Krichever maps, Faà di Bruno polynomials, and cohomology in KP theory

Abstract

We study the geometrical meaning of the Faa di Bruno polynomials in the context of KP theory. They provide a basis in a subspace W of the universal Grassmannian associated to the KP hierarchy. When W comes from geometrical data via the Krichever map, the Faa di Bruno recursion relation turns out to be the cocycle condition for (the Welters hypercohomology group describing) the deformations of the dynamical line bundle on the spectral curve together with the meromorphic sections which give rise to the Krichever map. Starting from this, one sees that the whole KP hierarchy has a similar cohomological meaning.