Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science |
Double Hurwitz numbers count covers of the sphere by genus $g$ curves with assigned ramification profiles over $0$ and $\infty$, and simple ramification over a fixed branch divisor. Goulden, Jackson and Vakil (2005) have shown double Hurwitz numbers are piecewise polynomial in the orders of ramification, and Shadrin, Shapiro and Vainshtein (2008) have determined the chamber structure and wall crossing formulas for $g=0$. We provide new proofs of these results, and extend them in several directions. Most importantly we prove wall crossing formulas for all genera. The main tool is the authors' previous work expressing double Hurwitz number as a sum over labelled graphs. We identify the labels of the graphs with lattice points in the chambers of certain hyperplane arrangements, which give rise to piecewise polynomial functions. Our understanding of the wall crossing for these functions builds on the work of Varchenko (1987). This approach to wall crossing appears novel, and may be of broader interest. This extended abstract is based on a new preprint by the authors.