On $b$-Whittaker functions

Abstract: The $b$-Whittaker functions are eigenfunctions of the modular $q$-deformed $\mathfrak{gl}_n$ open Toda system introduced by Kharchev, Lebedev, and Semenov-Tian-Shansky. Using the quantum inverse scattering method, the named authors obtained a Mellin-Barnes integral representation for these eigenfunctions. In the present paper, we develop the analytic theory of the $b$-Whittaker functions from the perspective of quantum cluster algebras. We obtain a formula for the modular open Toda system's Baxter operator as a sequence of quantum cluster transformations, and thereby derive a new modular $b$-analog of Givental's integral formula for the undeformed Whittaker function. We also show that the $b$-Whittaker functions are eigenvectors of the Dehn twist operator from quantum higher Teichm\"uller theory, and obtain $b$-analogs of various integral identities satisfied by the undeformed Whittaker functions, including the continuous Cauchy-Littlewood identity of Stade and Corwin-O'Connell-Sepp\"al\"ainen-Zygouras. Using these results, we prove the unitarity of the $b$-Whittaker transform, thereby completing the analytic part of the proof of the conjecture of Frenkel and Ip on tensor products of positive representations of $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_n)$, as well as the main step in the modular functor conjecture of Fock and Goncharov. We conclude by explaining how the theory of $b$-Whittaker functions can be used to derive certain hyperbolic hypergeometric integral evaluations found by Rains.