We derive a closed-form expression for all genus 1 Hurwitz numbers, and give a simple new graph-theoretic interpretation of Hurwitz numbers in genus 0 and 1. (Hurwitz numbers essentially count irreducible genus g covers of the sphere, with arbitrary specified branching over one point, simple branching over other specified points, and no other branching. The problem is equivalent to counting transitive factorisations of permutations into transpositions.) These results prove a conjecture of Goulden and Jackson, and extend results of Hurwitz and many others.
We present the generating function for the numbers of isomorphism classes of coverings of the two-dimensional sphere by the genus $g$ compact oriented surface not ramified outside of a given set of $m+1$ points in the target, fixed ramification type over one point, and arbitrary ramification types over the remaining $m$ points. We present the genus expansion of this generating function and prove, that the generating function of coverings of genus $0$ satisfies some system of differential equations. We show that this generating function is a specialization of the function from paper \cite{GJ} a…
An explicit expression is obtained for the generating series for the number of ramified coverings of the sphere by the double torus, with elementary branch points and prescribed ramification type over infinity. Thus we are able to prove a conjecture of Graber and Pandharipande, giving a linear recurrence equation for the number of these coverings with no ramification over infinity. The general form of the series is conjectured for the number of these coverings by a surface of arbitrary genus that is at least two.
We present a higher genus generalization of $bc$-Motzkin numbers, which are themselves a generalization of Catalan numbers, and we derive a recursive formula which can be used to calculate them. Further, we show that this leads to a topological recursion which is identical to the topological recursion that had previously been proved by Dumitrescu and Mulase for generalized Catalan numbers, and which is an example of the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion.
In this paper, we study genus $0$ equivariant relative Gromov-Witten invariants of $\mathbb{P}^1$ whose corresponding relative stable maps are totally ramified over one point. For fixed number of marked points, we show that such invariants are piecewise polynomials in some parameter space. The parameter space can then be divided into polynomial domains, called chambers. We determine the difference of polynomials between two neighboring chambers. In some special chamber, which we called the totally negative chamber, we show that such a polynomial can be expressed in a simple way. The chamber st…
Hurwitz numbers, which count certain covers of the projective line (or, equivalently, factorizations of permuations into transpositions), have been extensively studied for over a century. The Gromov-Witten potential F of a point, the generating series for Hodge integrals on the moduli space of curves, has been a central object of study in Gromov-Witten theory. We define a slightly enriched Gromov-Witten potential G (including integrals involving one "lambda-class"), and show that after a non-trivial change of variables, G=H in positive genus, where H is a generating series for Hurwitz numbers.…
We study "pure-cycle" Hurwitz spaces, parametrizing covers of the projective line having only one ramified point over each branch point. We start with the case of genus-0 covers, using a combination of limit linear series theory and group theory to show that these spaces are always irreducible. In the case of four branch points, we also compute the associated Hurwitz numbers. Finally, we give a conditional result in the higher-genus case, requiring at least 3g simply branched points. These results have equivalent formulations in group theory, and in this setting complement results of Conway-Fr…
Single Hurwitz numbers enumerate branched covers of the Riemann sphere with specified genus, prescribed ramification over infinity, and simple branching elsewhere. They exhibit a remarkably rich structure. In particular, they arise as intersection numbers on moduli spaces of curves and are governed by the topological recursion of Chekhov, Eynard and Orantin. Double Hurwitz numbers are defined analogously, but with prescribed ramification over both zero and infinity. Goulden, Jackson and Vakil have conjectured that double Hurwitz numbers also arise as intersection numbers on moduli spaces. In t…
The Eynard-Orantin recursion formula provides an effective tool for certain enumeration problems in geometry. The formula requires a spectral curve and the recursion kernel. We present a uniform construction of the spectral curve and the recursion kernel from the unstable geometries of the original counting problem. We examine this construction using four concrete examples: Grothendieck's dessins d'enfants (or higher-genus analogue of the Catalan numbers), the intersection numbers of tautological cotangent classes on the moduli stack of stable pointed curves, single Hurwitz numbers, and the st…
In this paper we compute the bivariate generating function of $γ$-matchings over two backbones, filtered by the number of arcs and the topological genus. $γ$-matchings over two backbones are chord-diagrams, obtained via concatenation and nesting of irreducible shapes of topological genus $\le γ$. We show that the key information is contained in the polynomials counting these shapes and provide recursions that allow to compute the latter. In particular we give a bijection between such irreducible shapes over one and two backbones. We present two applications of our results. The first is concern…
In this paper we consider the enumeration of orientable and non-orientable chord diagrams. We show that this enumeration is encoded in appropriate expectation values of the $β$-deformed Gaussian and RNA matrix models. We evaluate these expectation values by means of the $β$-deformed topological recursion, and - independently - using properties of quantum curves. We show that both these methods provide efficient and systematic algorithms for counting of chord diagrams with a given genus, number of backbones and number of chords.
In this paper, we begin with the Lehman-Walsh formula counting one-face maps and construct two involutions on pairs of permutations to obtain a new formula for the number $A(n,g)$ of one-face maps of genus $g$. Our new formula is in the form of a convolution of the Stirling numbers of the first kind which immediately implies a formula for the generating function $A_n(x)=\sum_{g\geq 0}A(n,g)x^{n+1-2g}$ other than the well-known Harer-Zagier formula. By reformulating our expression for $A_n(x)$ in terms of the backward shift operator $E: f(x)\rightarrow f(x-1)$ and proving a property satisfied b…
Harer and Zagier proved a recursion to enumerate gluings of a $2d$-gon that result in an orientable genus $g$ surface, in their work on Euler characteristics of moduli spaces of curves. Analogous results have been discovered for other enumerative problems, so it is natural to pose the following question: how large is the family of problems for which these so-called 1-point recursions exist? In this paper, we prove the existence of 1-point recursions for a class of enumerative problems that have Schur function expansions. In particular, we recover the Harer-Zagier recursion, but our methodology…
The KP and 2D Toda tau-functions of hypergeometric type that serve as generating functions for weighted single and double Hurwitz numbers are related to the topological recursion programme. A graphical representation of such weighted Hurwitz numbers is given in terms of weighted constellations. The associated classical and quantum spectral spectral curves are derived, and these are interpreted combinatorially in terms of the graphical model. The pair correlators are given a finite Christoffel-Darboux representation and determinantal expressions are obtained for the multipair correlators. The g…
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 …
In this paper we continue the perturbative analysis of the quartic Kontsevich model. We investigate meromorphic functions $Ω^{(0)}_m$ with $m=1,2$, that obey blobbed topological recursion. We calculate their expansions and check their equivalence to sums of ribbon graph weights, which are obtained with common methods of perturbation theory in QFT, up to fifth order in the coupling using Mathematica. Furthermore, we provide a catalog of permutation pairs $(α,σ)$, which encode all 5660 vacuum ribbon graphs that contribute to the free energy $\mathcal{F}^{(g)}$ with genus $g\geq 0$ up to fifth or…
