We discuss various aspects of multi-instanton configurations in generic multi-cut matrix models. Explicit formulae are presented in the two-cut case and, in particular, we obtain general formulae for multi-instanton amplitudes in the one-cut matrix m
odel case as a degeneration of the two-cut case. These formulae show that the instanton gas is ultra-dilute, due to the repulsion among the matrix model eigenvalues. We exemplify and test our general results in the cubic matrix model, where multi-instanton amplitudes can be also computed with orthogonal polynomials. As an application, we derive general expressions for multi-instanton contributions in two-dimensional quantum gravity, verifying them by computing the instanton corrections to the string equation. The resulting amplitudes can be interpreted as regularized partition functions for multiple ZZ-branes, which take into full account their back-reaction on the target geometry. Finally, we also derive structural properties of the trans-series solution to the Painleve I equation.
This work addresses nonperturbative effects in both matrix models and topological strings, and their relation with the large-order behavior of the 1/N expansion. We study instanton configurations in generic one-cut matrix models, obtaining explicit r
esults for the one-instanton amplitude at both one and two loops. The holographic description of topological strings in terms of matrix models implies that our nonperturbative results also apply to topological strings on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds. This yields very precise predictions for the large-order behavior of the perturbative genus expansion, both in conventional matrix models and in topological string theory. We test these predictions in detail in various examples, including the quartic matrix model, topological strings on the local curve, and Hurwitz theory. In all these cases we provide extensive numerical checks which heavily support our nonperturbative analytical results. Moreover, since all these models have a critical point describing two-dimensional gravity, we also obtain in this way the large-order asymptotics of the relevant solution to the Painleve I equation, including corrections in inverse genus. From a mathematical point of view, our results predict the large-genus asymptotics of simple Hurwitz numbers and of local Gromov-Witten invariants.
Gravitational greybody factors are analytically computed for static, spherically symmetric black holes in d-dimensions, including black holes with charge and in the presence of a cosmological constant (where a proper definition of greybody factors fo
r both asymptotically dS and AdS spacetimes is provided). This calculation includes both the low-energy case --where the frequency of the scattered wave is small and real-- and the asymptotic case --where the frequency of the scattered wave is very large along the imaginary axis-- addressing gravitational perturbations as described by the Ishibashi-Kodama master equations, and yielding full transmission and reflection scattering coefficients for all considered spacetime geometries. At low frequencies a general method is developed, which can be employed for all three types of spacetime asymptotics, and which is independent of the details of the black hole. For asymptotically dS black holes the greybody factor is different for even or odd spacetime dimension, and proportional to the ratio of the areas of the event and cosmological horizons. For asymptotically AdS black holes the greybody factor has a rich structure in which there are several critical frequencies where it equals either one (pure transmission) or zero (pure reflection, with these frequencies corresponding to the normal modes of pure AdS spacetime). At asymptotic frequencies the computation of the greybody factor uses a technique inspired by monodromy matching, and some universality is hidden in the transmission and reflection coefficients. For either charged or asymptotically dS black holes the greybody factors are given by non-trivial functions, while for asymptotically AdS black holes the greybody factor precisely equals one (corresponding to pure blackbody emission).
