Intersection numbers with Pixton's class and the noncommutative KdV hierarchy

Abstract

The Pixton class is a nonhomogeneous cohomology class on the moduli space of stable curves $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$, with nontrivial terms in degree $0,2,4,\ldots,2g$, whose top degree part coincides with the double ramification cycle. In this paper, we prove our conjecture from a previous work, claiming that the generating series of intersection numbers of the Pixton class with monomials in the psi-classes gives a solution of the noncommutative KdV hierarchy.