From the quantum geometry of Fuchsian systems to conformal blocks of W-algebras

We consider the moduli space of holomorphic principal bundles for reductive Lie groups over Riemann surfaces (possibly with boundaries) and equipped with meromorphic connections. We associate to this space a point-wise notion of quantum spectral curve whose generalized periods define a new set of moduli. We define homology cycles and differential forms of the quantum spectral curve, allowing to derive quantum analogs of the form-cycle duality and Riemann bilinear identities of classical geometry. A tau-function is introduced for this system in the form of a theta-series and in such a way that the variations of its coefficients with respect to moduli, isomonodromic or not, can be computed as quantum period integrals. This lays new grounds to relate our study to that of integrable hierarchies, isomonodromic deformation of meromorphic connections and non-perturbative topological string theory. In turn, we define amplitudes on the quantum spectral curve which have an interpretation in conformal field theory when the Lie algebra is assumed to be simply-laced: they coincide with correlation functions involving twisted chiral fields of an affine Lie algebra at level one. The singularities at the punctures are interpreted as primary fields of the associated Casimir W-algebra. The amplitudes are moreover related by W-constraints, so-called loop equations, allowing one to compute recursively a certain asymptotic expansion of the tau-function, namely the one corresponding both to the heavy-charge regime of conformal field theory and to the weak-coupling regime of topological string theory.