Related papers: Spin Foam Models of String Theory
In this thesis I review the definition of topological quantum field theories through state sums on triangulated manifolds. I describe the construction of state sum invariants of 3-manifolds from a graphical calculus and show how to evaluate…
I introduce spin in field theory by emphasizing the close connection between quantum field theory and quantum mechanics. First, I show that the spin-statistics connection can be derived in quantum mechanics without relativity or field…
In this paper we study the string topology (\'a la Chas-Sullivan) of an orbifold. We define the string homology ring product at the level of the free loop space of the classifying space of an orbifold. We study its properties (introducing…
This is an introduction to two-dimensional conformal field theory and its applications in string theory. Modern concepts of conformal field theory are explained, and it is outlined how they are used in recent studies of D-branes in the…
We propose that at low energy four dimensional bosonic strings may form bound states where they become bundled together much like the filaments in a cable. We inspect the properties of these bundles in terms of their extrinsic geometry.…
We formulate a generalized scattering field theory a la Buttiker describing particles transport in magnetic/superconducting heterostructures. The proposed formalism, characterized by a four- component spinorial wavefunction of the…
We discuss the quantisation of a class of string cosmology models that are characterized by scale factor duality invariance. We compute the amplitudes for the full set of classically allowed and forbidden transitions by applying the reduce…
Phase-space path-integrals are used in order to illustrate various aspects of a recently proposed interpretation of quantum mechanics as a gauge theory of metaplectic spinor fields.
Although the Standard Model of particle physics is usually formulated in terms of fields, it can be equivalently formulated in terms of particles and strings. In this picture particles and open strings are always coupled. This offers an…
We extend the lattice gauge theory-type derivation of the Barrett-Crane spin foam model for quantum gravity to other choices of boundary conditions, resulting in different boundary terms, and re-analyze the gluing of 4-simplices in this…
We calculate the partition function of the $SU(N)$ ( and $U(N)$) generalized $YM_2$ theory defined on an arbitrary Riemann surface. The result which is expressed as a sum over irreducible representations generalizes the Rusakov formula for…
We derive a fluid theory for spin-1/2 particles starting from an extended kinetic model based on a spin-projected density matrix formalism. The evolution equation for the spin density is found to contain a pressure-like term. We give an…
We propose new topological vertex formalism for Type IIB $(p,q)$ 5-brane web with an O5-plane. We apply our proposal to 5d $\mathcal{N}=1$ Sp(1) gauge theory with $N_f=0,1,8$ flavors to compute the topological string partition functions and…
When path integrals are discussed in quantum field theory, it is almost always assumed that the fields take values in a vector bundle. When the fields are instead valued in a possibly-curved fiber bundle, the independence of the formal path…
The symmetries of string theory on ${\rm AdS}_3 \times {\rm S}^3 \times \mathbb{T}^4$ at the dual of the symmetric product orbifold point are described by a so-called Higher Spin Square (HSS). We show that the massive string spectrum in…
Parallel transport of a connection in a smooth fibre bundle yields a functor from the path groupoid of the base manifold into a category that describes the fibres of the bundle. We characterize functors obtained like this by two notions we…
The B-twisted topological sigma model coupled to topological gravity is supposed to be described by an ordinary field theory: a type of holomorphic Chern-Simons theory for the open string, and the Kodaira-Spencer theory for the closed…
A general theory of edge spin wave excitations in semi-infinite and finite periodic arrays of magnetic nanodots existing in a spatially uniform magnetization ground state is developed. The theory is formulated using a formalism of…
Understanding the large-scale physics is crucial for the spin foam approach to quantum gravity. We tackle this challenge from a statistical physics perspective using simplified, yet feature-rich models. In particular, this allows us to…
The first part is an introduction to conformal field theory and string perturbation theory. The second part deals with the search for a deeper answer to the question posed in the title. Contents: 1. Conformal Field Theory 2. String Theory…