Related papers: An Invitation to Higher Gauge Theory
Recent work applying higher gauge theory to the superstring has indicated the presence of 'higher symmetry', and the same methods work for the super-2-brane. In the previous paper in this series, we used a geometric technique to construct a…
We review in a pedagogical manner some of the efforts aiming to extend the gauge/gravity correspondence to non-conformal supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions. After giving a general overview, we discuss in detail two specific…
A detailed study of certain apspects of some 2+1 dimensional field theories is presented with special emphasis on the role of Wigner's little group for massless particles in generating gauge transformations. The planar models considered…
In gauge theories parallel transporters (PTs) U(C) along paths C play an important role. Traditionally they are unitary or pseudoorthogonal maps between vector spaces. We propose to abandon unitarity of parallel transporters and with it the…
It has been proposed to abandon the requirement that parallel transporters in gauge theories are unitary (or pseudoorthogonal). This leads to a geometric interpretation of Vierbein fields as parts of gauge fields, and nonunitary parallel…
We study bundle gerbes on manifolds $M$ that carry an action of a connected Lie group $G$. We show that these data give rise to a smooth 2-group extension of $G$ by the smooth 2-group of hermitean line bundles on $M$. This 2-group extension…
Elimination of the fibre coordinate dependence from the connection form transformation rule for a bundle with a coset manifold standard fibre reduces the structure group. The nonlinear SU(4) action on an $S^7$ bundle is applied to the…
This article is expository in nature, outlining some of the many still incompletely understood features of higher spin field theory. We are mainly considering higher spin gauge fields in their own right as free-standing theoretical…
In this thesis we discuss non-perturbative phenomena emerging in gauge and in string/supergravity theories. We compute the partition function of 5D minimal supersymmetric U(1) gauge theory with extra adjoint matter in general…
A popular way to study N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories is to realize them geometrically in string theory, as suspended brane constructions, D-branes wrapping cycles in Calabi-Yau manifolds, orbifolds, and otherwise. Among the applications…
We clarifies the group theoretical structure of $N=1$ and $N=2$ two-form supergravity, which is classically equivalent to the Einstein supergravity. $N=1$ and $N=2$ two-form supergravity theories can be formulated as gauge theories. By…
Introductory lectures on higher-spin gauge theory given at 7 Aegean workshop on non-Einstein theories of gravity. The emphasis is on qualitative features of the higher-spin gauge theory and peculiarities of its space-time interpretation. In…
A gauge theory of gravity is defined in 6 dimensional non-commutative space-time. The gauge group is the unitary group U(2,2), which contains the homogeneous Lorentz group, SO(4,2), in 6 dimensions as a subgroup. It is shown that, after the…
We show that in the context of two-dimensional sigma models minimal coupling of an ordinary rigid symmetry Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ leads naturally to the appearance of the "generalized tangent bundle" $\mathbb{T}M \equiv TM \oplus T^*M$…
In general relativity, the strong equivalence principle is underpinned by a geometrical interpretation of fields on spacetime: all fields and bodies probe the same geometry. This geometric interpretation implies that the parallel transport…
The bigerbes introduced here give a refinement of the notion of 2-gerbes, representing degree four integral cohomology classes of a space. Defined in terms of bisimplicial line bundles, bigerbes have a symmetry with respect to which they…
We propose a symmetry law for a doublet of different form fields, which resembles gauge transformations for matter fields. This may be done for general Lie groups, resulting in an extension of Lie algebras and group manifolds. It is also…
The loop representation of quantum gravity has many formal resemblances to a background-free string theory. In fact, its origins lie in attempts to treat the string theory of hadrons as an approximation to QCD, in which the strings…
We introduce an axiomatic framework for the parallel transport of connections on gerbes. It incorporates parallel transport along curves and along surfaces, and is formulated in terms of gluing axioms and smoothness conditions. The…
We give a brief overview how to couple general relativity to the Standard Model of elementary particles, within the higher gauge theory framework, suitable for the spinfoam quantization procedure. We begin by providing a short review of all…