Related papers: Topology in Physics
An inconsistency of quantum field theory, regarding the signs of vacuum energy and vacuum pressure of elementary fields versus non-elementary fields (like e.g. phonon fields), is pointed out. An improved law for the canonical quantization…
This article, written in honor of Fritz Rohrlich, briefly surveys the role of topology in physics.
Some of the basic concepts of topology are explored through known physics problems. This helps us in two ways, one, in motivating the definitions and the concepts, and two, in showing that topological analysis leads to a clearer…
There is debate as to whether quantum field theory is, at bottom, a quantum theory of fields or particles. One can take a field approach to the theory, using wave functionals over field configurations, or a particle approach, using wave…
We consider some general aspects of the new noncommutative or quantum geometry coming out of the theory of quantum groups, in connection with Planck scale physics. A generalisation of Fourier or wave-particle duality on curved spaces…
Symmetry fractionalization describes the fascinating phenomena that excitations in a 2D topological system can transform under symmetry in a fractional way. For example in fractional quantum Hall systems, excitations can carry fractional…
Since the quantum field theory treats a system of particles, there must be a distribution which is associated with the system of particles. It means that a meaningful quantity is adjoined in the system of particles. It seems that these…
We revisit the standard axioms of domain theory with emphasis on their relation to the concept of partiality, explain how this idea arises naturally in probability theory and quantum mechanics, and then search for a mathematical setting…
In this short note we use the geometric approach to (topological) field theory to address the question: Does an odd number of quantum mechanical fermions make sense?
It is the goal of this article to extend the notion of quantization from the standard interpretation focused on non-commuting observables defined starting from classical analogues, to the topological equivalents defined in terms of…
We study the tunneling between two quantum Hall systems, along a quasi one-dimensional interface. A detailed analysis relates microscopic parameters, characterizing the potential barrier, with the effective field theory model for the…
Canonical quantization of abelian BF-type topological field theory coupled to extended sources on generic d-dimensional manifolds and with curved line bundles is studied. Sheaf cohomology is used to construct the appropriate topological…
In this article it is reported a formulation of the solenoidal nature of quantum electronic currents at the nanoscale whose divergence is expressed as the coupling of a magnetic field, interacting with a quantum body, and a weighted Cern…
These notes offer a lightening introduction to topological quantum field theory in its functorial axiomatisation, assuming no or little prior exposure. We lay some emphasis on the connection between the path integral motivation and the…
The physical reasons in favour of a two dimensional topological model of quantum electrodynamics are discussed. It is shown that in accord with this model there is a new uncertainty relation for photon which is compatible with QED.
Phonons are ubiquitous quasiparticles in solid state systems describing the quantized vibrations of a crystal lattice. Phonons play a central role in a wide range of physical phenomena, from transport to symmetry-breaking orders, such as…
Strongly correlated fractional quantum Hall liquids support fractional excitations, which can be understood in terms of adiabatic flux insertion arguments. A second route to fractionalization is through the coupling of weakly interacting…
The phenomenon of quantum entanglement is thoroughly investigated, focussing especially on geometrical aspects and on bipartite systems. After introducing the formalism and discussing general aspects, some of the most important separability…
Even the uninitiated will know that Quantum Field Theory cannot be introduced systematically in just four lectures. I try to give a reasonably connected outline of part of it, from second quantization to the path-integral technique in…
A key property of topologically ordered systems, such as Quantum Hall states, is the existence of excitations obeying fractional quantum statistics - anyons. We develop a theory for multicomponent counterflow states where an ordinary…