Related papers: BF Theories and 2-knots
Motivated by suggestions of Paolo Cotta-Ramusino's work at the physical level of rigor relating BF theory to the Donaldson polynomials, we provide a construction applicable to the Turaev/Viro and Crane/Yetter invariants of *a priori* finer…
To every 3-manifold M one can associate a two-dimensional N=(2,2) supersymmetric field theory by compactifying five-dimensional N=2 super-Yang-Mills theory on M. This system naturally appears in the study of half-BPS surface operators in…
A topological quantum field theory of non-abelian differential forms is investigated from the point of view of its possible applications to description of polynomial invariants of higher-dimensional two-component links. A path-integral…
We consider BF-type topological field theory coupled to non-dynamical particle and string sources on spacetime manifolds of the form $\IR^1\times\MT$, where $\MT$ is a 3-manifold without boundary. Canonical quantization of the theory is…
We study generalizations of 3- and 4-dimensional BF-theory in the context of higher gauge theory. First, we construct topological higher gauge theories as discrete state sum models and explain how they are related to the state sums of…
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…
We investigate the covariant formulation of Chern-Simons theories in a general odd dimension which can be obtained by introducing a vacuum connection field as a reference. Field equations, Noether currents and superpotentials are computed…
An extension of the Artin Braid Group with new operators that generate double and triple intersections is considered. The extended Alexander theorem, relating intersecting closed braids and intersecting knots is proved for double and triple…
The asymptotic expansion of quantum knot invariants in complex Chern-Simons theory gives rise to factorially divergent formal power series. We conjecture that these series are resurgent functions whose Stokes automorphism is given by a pair…
A novel functorial relationship in perturbative quantum field theory is pointed out that associates Feynman diagrams (FD) having no external line in one theory ${\bf Th}_1$ with singlet operators in another one ${\bf Th}_2$ having an…
Quantum phases can be classified by topological invariants, which take on discrete values capturing global information about the quantum state. Over the past decades, these invariants have come to play a central role in describing matter,…
In this paper, we construct quantum invariants for knotoid diagrams in $\mathbb{R}^2$. The diagrams are arranged with respect to a given direction in the plane ({\it Morse knotoids}). A Morse knotoid diagram can be decomposed into basic…
We study the entanglement structure of Abelian topological order described by $p$-form BF theory in arbitrary dimensions. We do so directly in the low-energy topological quantum field theory by considering the algebra of topological surface…
Action principles of the BF type for diffeomorphism invariant topological field theories living in n-dimensional spacetime manifolds are presented. Their construction is inspired by Cuesta and Montesinos' recent paper where Cartan's first…
We construct a new family of exact quantum field theories modeled on hyperbolic geometry, called {\it quantum hyperbolic field theories} (QHFTs). The QHFTs are defined for a $(2+1)$-bordism category based on the set of compact oriented…
2-Chern-Simons theory, or more commonly known as 4d BF-BB theory with gauged shift symmetry, is a natural generalization of Chern-Simons theory to 4-dimensional manifolds. It is part of the bestiary of higher-homotopy Maurer-Cartan…
Linking numbers in higher dimensions and their generalization including gauge fields are studied in the context of BF theories. The linking numbers associated to $n$-manifolds with smooth flows generated by divergence-free p-vector fields,…
We show that the equations of motion defined over a specific field space are realizable as operator conditions in the physical sector of a generalized Floer theory defined over that field space. The ghosts associated with such a…
We construct combinatorial analogs of 2d higher topological quantum field theories. We consider triangulations as vertices of a certain CW complex $\Xi$. In the "flip theory," cells of $\Xi_\mathrm{flip}$ correspond to polygonal…
We argue that a consistent coupling of a quantum theory to gravity requires an extension of ordinary `first order' Riemannian geometry to second order Riemannian geometry, which incorporates both a line element and an area element. This…