Related papers: Lectures in Topological Quantum Field Theory
In 1983, Donaldson shocked the topology world by using instantons from physics to prove new theorems about four-dimensional manifolds, and he developed new topological invariants. In 1988, Witten showed how these invariants could be…
We consider a twisted version of the four-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge groups SU(2) and SO(3), and bare masses for two of its chiral multiplets, thereby breaking N=4 down to N=2. Using the wall-crossing…
We review localization techniques for functional integrals which have recently been used to perform calculations in and gain insight into the structure of certain topological field theories and low-dimensional gauge theories. These are the…
We study topological field theory describing gapped phases of gauge theories where the gauge symmetry is partially Higgsed and partially confined. The TQFT can be formulated both in the continuum and on the lattice and generalizes…
By considering specific limits in the gauge coupling constant of pure Yang--Mills dynamics, it is shown how there exist topological quantum field theory sectors in such systems defining nonperturbative topological configurations of the…
By dimensional reduction, Einstein-Hermitian equations of n + 1 dimensional closed Kahler manifolds lead to vortex equations of n dimensional closed Kahler manifolds. A Yang-Mills-Higgs functional to unitary bundles over closed Kahler…
We study the twisted $N=2$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory coupled with the hypermultiplets (TQCD). We suggest that the family of TQCD can be served as a powerful tool for studying the quantum field theoretic properties of the underlying…
The study of topological quantum field theories increasingly relies upon concepts from higher-dimensional algebra such as n-categories and n-vector spaces. We review progress towards a definition of n-category suited for this purpose, and…
The paper puts together some loosely connected observations, old and new, on the concept of a quantum field and on the properties of Feynman amplitudes. We recall, in particular, the role of (exceptional) elementary induced representations…
The idea of treating general relativistic theories in a perturbative expansion around a topological theory has been recently put forward in the quantum gravity literature. Here we investigate the viability of this idea, by applying it to…
This review gives an introduction to cohomological Donaldson-Thomas theory: the study of a cohomology theory on moduli spaces of sheaves on Calabi-Yau threefolds, and of complexes in 3-Calabi-Yau categories, categorifying their numerical DT…
We review the relation of certain integrals over the Coulomb phase of $d=4$, N=2 SO(3) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with Donaldson-Witten theory. We describe a new way to write an important contact term in the theory and show how the…
In the framework of the Closed-Time-Path formalism, we show how topological defects may arise in Quantum Field Theory as result of a localized (inhomogeneous) condensation of particles. We demonstrate our approach on two examples; kinks in…
In these lecture notes, an introduction to topological concepts and methods in studies of gauge field theories is presented. The three paradigms of topological objects, the Nielsen-Olesen vortex of the abelian Higgs model, the 't…
This thesis is broadly split into two parts. In the first part, simple state sum models for minimally coupled fermion and scalar fields are constructed on a $1$-manifold. The models are independent of the triangulation and give the same…
We discuss gauge theory with a topological N=2 symmetry. This theory captures the de Rham complex and Riemannian geometry of some underlying moduli space $\cal M$ and the partition function equals the Euler number of $\cal M$. We explicitly…
We present an explicit expression for the topological invariants associated to $SU(2)$ monopoles in the fundamental representation on spin four-manifolds. The computation of these invariants is based on the analysis of their corresponding…
These lectures review some of the basic properties of $N=2$ superconformal field theories and the corresponding topological field theories. One of my basic aims is to show how the techniques of topological field theory can be used to…
The paper contains the construction of a topological quantum field theory with corners that underlies the smooth topological quantum field theory of Lickorish. Among other things, a contraction formula for diagrams is proved, the presence…
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…