Acta Applicandae Mathematicae 75: 105115, 2003.

2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

105

Monodromy of Rational KZ Equations and

Some Related Topics 
V. P. LEXIN
Department of the Algebra and Geometry, Kolomenskii State Pedagogical Institute,
Kolomna, Zelenaya, 30, 140411, Russia. e-mail: lexine@mccme.ru
(Received: 19 March 2002)
Abstract. A special class of integrable Fuchsian systems on Cn related to KZ equations is considered. We survey the construction of such systems and the list of the structural properties their
monodromy representations. The relation of the Fuchsian systems obtained by the Veselov construction assosiated with a deformation of the An1 -type root system and the GaussManin connection
of the natural projection Cn Cn1 is described. In this case, we prove that the monodromy
representation is equivalent to the Burau representation of the Artin braid group. For a deformations
of the other root system, we introduce generalized Burau representations. We conjecture that the integrable Fuchsian systems related to essential new finite sets of the vectors described by Veselov and
Chalykh are the result of the KlaresSchlesinger isomonodromic deformations (or transformation)
of the integrable Fuchsian system related to the Coxeter root systems.
Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000): Primary 32G34, 32M35, 33C67; secondary 20F55,
34M55.
Key words: monodromy representations, rational KZ equations, Burau representation, isomonodromic deformations.

Introduction
For a finite set R = {1 , . . . , n } of noncollinear vectors generating the complex
linear space Cn , we will consider the following Pfaffian systems of the Fuchs type
on Cn :



t d(, z)

R (z),
d
R (z) =
(, z)
R

(1)

where z = (z1 , . . . , zn ) Cn , t , R are a linear operators independing of

the variables z1 , . . . , zn and (, ) is standard scalar product in Rn extended as symmetric bilinear form on Cn . The values of the function
R lie in a complex linear
 This work was supported by Grant leading scientific schools of Russia No. 00-15-96107.

106

V. P. LEXIN

space where all operators t , R act. We suppose what the Pfaffian system (1)
is complete integrable in Frobenius sense, i.e., the 1-form
 t d(, z)
R =
(, z)
R
of the system (1) satisfies the Frobenius condition dR = R R . In our case
dR = 0, therefore, the Frobenius condition is equivalent to the equality R
R = 0. In turn, the last equality is equivalent the following system commutator
relations [4].
For any two-dimensional subspace L Cn and for all L R,

 
(2)
t = 0.
t ,
LR

Complete integrable Fuchsian systems (1)(2) on Cn associated with a set of

noncollinear vectors R we will call rational KZ(R) equations.
Our goal is to describe significant examples of the finite sets vectors R Cn
and the construction of the coefficients t , R, when Equations (2) are fulfilled.
In each case, we formulate a theorem that give us a description of the monodromy
representation of the corresponding rational KZ(R) equation.
We also consider the isomonodromic deformation of the rational KZ(R) equations. The multi-dimensional KlarsSchlesinger isomonodromic equations are
written out. For special classes of rational KZ(R) equations when their coefficients are completely defined by a set of vectors R, we remark that such isomonodromic deformations also give us a new solution to WDVV equations. In particular, we show that some Veselov deformations are isomonodromic deformations.
We conjecture that all integrable deformations of root systems found in [2, 17]
are the isomonodromic deformations or the result of discrete multi-dimensional
Schlesinger transformations of some root systems.
1. Constructions Rational KZ(R) Equations and Monodromy
Representations
In this section we describe several constructions for the coefficients of rational
KZ(R) equations, in the cases when a finite set of noncollinear vectors R Cn is
the complexification of the root system in Euclidian space Rn or the complexification of the root system of some Coxeter group (that is, the set of all unit normal
vectors to reflection hyperplanes of the Coxeter group). The Coxeter group root
system is also invariant under the action of the reflections of the corresponding
Coxeter group.
Let R Rn be an irreducibly reduced root system and W (R) be its Weyl group
or let R be a Coxeter group root system. Denote R+ as the set of positive roots.
In the case of the Coxeter groups, R+ is the subset of the vectors from R which are
positive with respect to some linear form on Rn such that , () = 0, R.

