The combinatorial formula for open gravitational descendents

Abstract

In recent works, [20],[21], descendent integrals on the moduli space of Riemann surfaces with boundary were defined. It was conjectured in [20] that the generating function of these integrals satisfies the open KdV equations. In this paper we develop the notions of symmetric Strebel-Jenkins differentials and of Kasteleyn orientations for graphs embedded in open surfaces. In addition we write an explicit expression for the angular form of the sum of line bundles. Using these tools we prove a formula for the descendent integrals in terms of sums over weighted graphs. Based on this formula, the conjecture of [20] was proved in [5].