推广至多种 Hurwitz 数与广义 dessin 计数模型。

A proof of a conjecture for the number of ramified coverings of the sphere by the torus

An explicit expression is obtained for the generating series for the number of ramified coverings of the sphere by the torus, with elementary branch points and prescribed ramification type over infinity. This proves a conjecture of Goulden, Jackson and Vainshtein for the explicit number of such coverings.

Signed counts of real simple rational functions

We study the problem of counting real simple rational functions $φ$ with prescribed ramification data (i.e. a particular class of oriented real Hurwitz numbers of genus $0$). We introduce a signed count of such functions that is invariant under change of the branch locus, thus providing a lower bound for the actual count (which does depend on such change). We prove (non-)vanishing theorems for these signed counts and study their asymptotic growth when adding further simple branch points. The approach is based on the works of Itenberg and Zvonkine (arXiv:1609.05219) which treat the polynomial c…

Hurwitz numbers for real polynomials

We consider the problem of defining and computing real analogs of polynomial Hurwitz numbers, in other words, the problem of counting properly normalized real polynomials with fixed ramification profiles over real branch points. We show that, provided the polynomials are counted with an appropriate sign, their number does not depend on the order of the branch points on the real line. We study generating series for the invariants thus obtained, determine necessary and sufficient conditions for the vanishing and nonvanishing of these generating series, and obtain a logarithmic asymptotic for the…

The KP hierarchy, branched covers, and triangulations

The KP hierarchy is a completely integrable system of quadratic, partial differential equations that generalizes the KdV hierarchy. A linear combination of Schur functions is a solution to the KP hierarchy if and only if its coefficients satisfy the Plucker relations from geometry. We give a solution to the Plucker relations involving products of variables marking contents for a partition, and thus give a new proof of a content product solution to the KP hierarchy, previously given by Orlov and Shcherbin. In our main result, we specialize this content product solution to prove that the generat…

Enumeration of Grothendieck's dessins and KP hierarchy

Branched covers of the complex projective line ramified over $0,1$ and $\infty$ (Grothendieck's {\em dessins d'enfant}) of fixed genus and degree are effectively enumerated. More precisely, branched covers of a given ramification profile over $\infty$ and given numbers of preimages of $0$ and $1$ are considered. The generating function for the numbers of such covers is shown to satisfy a PDE that determines it uniquely modulo a simple initial condition. Moreover, this generating function satisfies an infinite system of PDE's called the KP (Kadomtsev-Petviashvili) hierarchy. A specification of …

Monotone Hurwitz numbers in genus zero

Hurwitz numbers count branched covers of the Riemann sphere with specified ramification data, or equivalently, transitive permutation factorizations in the symmetric group with specified cycle types. Monotone Hurwitz numbers count a restricted subset of the branched covers counted by the Hurwitz numbers, and have arisen in recent work on the the asymptotic expansion of the Harish-Chandra-Itzykson-Zuber integral. In this paper we begin a detailed study of monotone Hurwitz numbers. We prove two results that are reminiscent of those for classical Hurwitz numbers. The first is the monotone join-cu…

Covers of Elliptic Curves and the Lower Bound for Slopes of Effective Divisors on $\bar{\mathcal M}_{g}$

Consider genus $g$ curves that admit degree $d$ covers to elliptic curves only branched at one point with a fixed ramification type. The locus of such covers forms a one parameter family $Y$ that naturally maps into the moduli space of stable genus $g$ curves $\bar{\mathcal M}_{g}$. We study the geometry of $Y$, and produce a combinatorial method by which to investigate its slope, irreducible components, genus and orbifold points. As a by-product of our approach, we find some equalities from classical number theory. Moreover, a correspondence between our method and the viewpoint of square-tile…

Generating functions for weighted Hurwitz numbers

Double Hurwitz numbers enumerating weighted $n$-sheeted branched coverings of the Riemann sphere or, equivalently, weighted paths in the Cayley graph of $S_n$ generated by transpositions are determined by an associated weight generating function. A uniquely determined $1$-parameter family of 2D Toda $τ$-functions of hypergeometric type is shown to consist of generating functions for such weighted Hurwitz numbers. Four classical cases are detailed, in which the weighting is uniform: Okounkov's double Hurwitz numbers, for which the ramification is simple at all but two specified branch points; t…

The matrix model for hypergeometric Hurwitz numbers

We present the multi-matrix models that are the generating functions for branched covers of the complex projective line ramified over $n$ fixed points $z_i$, $i=1,\dots,n$, (generalized Grotendieck's dessins d'enfants) of fixed genus, degree, and the ramification profiles at two points, $z_1$ and $z_n$. We take a sum over all possible ramifications at other $n-2$ points with the fixed length of the profile at $z_2$ and with the fixed total length of profiles at the remaining $n-3$ points. All these models belong to a class of hypergeometric Hurwitz models thus being tau functions of the Kadomt…

The matrix model for dessins d'enfants

We present the matrix models that are the generating functions for branched covers of the complex projective line ramified over $0$, $1$, and $\infty$ (Grotendieck's dessins d'enfants) of fixed genus, degree, and the ramification profile at infinity. For general ramifications at other points, the model is the two-logarithm matrix model with the external field studied previously by one of the authors (L.Ch.) and K.Palamarchuk. It lies in the class of the generalised Kontsevich models (GKM) thus being the Kadomtsev--Petviashvili (KP) hierarchy $τ$-function and, upon the shift of times, this mode…