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MONODROMY OF RATIONAL KZ EQUATIONS

Currently, several constructions are known of the coefficients t , R for

Equation (1) satisfying the relations (2). Let us list such constructions and recall the
basic theorems for the description of monodromy representations corresponding to
the KZ(R) equations.
1.1. ORIGIN KNIZHNIK ZAMOLODCHIKOV CONSTRUCTION ([11])
For root system of the type An1
R = R(An1 ) = {ij = ei ej , 1
i = j
n},
where {ei , i = 1, . . . , n} is the standard orthonormal basis in Rn , Knizhnik and
Zamolodchikov (see [11] and [5]) showed how to construct tij = h2 tij , h C
starting with a semisimple complex finite-dimensional Lie algebra g, its representation V , and the BelavinDrinfeld tensor t g g (dual to the quadratic
Casimir element C from the center of the universal enveloping algebra of the g).
Let e , R(An1 ) be root vectors in Lie algebra g and h1 , . . . , hs be the
orthonormal basis in Cartan subalgebra h g with respect to Killing form. The
symmetric BelavinDrinfeld tensor t has the following form:


t=

e e +

R(An1 )

s


hk hk

k=1

and, in universal enveloping algebra, U (g) can be expressed in terms of the Casimir
element
C=

e e +

s


hk hk

k=1

R(An1 )

as t = 12 ((C)C 11C), where  is the standard comultiplication in U (g).

Let V be a linear representation of the Lie algebra g and x (i) be the natural
action of x g on the ith factor of the space V n (x (i) : v1 vi vn
v1 xvi vn ). We introduce the linear operators tij on V n by the
formulas
tij =


R(An1 )

(j )
e(i) e

s


(j )

h(i)
k hk .

k=1

Since the tensor t is the symmetric tensor, we obtain that tij = tj i . Positive roots of
the R(An1 ) are equal to ij = ei ej , 1
i < j
n. The origin KZ(R(An1 ))
equation has the form



tij d(zi zj )

(z).
(3)
d
(z) = h
zi zj
i<j

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V. P. LEXIN

The function
(z) takes its values in the vector space V n . Now Equation (2) has
the form [tij , tkl ] = 0, when
{i, j } {k, l} =

and

[tij , tik + tj k ] = [tj k , tij + tik ] = [tik , tij + tj k ] = 0,

when i = j = k. The proof, that introduced the operators tij , i = j satisfi these
equations, easily follows from the expression of the tensor t in terms of the Casimir
element and the multiplicativity of the comultiplication .
We can consider Equation (3) as the equation of horizontal sections of the
connection



tij d(zi zj )
=dh
zi zj
i<j


in a trivial bundle Xn V n , where Xn = Cn \ i<j {zi zj = 0}. The 1-form
of the connection is invariant with respect to the diagonal action of the permutation group Sn (recall that Sn is the Weyl group of the An1 type root system).
The permutation group Sn acts on Xn with the permutations of the coordinates
and on V n with the permutations of the tensor factors. The invariance of the
differential 1-form of the connection permit us to construct a flat connection on
the quotient-bundle (Xn V n )/Sn with the base Yn = Xn /Sn and fibre V n .
We assume that h is a formal parameter. The monodromy representation of the
constructed flat connection defines the representation of the Artin braid group
KZn : Bn = 1 (Yn , x0 = (1, 2, . . . , n)) AutC[[h]] V n [[h]],

(4)

where C[[h]] is the algebra of a formal power series and V [[h]] is the linear
space of a formal power series with its coefficient from V . This representation is
called the monodromy representation of the KZ Equation (3). The DrinfeldKohno
theorem describes the representation KZn in terms of quantum groups ([5]).
Let Uh (g) be a DrinfeldJimbo algebra and Rh be the universal quantum Rmatrix of Uh (g). For a g-module V , there exists a Uh (g)-module V such that

be the topological tensor product over C[[h]]. The R-matrix

V / hV = V . Let V n

).
Rh induces the representation (see [9]) Rh : Bn AutC[[h]] (V n
THEOREM 1 (DrinfeldKohno). If g is a finite-dimensional semisimple Lie algebra and t is the BelavinDrinfeld tensor of g, then the representations KZ and
Rh are equivalent for all n > 1. That is, there exists a C[[h]]-linear isomorphism

V n [[h]] such that KZ (g) = DRh (g)D 1 for all elements g Bn .

D: V n
The full proof is contained in [5] and [9]. In the case when h is a complex
parameter and all the mentioned series converge, the DrinfeldKohno theorem is
proved in [6] for a generic values of the h.
Another type of theorem was proved by Kohno [12].
THEOREM 2 (Kohno). For the Lie algebra g = sl(2, C) and its standard representation in C2 , the monodromy representation KZ of the KZ equation (3) is

MONODROMY OF RATIONAL KZ EQUATIONS

109

factorized across the Hecke algebra Hn (q), q = e2ih , i.e., there exists homomorphism :
Hn (q) End((C2 )n ) such that KZ (a) = (j
(a)), where KZ is the
natural extension of the KZ on the group algebra C[Bn ] of the Artin braid group
Bn and j is the natural projection
j : C[Bn ] Hn (q) = C[Bn ]/(i2 = (1 q)i + q, i = 1, . . . , n 1).
Here i , i = 1, . . . , n 1 are standard generators of the Bn .

1.2. LEIBMAN CONSTRUCTION [14]

Let
R(Bn ) = {ij = ei ej 1
i = j
n; i = ei , i = 1, . . . n}
be the root system of the Coxeter type Bn in Rn . Here {ei , i = 1, . . . , n} is a
standard orthonormal basis in Rn . Leibman (see [14]) found the construction of the
coefficients tij = h1 tij , ti = h2 ti0 of the KZ(R(Bn)) equations. This construction
is an analog of the KnizhnikZamolodchikov construction. It uses the Belavin
Drinfeld tensor t gg of the Lie algebra g, quadratic Leibman element U (g)
in the universal enveloping algebra U (g) of the g and WeylChevalley automorphism of the U (g). By definition, (e ) = e , (h) =h, where e is the
root vector of g and h h. The element is defined as = 12 R(Bn) (e2 +e e ).
We denote t := t, t + = 1(t). Similarly, the definitions from 1.1 we define
the operators in V n tij , tij+ , ti0 = (i) , where V is a finite-dimensional g-module.
We obtain integrable KZ(R(Bn)) equations on Cn
d
R(Bn ) (z)





n

tij d(zi zj ) tij+ d(zi + zj )
ti0 dzi
+
+ h2

R(Bn ) (z).
= h1
zi zj
zi + zj
zi
i<j
i=1

(4)

The Weyl group W (Bn ) is isomorphic to the semidirect product W (Bn ) = Sn 

(Z/2Z)n of the permutation group Sn and n-times the direct product of the ordertwo group Z/2Z. For complex values of the parameters h1 , h2 , Lie algebra g =
sl(2, C) and its standard representation in C2 , Equation (4) is invariant with respect
n
to the diagonal action of the Weyl group W (B
n ) = Sn  (Z/2Z) on the trivial
2 n
n
bundle XBn (C ) , where XBn = C \ i<j,k {zi zj = 0, zk = 0}. The
action of W (Bn ) on Cn is defined by permutations of the coordinates for elements
s Sn and by changing the sign of the ith coordinate for standard generators
i Z/2Z)n , i = 1, . . . , n. The action of the W (Bn ) on (C2 )n is defined by
permutations of the tensor factors for s Sn and for 1 by the formula
1 (ek v2 vn ) = e3k v2 vn ,

110

V. P. LEXIN

where ek , k = 1, 2 is the standard basis in C2 (see [14]). Other generators i , i =

2, . . . , n are conjugate to 1 with the elements of Sn .
As in the previous section, we obtain a flat connection on quotient-bundle (XBn
(C2 )n )/W (Bn ) over YBn = XBn /W (Bn ) with a fibre (C2 )n . The monodromy
representation of the obtained flat connection defines a representation of the Brieskorn braid group Br(Bn ) of the Bn -Coxeter type
KZ(R(Bn )) : Br(Bn ) Aut((C2 )n ).

(5)

A Bn -analog of the Kohno theorem from Section 1.1 was proved in [14].
THEOREM 3. The monodromy representation KZ(R(Bn )) of the Brieskorn braid
group Br(Bn ) is factorized across a representation of the Hecke algebra Hn (q1 , q2 )
of the Bn -Coxeter type with parameters q1 , q2 .
An attempt at formulating and proving the Bn -Coxeter analog of the Drinfeld
Kohno theorem is contained in [8].
1.3. CHEREDNIK CONSTRUCTION [3]
Let W (R) be a Coxeter group with a generating irreducible root system R in
Euclidean space Rn and let C[W (R)] be its group algebra. Let s be the operator
of the multiplication on reflection s with respect to the root R in group
algebra C[W (R)]. For operators t = h s , R, the relations (2) are fulfilled
(see [3]). Here h is the W (R)-invariant family (hw = h , w W (R)) of
complex constants. We consider an analytic function
R (z) on Cn with values in
V = C[W (R)]. The integrable KZ(R) equations



h d(, z)s

R (z)
(6)
d
R (z) =
(, z)
R
+

is invariant with respect to the extended action of W (R) on Cn and the action
of W (R) on V = C[W (R)] by conjugation. A construction similar to the constructions in Sections 1.1 and 1.2 gives us a flat connection in a bundle over

XR = Cn \
{(, z) = 0}
YR = XR /W (R),
R+

with a fiber V . The monodromy representation KZ(R) of the obtained flat connection is a representation of the Brieskorn braid group Br(W (R)) in the group
C[W (R)] of the invertable elements of the group algebra C[W (R)] (see [3]).
Let KZ(R) be the natural extension of the monodromy representation KZ(R) on
the group algebra C[Br(Bn )]. The values of the KZ(R) belong to group algebra
C[W (R)].

