English

Twists and Gorms and Antifields, oh my!

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-11-12 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Algebra

Abstract

I define topological twists of supersymmetric field theories in the case when the supercharges involved obey an ``open'' algebra. Using the Batalin-Vilkovisky field-antifield formalism, I construct twisted theories algorithmically from the supersymmetry data, and explain supersymmetric localisation in terms of anticanonical transformations. I also treat equivariant topological twists and explain how BV observables contain the equivariant cohomology of the space of histories. Some results are generalised to theories with two topological supercharges -- such as the ``balanced'' topological field theories of Dijkgraaf and Moore -- using the geometry of ``differential gorms'' of Kochan and \v{S}evera. Finally, I exhibit examples of these constructions, including a U(1)\mathrm{U}(1)-equivariant topological B-model.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.00144,
  title  = {Twists and Gorms and Antifields, oh my!},
  author = {Alex S. Arvanitakis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.00144},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

30 pages; references added