Related papers: Characteristic classes via 4-dimensional gauge the…
We prove a diagonalisation theorem for the tautological, or generalised Miller-Morita-Mumford classes of compact, smooth, simply-connected definite $4$-manifolds. Our result can be thought of as a families version of Donaldson's…
We construct characteristic classes for singular algebraic varieties in motivic Borel-Moore homology, extending the motivic Euler class of the tangent bundle defined for smooth varieties. The two classes we define refine, in the setting of…
We generalize Kontsevich's construction of characteristic classes of fibre bundles with homology sphere fibres and a trivialization of the vertical tangent bundle to framed fibre bundles with closed manifold fibres.
We pursue a uniform quantization of all twists of 4-dimensional N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, using the BV formalism, and we explore consequences for factorization algebras of observables. Our central result is the construction of…
We construct Yang-Mills connections on SO(n)-bundles over spheres equipped with the Euclidean metric. We use a cohomogeneity one group action on the bundle to reduce the Yang-Mills-equation to a system of ordinary differential equations.…
We construct nearly topological Yang-Mills theories on eight dimensional manifolds with a special holonomy group. These manifolds are the Joyce manifold with $Spin(7)$ holonomy and the Calabi-Yau manifold with SU(4) holonomy. An invariant…
In the first part of this paper, we propose a uniform interpretation of characteristic classes as obstructions to the reduction of the structure group and to the existence of an equivariant extension of a certain homomorphism defined a…
Motivated by the simplicity and direct phenomenological applicability of field-theoretic orbifold constructions in the context of grand unification, we set out to survey the immensely rich group-theoretical possibilities open to this type…
We solve for the effective actions on the Coulomb branches of a class of N=2 supersymmetric theories by finding the complex structure of an M5 brane in an appropriate background hyperkahler geometry corresponding to the lift of two O6^-…
In this paper we give the first example of a surface bundle over a surface with at least three fiberings. In fact, for each $n \ge 3$ we construct $4$-manifolds $E$ admitting at least $n$ distinct fiberings $p_i: E \to \Sigma_{g_i}$ as a…
What are called secondary characteristic classes in Chern-Weil theory are a refinement of ordinary characteristic classes of principal bundles from cohomology to differential cohomology. We consider the problem of refining the construction…
We construct a new infinite family of N=1 quiver gauge theories which can be Higgsed to the Y^{p,q} quiver gauge theories. The dual geometries are toric Calabi-Yau cones for which we give the toric data. We also discuss the action of…
Starting with minimal requirements from the physical experience with higher gauge theories, i.e. gauge theories for a tower of differential forms of different form degrees, we discover that all the structural identities governing such…
The construction of a $N_T=3$ cohomological gauge theory on an hyper-K"ahler eight-fold, whose group theoretical descrition was given by Blau and Thompson, is performed explicitly.
Covariant anomalies are studied in terms of the theory of secondary characteristic classes of the universal bundle of Yang-Mills theory. A new set of descent equations is derived which contains the covariant current anomaly and the…
The N=4 SuperYang--Mills theory is covariantly determined by a U(1) \times SU(2) \subset SL(2,R) \times SU(2) internal symmetry and two scalar and one vector BRST topological symmetry operators. This determines an off-shell closed sector of…
We present a review of Witten index calculations in different supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions: supersymmetric electrodynamics, pure N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories and also SYM theories including matter multiplets --…
Starting from ideas of Furuta, we develop a general formalism for the construction of cohomotopy invariants associated with a certain class of $S^1$-equivariant non-linear maps between Hilbert bundles. Applied to the Seiberg-Witten map,…
We realize four-dimensional N=2 superconformal quiver gauge theories with alternating SO and USp gauge groups as compactifications of the six-dimensional D_N theory with defects. The construction can be used to analyze infinitely…
We present a first step towards generalizing the work of Seiberg and Witten on N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to arbitrary gauge groups. Specifically, we propose a particular sequence of hyperelliptic genus $n-1$ Riemann surfaces to…