The threefold way to quantum periods: Wkb, tba equations and q-painlevé

We show that TBA equations defined by the BPS spectrum of 5d 𝒩 = 1 SU(2) Yang-Mills on S¹ ×ℝ⁴ encode the q-Painlevé III₃ equation. We find a fine-tuned stratum in the physical moduli space of the theory where solutions to TBA equations can be obtained exactly, and verify that they agree with the algebraic solutions to q-Painlevé. Switching from the physical moduli space to that of stability conditions, we identify two one-parameter deformations of the fine-tuned stratum, where the general solution of the q-Painlevé equation in terms of dual instanton partition functions continues to provide explicit TBA solutions. Motivated by these observations, we propose a further extensions of the range of validity of this correspondence, under a suitable identification of moduli. As further checks of our proposal, we study the behavior of exact WKB quantum periods for the quantum curve of local P¹ × P¹.