Resurgence of Faddeev’s quantum dilogarithm

Abstract

The quantum dilogarithm function of Faddeev is a special function that plays a key role as the building block of quantum invariants of knots and 3-manifolds, of quantum Teichmuller theory and of complex Chern-Simons theory. Motivated by conjectures on resurgence and recent interest in wall-crossing phenomena, we prove that the Borel summation of a formal power series solution of a linear difference equation produces Faddeev's quantum dilogarithm. Along the way, we give an explicit formula for the meromorphic function in Borel plane, locate its poles and residues, and describe the Stokes phenomenon of its Laplace transforms along the Stokes rays.