Lecture Notes on Chern-Simons-Witten Theory

Lecture Notes on Chern-Simons-Witten Theory PDF

Author: Sen Hu

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9810239092

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This monograph is based on lectures on topological quantum field theory given in 1989 at Princeton University by E. Witten, in which he unified several important mathematical works in terms of the Donaldson polynomial, Gromov/Floer homology, and Jones polynomials. Witten explained his three-dimensional construction of Jones polynomials, "an elegant construction of a new polynomial invariant in three-dimensional space" (per the author), via quantization of Chern-Simons gauge theory. Hu (Princeton U.) adds missing details and some new developments in the field. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

Lectures on Chern-Weil Theory and Witten Deformations

Lectures on Chern-Weil Theory and Witten Deformations PDF

Author: Weiping Zhang

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 9812386580

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This invaluable book is based on the notes of a graduate course on differential geometry which the author gave at the Nankai Institute of Mathematics. It consists of two parts: the first part contains an introduction to the geometric theory of characteristic classes due to ShiingOCoshen Chern and Andr(r) Weil, as well as a proof of the GaussOCoBonnetOCoChern theorem based on the MathaiOCoQuillen construction of Thom forms; the second part presents analytic proofs of the Poincar(r)OCoHopf index formula, as well as the Morse inequalities based on deformations introduced by Edward Witten. Contents: ChernOCoWeil Theory for Characteristic Classes; Bott and DuistermaatOCoHeckman Formulas; GaussOCoBonnetOCoChern Theorem; Poincar(r)OCoHopf Index Formula: An Analytic Proof; Morse Inequalities: An Analytic Proof; ThomOCoSmale and Witten Complexes; Atiyah Theorem on Kervaire Semi-characteristic. Readership: Graduate students and researchers in differential geometry, topology and mathematical physics."

Self-Dual Chern-Simons Theories

Self-Dual Chern-Simons Theories PDF

Author: Gerald Dunne

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-02-13

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 3540447776

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Self-duality greatly reduces the mathematical difficulties of a theory but it is also a notion of considerable physical significance. The new class of self-dual Chern-Simons theories discussed in detail in this book arise in the context of anyonic quantum field theory and have applications to models such as the quantum Hall effect, anyonic superconductivity, and Aharonov-Bohm scattering. There are also interesting connections with the theory of integrable models. The author presents the abelian and non-abelian models for relativistic and non-relativistic realizations of the self-dual Chern-Simons theories and finishes with some applications in quantum physics. The book is written for advanced students and researchers in mathematical, particle, and condensed matter physics.

Homotopy Quantum Field Theory

Homotopy Quantum Field Theory PDF

Author: Vladimir G. Turaev

Publisher: European Mathematical Society

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9783037190869

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Homotopy Quantum Field Theory (HQFT) is a branch of Topological Quantum Field Theory founded by E. Witten and M. Atiyah. It applies ideas from theoretical physics to study principal bundles over manifolds and, more generally, homotopy classes of maps from manifolds to a fixed target space. This book is the first systematic exposition of Homotopy Quantum Field Theory. It starts with a formal definition of an HQFT and provides examples of HQFTs in all dimensions. The main body of the text is focused on $2$-dimensional and $3$-dimensional HQFTs. A study of these HQFTs leads to new algebraic objects: crossed Frobenius group-algebras, crossed ribbon group-categories, and Hopf group-coalgebras. These notions and their connections with HQFTs are discussed in detail. The text ends with several appendices including an outline of recent developments and a list of open problems. Three appendices by M. Muger and A. Virelizier summarize their work in this area. The book is addressed to mathematicians, theoretical physicists, and graduate students interested in topological aspects of quantum field theory. The exposition is self-contained and well suited for a one-semester graduate course. Prerequisites include only basics of algebra and topology.

Lectures on Tensor Categories and Modular Functors

Lectures on Tensor Categories and Modular Functors PDF

Author: Bojko Bakalov

Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0821826867

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This book gives an exposition of the relations among the following three topics: monoidal tensor categories (such as a category of representations of a quantum group), 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory, and 2-dimensional modular functors (which naturally arise in 2-dimensional conformal field theory). The following examples are discussed in detail: the category of representations of a quantum group at a root of unity and the Wess-Zumino-Witten modular functor. The idea that these topics are related first appeared in the physics literature in the study of quantum field theory. Pioneering works of Witten and Moore-Seiberg triggered an avalanche of papers, both physical and mathematical, exploring various aspects of these relations. Upon preparing to lecture on the topic at MIT, however, the authors discovered that the existing literature was difficult and that there were gaps to fill. The text is wholly expository and finely succinct. It gathers results, fills existing gaps, and simplifies some proofs. The book makes an important addition to the existing literature on the topic. It would be suitable as a course text at the advanced-graduate level.

Lectures on Field Theory and Topology

Lectures on Field Theory and Topology PDF

Author: Daniel S. Freed

Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

Published: 2019-08-23

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1470452065

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These lectures recount an application of stable homotopy theory to a concrete problem in low energy physics: the classification of special phases of matter. While the joint work of the author and Michael Hopkins is a focal point, a general geometric frame of reference on quantum field theory is emphasized. Early lectures describe the geometric axiom systems introduced by Graeme Segal and Michael Atiyah in the late 1980s, as well as subsequent extensions. This material provides an entry point for mathematicians to delve into quantum field theory. Classification theorems in low dimensions are proved to illustrate the framework. The later lectures turn to more specialized topics in field theory, including the relationship between invertible field theories and stable homotopy theory, extended unitarity, anomalies, and relativistic free fermion systems. The accompanying mathematical explanations touch upon (higher) category theory, duals to the sphere spectrum, equivariant spectra, differential cohomology, and Dirac operators. The outcome of computations made using the Adams spectral sequence is presented and compared to results in the condensed matter literature obtained by very different means. The general perspectives and specific applications fuse into a compelling story at the interface of contemporary mathematics and theoretical physics.

Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology

Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology PDF

Author: Raoul Bott

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-04-17

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1475739516

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Developed from a first-year graduate course in algebraic topology, this text is an informal introduction to some of the main ideas of contemporary homotopy and cohomology theory. The materials are structured around four core areas: de Rham theory, the Cech-de Rham complex, spectral sequences, and characteristic classes. By using the de Rham theory of differential forms as a prototype of cohomology, the machineries of algebraic topology are made easier to assimilate. With its stress on concreteness, motivation, and readability, this book is equally suitable for self-study and as a one-semester course in topology.

Chern-Simons Gauge Theory: 20 Years After

Chern-Simons Gauge Theory: 20 Years After PDF

Author: Jørgen E. Andersen

Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 0821853538

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In 1989, Edward Witten discovered a deep relationship between quantum field theory and knot theory, and this beautiful discovery created a new field of research called Chern-Simons theory. This field has the remarkable feature of intertwining a large number of diverse branches of research in mathematics and physics, among them low-dimensional topology, differential geometry, quantum algebra, functional and stochastic analysis, quantum gravity, and string theory. The 20-year anniversary of Witten's discovery provided an opportunity to bring together researchers working in Chern-Simons theory for a meeting, and the resulting conference, which took place during the summer of 2009 at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn, included many of the leading experts in the field. This volume documents the activities of the conference and presents several original research articles, including another monumental paper by Witten that is sure to stimulate further activity in this and related fields. This collection will provide an excellent overview of the current research directions and recent progress in Chern-Simons gauge theory.

The Seiberg-Witten Equations and Applications to the Topology of Smooth Four-Manifolds. (MN-44), Volume 44

The Seiberg-Witten Equations and Applications to the Topology of Smooth Four-Manifolds. (MN-44), Volume 44 PDF

Author: John W. Morgan

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-09-08

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 1400865166

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The recent introduction of the Seiberg-Witten invariants of smooth four-manifolds has revolutionized the study of those manifolds. The invariants are gauge-theoretic in nature and are close cousins of the much-studied SU(2)-invariants defined over fifteen years ago by Donaldson. On a practical level, the new invariants have proved to be more powerful and have led to a vast generalization of earlier results. This book is an introduction to the Seiberg-Witten invariants. The work begins with a review of the classical material on Spin c structures and their associated Dirac operators. Next comes a discussion of the Seiberg-Witten equations, which is set in the context of nonlinear elliptic operators on an appropriate infinite dimensional space of configurations. It is demonstrated that the space of solutions to these equations, called the Seiberg-Witten moduli space, is finite dimensional, and its dimension is then computed. In contrast to the SU(2)-case, the Seiberg-Witten moduli spaces are shown to be compact. The Seiberg-Witten invariant is then essentially the homology class in the space of configurations represented by the Seiberg-Witten moduli space. The last chapter gives a flavor for the applications of these new invariants by computing the invariants for most Kahler surfaces and then deriving some basic toological consequences for these surfaces.

Chern–Simons (Super)Gravity

Chern–Simons (Super)Gravity PDF

Author: Mokhtar Hassaine

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2016-01-07

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9814730955

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This book grew out of a set of lecture notes on gravitational Chern–Simons (CS) theories developed over the past decade for several schools and different audiences including graduate students and researchers. CS theories are gauge-invariant theories that can include gravity consistently. They are only defined in odd dimensions and represent a very special class of theories in the Lovelock family. Lovelock gravitation theories are the natural extensions of General Relativity for dimensions greater than four that yield second-order field equations for the metric. These theories also admit local supersymmetric extensions where supersymmetry is an off-shell symmetry of the action, as in a standard gauge theory. Apart from the arguments of mathematical elegance and beauty, the gravitational CS actions are exceptionally endowed with physical attributes that suggest the viability of a quantum interpretation. CS theories are gauge-invariant, scale-invariant and background independent; they have no dimensional coupling constants. All constants in the Lagrangian are fixed rational coefficients that cannot be adjusted without destroying gauge invariance. This exceptional status of CS systems makes them classically interesting to study, and quantum mechanically intriguing and promising. Contents:The Quantum Gravity PuzzleGeometry: General OverviewFirst Order Gravitation TheoryGravity in Higher DimensionsChern–Simons GravitiesAdditional Features of Chern–Simons GravityBlack Holes, Particles and BranesSupersymmetry and SupergravityChern–Simons SupergravitiesInönü–Wigner Contractions and Its ExtensionsUnconventional SupersymmetriesConcluding Remarks Readership: This book provides an introduction to Chern–Simons (super) gravity theories accessible for physics as well as mathematics graduate students and researchers. Key Features:The topics described in this book are self-contained and just require some basic background in physics and mathematics. Chern–Simons supergravity is a field which is intensively studied in the current literature of physics and mathematics, with more than 2000 articles related to this topic in the arXiv databaseThis title covers a topic not usually discussed either in standard gravity courses or in mathematical presentations of characteristic classes or cohomologyKeywords:Supergravity;Supersymmetry;Gauge Theory