Related papers: Nonabelian Surface Holonomy from Multiplicative In…
We shall give an axiomatic construction of Wess-Zumino-Witten actions valued in (G=SU(N)), (N\geq 3). It is realized as a functor ({WZ}) from the category of conformally flat four-dimensional manifolds to the category of line bundles with…
Holonomy invariants in strict higher gauge theory have been studied in depth, aiming to applications to higher Chern-Simons theory. For a flat 2-connection, the holonomy of surface knots of arbitrary genus has been defined and its…
We reconsider Chern-Simons gauge theory on a Seifert manifold M (the total space of a nontrivial circle bundle over a Riemann surface). When M is a Seifert manifold, Lawrence and Rozansky have shown from the exact solution of Chern-Simons…
There are few known computable examples of non-abelian surface holonomy. In this paper, we give several examples whose structure 2-groups are covering 2-groups and show that the surface holonomies can be computed via a simple formula in…
This work introduces a surface observable for nonabelian four-dimensional $BF$ theory with a cosmological term. The surface observable yields new $2$-knot invariants that may extend beyond known examples such as the Alexander invariant. By…
Starting with a non-abelian gerbe represented by a non-abelian differential cocycle, with values in a given crossed-module, this paper explicitly calculates a formula for the derivative of the associated surface holonomy of squares mapped…
This monograph develops the theory of Besov spaces for abelian group actions on semifinite von Neumann algebras and then proves Peller criteria for traceclass properties of associated Hankel operators. This allows to extend known index…
We study Chern-Simons theory on 3-manifolds $M$ that are circle-bundles over 2-dimensional surfaces $\Sigma$ and show that the method of Abelianisation, previously employed for trivial bundles $\Sigma \times S^1$, can be adapted to this…
We extend the usual notion of parallel transport along a path to triangulated surfaces. A homotopy of paths is lifted into a fibered category with connection and this defines a functor between the fibers above the boundary paths. These…
We use vielbein bundle's horizontal lift path integral formulation and gauge theory's holonomy map to compactly describe parallel transport and geodesic equations on a manifold. This is first applied to the geometry of general relativistic…
We consider a finite-dimensional oscillatory integral which provides a "finite-dimensional model" for analytically continued $SU(2)$ Chern-Simons theory on closed 3-manifolds that are described by plumbing trees. This model allows an…
The Feynman amplitudes with the two-dimensional Wess-Zumino action functional have a geometric interpretation as bundle gerbe holonomy. We present details of the construction of a distinguished square root of such holonomy and of a related…
We develop a theory of quasimaps to a moduli space of sheaves $M$ on a surface $S$. Under some assumptions, we prove that moduli spaces of quasimaps are proper and carry a perfect obstruction theory. Moreover, they are naturally isomorphic…
The proper action functional of (4k+3)-dimensional U(1)-Chern-Simons theory including the instanton sectors has a well known description: it is given on the moduli space of fields by the fiber integration of the cup product square of…
Let S be a K3 surface. In part I of this paper, we constructed a representation of the group Aut D(S), of auto-equivalences of the derived category of S. We interpreted this infinite dimensional representation, as the natural action of Aut…
An unambiguous definition of Feynman amplitudes in the Wess-Zumino-Witten sigma model and the Chern-Simon gauge theory with a general Lie group is determined by a certain geometric structure on the group. For the WZW amplitudes, this is a…
In this work, we study topological properties of surface bundles, with an emphasis on surface bundles with a spin structure. We develop a criterion to decide whether a given manifold bundle has a spin structure and specialize it to surface…
We reconsider Chern-Simons gauge theory on a Seifert manifold M, which is the total space of a nontrivial circle bundle over a Riemann surface, possibly with orbifold points. As shown in previous work with Witten, the path integral…
This is a proceedings article reviewing a recent combinatorial construction of the su(n) WZNW fusion ring by C. Stroppel and the author. It contains one novel aspect: the explicit derivation of an algorithm for the computation of fusion…
Lifting supersymmetric quantum mechanics to loop space yields the superstring. A particle charged under a fiber bundle thereby turns into a string charged under a 2-bundle, or gerbe. This stringification is nothing but categorification. We…