111

MONODROMY OF RATIONAL KZ EQUATIONS

THEOREM 4 (Cherednik). The representation KZ(R) is factorized across the

Hecke algebra Hn (q = exp(2 ih ), R) of the Coxeter type W (R) and,
for generic values q , R, induces isomorphism of the Hecke algebra Hn (q =
exp(2 ih ), R) and group algebra C[W (R)].

1.4. LAREDO MILLSON AND FMTV CONSTRUCTIONS [7, 15]

Let g be a complex simple Lie algebra and R(g) be its root system. Denote e ,
R(g) as root vectors of g. The operators
t = h

(, )
(e e + e e ),
2

R+ , h C

acting on the representation V of g satisfy relations (2) (see [7] and [15]). We
obtain W (R(g))-invariant KZ(R(g)) equations. At present, the main problem for
these equations is to prove that the action by the monodromy representation of
the Brieskorn braid group Br(R(g)) on the deformation V [[h]] coincides in some
sense with the action of the quantum Weyl group on V [[h]] defined by Lustig,
Zhelobenko, KirillovReshetikhin and Soibelman. This conjecture is proved for
the Lie algebra sl(n, C) by Taledano Laredo in [15].
1.5. VESELOV CONSTRUCTION ([17])
Let R be a finite set of noncollinear vectors in Rn generating all Rn . We will
consider
Rn as an Euclidean vector space with a standard scalar product (x, y) =
n
n
i=1 xi yi . We will also present the vectors of R as a column and the covectors
n
of the dual space (R ) as a row. The identification of Rn and (Rn ) by the scalar
product is the transformation
column in a rowand inversely by the transposition.

Let GR (x, y) = R (, x)(, y) or GR = R be the nondegenerated
bilinear form of Rn and R : Rn (Rn ) be the corresponding isomorphism of
the space and their dual space, that is, (R (x), y) = GR (x, y). For (Rn ) (that
is, for a row ), we denote the column 1 ().
Now we will study the special KZ(R) equations



d(, z)

R (z),
(7)
d
R (z) =
(, z)
R
with the coefficients t = , R. As a result of identifying with a
column and with a row, we obtain that the tensor product is identified
by a square matrix. All coefficients of the special KZ(R) equations are defined only
by the vectors of R
and those associated with R nondegenerated bilinear symmetric
form GR (x, y) = R (, x)(, y). In [17], Veselov showed that the integrability
conditions for such special KZ(R)
to the WDVV equa equations2 are equivalent
2
tions for the function FR (z) =
R (, z) log(, z) . Using relations (2), it is

112

V. P. LEXIN

easy to understand the sense of the Veselov condition on the set vectors R (in
-condition on R in [17] and [2]).
Indeed, for any two-dimensional subspace L Cn and L R the corresponding relations from (2) have the form




= 0.
(8)
,
LR+

The Veselov conditions are the operator equalities


= ()Id, L, dim L = 2, L R.

(9)

LR+

Obviously, (8) follows from (9), that is, the Veselov conditions give us the complete integrability special KZ(R) equations. In [17], it was proved that (9) follows
from (8).
Let us consider the deformation

Rh (An1 ) = {ij (h) = hij , i = j, h C}

of the An1 root system and the corresponding special KZ(Rh (An1 )) equation
with coefficients {tij (h) = hij ij }. Let Xn+1 and Xn be the complements to diagonal hyperplanes as in Section 1.1. As an example of the description of the monodromy representation of special KZ(R) equations, we have the following theorem:
THEOREM 5. For the deformation Rh (An1 ) of the root system R = R(An1 ),
the corresponding special KZ(Rh (An1 )) equation coincides with a GaussManin
connection of the projection r: Xn+1 Xn . The monodromy representation of
the special KZ(Rh (An1 )) equation is equivalent to a Burau representation with
parameter q = exp(2 ihGR(An1 ) (, )), h C, where GR (An1 )( , ) is
constant at .

