Related papers: New Topological Aspects of $BF$ Theories
We use a Hodge decomposition and its generalization to non-abelian flat vector bundles to calculate the partition function for abelian and non- abelian BF theories in $n$ dimensions. This enables us to provide a simple proof that the…
The geometry of antisymmetric fields with nontrivial transitions over a base manifold is described in terms of exact sequences of cohomology groups. This formulation leads naturally to the appearance of nontrivial topological charges…
In this work we discuss the simplicial program for topological field theories for the case of non-abelian BF theory. Discrete BF theory with finite-dimensional space of fields is constructed for a triangulated manifold (or for a manifold…
Using gauge theory and functional integral methods, we derive concrete expressions for the partition functions of BF theory and the U(1|1) model of Rozansky and Saleur on $\Sigma x S^{1}$, both directly and using equivalent two-dimensional…
3-dimensional BF theory with gauge group $G$ (= Chern-Simons theory with non-compact gauge group $TG$) is a deceptively simple yet subtle topological gauge theory. Formally, its partition function is a sum/integral over the moduli space…
We consider a deformation of three dimensional BF theory by means of the antifield BRST formalism. Possible deformations for the action and the gauge symmetries are analyzed. We find a new class of gauge theories which include nonabelian BF…
Gravitational anomalies can be realized on the boundary of topologically ordered states in one higher dimension and are described by topological orders in one higher dimension. In this paper, we try to develop a general theory for both…
We give a self-contained and enriched review about topology properties in the rapidly growing field of topological states of matter (TSM). This review is mainly focus on the beautiful interplay of topology mathematics and condensed matter…
BF theory is a topological theory that can be seen as a natural generalization of 3-dimensional gravity to arbitrary dimensions. Here we show that the coupling to point particles that is natural in three dimensions generalizes in a direct…
Yang-Mills theory in the first order formalism appears as the deformation of a topological field theory, the pure BF theory. In this approach new non local observables are inherited from the topological theory and the operators entering the…
A gauge theory is associated with a principal bundle endowed with a connection permitting to define horizontal lifts of paths. The horizontal lifts of surfaces cannot be defined into a principal bundle structure. An higher gauge theory is…
Inspired by the recent algebraic approach to classical field theory, we propose a more general setting based on the manifold of smooth sections of a non-trivial fiber bundle. Central is the notion of observables over such sections, i.e.…
We give a quantum field theoretic derivation of the formula obeyed by the Ray-Singer torsion on product manifolds. Such a derivation has proved elusive up to now. We use a BRST formalism which introduces the idea of an infinite dimensional…
Due to the recent studies of the fracton topological phases, which host deconfined quasi-particle excitations with mobility restrictions, the concept of symmetries have been updated. Focusing on one of such new symmetries, multipole…
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…
The off-shell nilpotent BRST charge and the BRST invariant effective action for non-abelian BF topological theories over D-dimensional manifolds are explicitly constructed. These theories have the feature of being reducible with exactly D-3…
We present a class of solvable models that resemble string theories in many respects but have a strikingly different non-perturbative sector. In particular, there are no exponentially small contributions to perturbation theory in the string…
The supersymmetric version of a topological quantum field theory describing flat connections, the super BF-theory, is studied in the superspace formalism. A set of observables related to topological invariants is derived from the curvature…
This note studies the quantized corner structure of four-dimensional $BF$ theory, classifies the associated free and physical corner algebras and constructs possible representations. In the abelian case, for arbitrary closed oriented…
We present a construction of cellular BF theory (in both abelian and non-abelian variants) on cobordisms equipped with cellular decompositions. Partition functions of this theory are invariant under subdivisions, satisfy a version of the…