On the relation between Stokes multipliers and the T-Q systems of conformal field theory

Abstract

The vacuum expectation values of the so-called Q-operators of certain integrable quantum field theories have recently been identified with spectral determinants of particular Schrodinger operators. In this paper we extend the correspondence to the T-operators, finding that their vacuum expectation values also have an interpretation as spectral determinants. As byproducts we give a simple proof of an earlier conjecture of ours, proved by another route by Suzuki, and generalise a problem in PT symmetric quantum mechanics studied by Bender and Boettcher. We also stress that the mapping between Q-operators and Schrodinger equations means that certain problems in integrable quantum field theory are related to the study of Regge poles in non-relativistic potential scattering.