Feigin–Frenkel Image of Witten–Kontsevich Points

Abstract

Abstract The Witten–Kontsevich KdV tau function of topological gravity has a generalization to an arbitrary Drinfeld–Sokolov hierarchy associated to a simple complex Lie algebra. Using the Feigin–Frenkel isomorphism we describe the affine opers describing such generalized Witten–Kontsevich functions in terms of Segal–Sugawara operators associated to the Langlands dual Lie algebra. In the case where the Lie algebra is simply laced there is a second role these Segal–Sugawara operators play: their action, in the basic representation of the affine algebra associated to the Lie algebra, singles out the Witten–Kontsevich tau function within the phase space. We show that these two Langlands dual roles of Segal–Sugawara operators correspond to a duality between the first and last operator for a complete set of Segal–Sugawara operators.