Related papers: Mathai-Quillen Formalism
These lecture notes give an introductory account of an approach to cohomological field theory due to Atiyah and Jeffrey which is based on the construction of Gaussian shaped Thom forms by Mathai and Quillen. Topics covered are: an…
A mathematical framework of cohomological field theories (CohFTs) is formulated in the language of bigraded manifolds. Algebraic properties of operators in CohFTs are studied. Methods of constructing CohFTs, with or without gauge…
A simple field theoretical approach to Mathai-Quillen topological field theories of maps $X: M_I \to M_T$ from an internal space to a target space is presented. As an example of applications of our formalism we compute by applying our…
We present a Mathai-Quillen interpretation of topological sigma models. The key to the construction is a natural connection in a suitable infinite dimensional vector bundle over the space of maps from a Riemann surface (the world sheet) to…
We construct sheaf-cohomological analogues of Mathai-Quillen forms, that is, holomorphic bundle-valued differential forms whose cohomology classes are independent of certain deformations, and which are believed to possess Thom-like…
We give an alternative proof for the Mathai-Quillen formula for a Thom form using its natural behaviour with respect to fiberwise integration. We also study this phenomenon in general context.
We present an equivariant extension of the Thom form with respect to a vector field action, in the framework of the Mathai-Quillen formalism. The associated Topological Quantum Field Theories correspond to twisted $N=2$ supersymmetric…
This is a first investigation by the author of the similarity between Quillen's superconnection formalism, his constructions of (periodic) cyclic cocycles via algebra cochains on a bar construction, and Kasparov bimodules for KK-theory. In…
We present a detailed description of the three inequivalent twists of N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories. The resulting topological quantum field theories are reobtained in the framework of the Mathai-Quillen formalism and the corresponding…
In these lectures we present a general introduction to topological quantum field theories. These theories are discussed in the framework of the Mathai-Quillen formalism and in the context of twisted N=2 supersymmetric theories. We discuss…
In the jet bundle description of Field Theories (multisymplectic models, in particular), there are several choices for the multimomentum bundle where the covariant Hamiltonian formalism takes place. As a consequence, several proposals for…
The Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formalisms offer two perspectives on quantum field theory. This paper sets up a framework to compare these approaches for the supersymmetric sigma model. The goal is to use techniques from physics to construct…
We present a topological quantum field theory which corresponds to the moduli problem associated to Witten's monopole equations for four-manifolds. The construction of the theory is carried out in purely geometrical terms using the…
We demonstrate the usage of explicit form of the Thom class found by Mathai and Quillen for the definition of generating functional of a simple supersymmetric quantum mechanical model.
It is suggested that topological membranes play a fundamental role in the recently proposed topological M-theory. We formulate a topological theory of membranes wrapping associative three-cycles in a seven-dimensional target space with G_2…
This paper develops the basic theory of formal schemes over fields in the supersymmetric setting. We introduce the notion of a formal superscheme and investigate some of its fundamental properties. Particular emphasis is placed on the study…
Using the Mathai-Quillen formalism we reexamine the twisted N=4 supersymmetric model of Vafa-Witten theory. Smooth out the relation between the supersymmetric action and the path integral representation of the Thom class.
In \cite{km2}, Kudla and Millson constructed a $q$-form $\varphi_{KM}$ on an orthogonal symmetric space using Howe's differential operators. It is a crucial ingredient in their theory of theta lifting. This form can be seen as a Thom form…
We present a cocycle model for elliptic cohomology with complex coefficients in which methods from 2-dimensional quantum field theory can be used to rigorously construct cocycles. For example, quantizing a theory of vector bundle-valued…
The well-known geometric approach to field theory is based on description of classical fields as sections of fibred manifolds, e.g. bundles with a structure group in gauge theory. In this approach, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms…