Integrals of motion in conformal field theory with W-symmetry and the ODE/IM correspondence

Abstract

We study the ODE/IM correspondence between two-dimensional WAr/WDr-type conformal field theories and the higher-order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) obtained from the affine Toda field theories associated with Ar(1)/Dr(1)-type affine Lie algebras. We calculate the period integrals of the WKB solution to the ODE along the Pochhammer contour, where the WKB expansions correspond to the classical conserved currents of the Drinfeld-Sokolov integrable hierarchies. We also compute the integrals of motion for WAr(WDr) algebras on a cylinder. Their eigenvalues on the vacuum state are confirmed to agree with the period integrals up to the sixth order. These results generalize the ODE/IM correspondence to higher-order ODEs and can be used to predict higher-order integrals of motion.