Symplectic duality for topological recursion

Abstract: We consider weighted double Hurwitz numbers, with the weight given by arbitrary rational function times an exponent of the completed cycles. Both special singularities are arbitrary, with the lengths of cycles controlled by formal parameters (up to some maximal length on both sides), and on one side there are also distinguished cycles controlled by degrees of formal variables. In these variables the weighted double Hurwitz numbers are presented as coefficients of expansions of some differentials that we prove to satisfy topological recursion. Our results partly resolve a conjecture that we made in [arXiv:2106.08368] and are based on a system of new explicit functional relations for the more general $(m,n)$-correlation functions, which correspond to the case when there are distinguished cycles controlled by formal variables in both special singular fibers. These $(m,n)$-correlation functions are the main theme of this paper and the latter explicit functional relations are of independent interest for combinatorics of weighted double Hurwitz numbers. We also put our results in the context of what we call the "symplectic duality", which is a generalization of the $x-y$ duality, a phenomenon known in the theory of topological recursion.