Proof. The calculation of the matrices tij = h(ei ej ) (ei ej ) show that
the special KZ(Rh (An1 )) equation coincide with equation 2.2.9 from [12] with
the parameter = hGR (An1 )( , ).



Jij d(zi zj )

(z),
d
(z) =
z

z
i
j
i<j
where Jij , i < j is the matrix with 1 for (ii) and (jj )-matrix elements, and
with 1 for (ij ) and (j i)-matrix elements, and 0 in other places. Equation 2.2.9
in [12] is the equation of the horizontal sections of the GaussManin connection of
the natural projection
r: Xn+1 Xn , (z1 , . . . , zn+1 ) (z1 , . . . zn ).
The GaussManin connection is related to the first cohomology groups H 1 (C \
{z1 , . . . , zn }, L) of the fibre of the projection r. The local system L is defined by

MONODROMY OF RATIONAL KZ EQUATIONS

113

the function (zn+1 ) = i=1 (zn+1 zi ) . In proposition 2.2.12 in [12], Kohno

showed that the monodromy representation of equation 2.2.9 is equivalent to the
Burau representation with the parameter q = exp(2 i).
For any Coxeter group W (R), let {h C, R} be W (R)-invariant (hw =
h , w W (R), R) a set of complex numbers.
DEFINITION 1. For any Coxeter root systems R, we define generalized Burau
representations as the monodromy representations of the deformations t (h) =
h , R, h C, of the corresponding special KZ(R) equations.
All the questions about ordinary Burau representations (root system of the
An1 , n  2 type) may put for the generalized Burau representations (for example,
about the exactness of these representations).
1.6. THE COMBINATORIAL CONSTRUCTION FROM KNOT AND LINKS THEORY
If we suppose in KZ(R(An1 )) that tij , 1
i < j
n are chord diagrams on n
straight lines with one chord connecting the ith j th line-subjected 4-term relation,
then tij satisfy the relations (2) (see [4, 13, 16]). The properties of monodromy and
holonomy of the obtained KZ equation, after their regularization, give us a set of
structure elements in chord diagram algebra and the relations between them which
provide us with the existence and uniqueness of the universal KontsevichVassiliev
invariant of knots and links [13].
The analogous assertion takes place for KZ(Bn ) equations and symmetric chord
diagram (see [8]).
2. Isomonodromic Deformations of the KZ(R) Equations
Let us assume that the vectors R(u) are analytic functions of the parameter
u Cs . We
 also assume that the combinatorial type of hyperplane arrangements
A(u) = (u)R(u){((u), z) = 0} is preserved, that is, the dimensions of the
intersections of different subsets of the hyperplanes from A(u) do not depend
on u. Suppose that a homotopy type of complement to the arrangement also does
not depend on parameter u and, therefore, the fundamental group 1 (XR(u) , x0 ) of
complement XR(u) = Cn \A(u) does not depend on u. Suppose that the coefficients
of the KZ(R) are analytic functions of u and, identically at u, satisfy Equations (2).
Recall that for every fixed value of parameter u, the latter assumption is equivalent
to complete integrability of the KZ(R(u)) equation. The values of the monodromy
representation on generators of the fundamental groups are also analytic functions
at u.
Under the assumptions described above, we ask how we must deform the R and
coefficients of the KZ(R) equation so that the values of the monodromy representation on the generators of the fundamental group do not depend on u. Sufficient
conditions give the specialization of the Klars theorem [10].

114

V. P. LEXIN

THEOREM 6. If the coefficients t , (u) R(u) of the KZ(R(u)) equation

satisfy the equations
dt (u) = ,

(u) R(u),

(10)

where
=


=

[t (u), t (u)]

du r (u)
,
r (u)

R(u)

(11)

and r = ((u), z)|((u),z)=0 , then the monodromy representation of the KZ(R(u))

equations does not depend on u.
For the proof we must repeat the proof from [1] of the Schlesinger theorem in
the one-dimensional case. The original Klar proof has some gaps.
Equation (9) with 1-forms , R(u) we call the KlarsSchlesinger equations and corresponding isomonodromic deformations rational KZ(R) equations,
KlarsSchlesinger deformations.
We can consider KlarsSchlesinger deformations for special KZ(R) equations.
For example, it is easily verified that ChalykhVeselov deformations of the An1
type root system ei ej ci cj (ei ej ), ci , cj C are KlarsSchlesinger deformations under some relations between ci C. All deformations of the arrangements found in [2] and [17] preserve conbinatorial-type arrangements. We supose
that the conjecture from the Introduction holds.
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