Lectures on topological field theories and differential cohomology.
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Derives localization formulas in Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism.
We formulate differential cohomology and Chern-Weil theory -- the theory of connections on fiber bundles and of gauge fields -- abstractly in the context of a certain class of higher toposes that we call "cohesive". Cocycles in this differential cohomology classify higher principal bundles equipped with cohesive struct…
Constructs maps from field theories to complexified K-theory and elliptic cohomology.
We study the Lagrangian antifield BRST formalism, formulated in terms of exterior horizontal forms on the infinite order jet space of graded fields for topological field theories associated to -bundles. In the case of a trivial Q-bundle with a flat fiber and arbitrary base, we prove that the BRST cohomology are isom…
We consider euclidean D-branes wrapping around manifolds of exceptional holonomy in dimensions seven and eight. The resulting theory on the D-brane---that is, the dimensional reduction of 10-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory---is a cohomological field theory which describes the topology of the moduli space o…
We review and elaborate on some aspects of the quantization of certain classes of higher abelian gauge theories using techniques of generalized differential cohomology. Particular emphasis is placed on the examples of generalized Maxwell theory and Cheeger-Simons cohomology, and of Ramond-Ramond fields in Type II super…
Novel proof technique for Gelfand-Fuks cohomology.
We present a method to develop a Hodge theory for tangential cohomology of foliations by mimicing Witten's approach to ordinary Morse theory by perturbations of the Laplacian
A new cohomology, induced by a vector field, is defined on pairs of differential forms (--differentiable forms) in a manifold. It is proved a link with the classical de Rham cohomology and an -differentable cohomology of Lichnerowicz type associated to an one form. Also, the case when the manifold is complex and …
Higher gauge theory via differential nonabelian cohomology
We construct a cohomology theory for oriented links using singular cobordisms and a special type of 2-dimensional Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT), categorifying the quantum sl(2) invariant. In particular, we give a description of the universal dot-free sl(2) foam cohomology for links via a TQFT.
Survey of bundle gerbes in geometry, field theory, and quantization.
We provide a differential cocycle model for elliptic cohomology with complex coefficients and use analytic methods to construct a cocycle representative for the Witten class in this language. Our motivation stems from the conjectural connection between 2-dimensional field theories and elliptic cohomology originally due…
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 fermions yields a cocycle representative of the elliptic Thom class. This construct…
We show that the complex cohomologies of Bott, Chern, and Aeppli and the symplectic cohomologies of Tseng and Yau arise in the context of type II string theory. Specifically, they can be used to count a subset of scalar moduli fields in Minkowski compactification with RR fluxes in the presence of either O5/D5 or O6/D6 …
In the background effective field theory of heterotic string theory, the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism plays a key role. Here we reinterpret it and its magnetic dual version in terms of differential twisted String- and differential twisted Fivebrane-structures that generalize the notion of Spin-structure…
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 functional integral counterparts of the Mathai-Quillen formalism, the Duistermaa…
Decouples moduli groups in heterotic string theory cohomology.
In this paper we introduce the concept of Deligne cohomology of an orbifold. We prove that the third Deligne cohomology group of a smooth étale groupoid classify gerbes with connection over the groupoid. We argue that the -field and the discrete torsion in type II superstring theories are special kinds of gerbes wit…
We construct a global geometric model for complex analytic equivariant elliptic cohomology for all compact Lie groups. Cocycles are specified by functions on the space of fields of the two-dimensional sigma model with background gauge fields and supersymmetry. We also consider a theory of free fe…
Relates quantum cohomology to tt*-Toda equations for minuscule flag manifolds.
New theory connects string theory to swampland distance conjecture.
We consider the hypothesis that the C-field 4-flux and 7-flux forms in M-theory are in the image of the non-abelian Chern character map from the non-abelian generalized cohomology theory called J-twisted Cohomotopy theory. We prove for M2-brane backgrounds in M-theory on 8-manifolds that such charge quantization of the…
We study differential cohomology on categories of globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds. The Lorentzian metric allows us to define a natural transformation whose kernel generalizes Maxwell's equations and fits into a restriction of the fundamental exact sequences of differential cohomology. We consider smooth Pontry…
We study symplectic Laplacians on compact symplectic manifolds with boundary. These Laplacians are associated with symplectic cohomologies of differential forms and can be of fourth-order. We introduce several natural boundary conditions on differential forms and use them to establish Hodge theory by proving various fo…
We prove involutivity of Einstein, Einstein-Maxwell and other field equations by calculating the Spencer cohomology of these systems. Relation with Cartan method is traced in details. Basic implications through Cartan-Kahler theory are derived.
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 extension of the action and the topological flux quantization conditions, in terms …
We give a description of the delocalized twisted cohomology of an orbifold and the Chern character of a twisted vector bundle in terms of supersymmetric Euclidean field theories. This includes the construction of a twist functor for -dimensional EFTs from the data of a gerbe with connection.
Study quantum aspects of 1-form symmetries using BV-BRST cohomology and gerbes.
For any finite group G we define the moduli space of pointed admissible G-covers and the concept of a G-equivariant cohomological field theory (G-CohFT), which, when G is the trivial group, reduce to the moduli space of stable curves and a cohomological field theory (CohFT), respectively. We prove that by taking the "q…
Estimates quantum cohomology complexity for Fano varieties and homogeneous spaces.
Bounded cohomology of groups was first defined by Johnson and Trauber during the seventies in the context of Banach algebras. As an independent and very active research field, however, bounded cohomology started to develop in 1982, thanks to the pioneering paper "Volume and Bounded Cohomology" by M. Gromov, where the d…
In "The Gel'fand-Kalinin-Fuks class and characteristic classes of transversely symplectic foliations", arXiv:0910.3414, (October 2009) by D.Kotschick and S.Morita, the relative Gel'fand-Kalinin-Fuks cohomology groups of the formal Hamiltonian vector fields without constant vector fields on 2n-plane were characterized b…
We consider the topological and geometric structures associated with cohomological and homological objects in M-theory. For the latter, we have M2-branes and M5-branes, the analysis of which requires the underlying spacetime to admit a String structure and a Fivebrane structure, respectively. For the former, we study h…
The study of multisymplectic structures using Spencer cohomology.
Compute local cohomology of vector fields on manifolds.
The paper applies Poincaré duality to supergravity, proving its equivalence to other formulations.
New cohomology groups generalize Euler number for Lie superalgebras.
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 supersymmetric theories with a central charge. We analyze in detail two different cases: topological…
The main new result here is the cancellation of global anomalies in the Type I superstring, with and without D-branes. Our argument here depends on a precise interpretation of the 2-form abelian gauge field using KO-theory; then the anomaly cancellation follows from a geometric form of the full Atiyah-Singer index theo…
Conditions found for linearizing divergence-free fields on invariant tori.
Modern differential cohomology explained with applications.
We present a sigma model field theoretic realization of Hitchin's generalized complex geometry, which recently has been shown to be relevant in compactifications of superstring theory with fluxes. Hitchin sigma model is closely related to the well known Poisson sigma model, of which it has the same field content. The c…
Resolves anomaly cancellation for M5-brane in M-theory.
Field Theories in Physics can be formulated giving a local Lagrangian density. Locality is imposed using the infinite jet bundle. That bundle is viewed as a pro-finite dimensional smooth manifold and that point of view has been compared to different topological and Frechét structures on it. A category of local (insular…
The quantum differential equations can be regarded as examples of equations with certain universal properties which are of wider interest beyond quantum cohomology itself. We present this point of view as part of a framework which accommodates the KdV equation and other well known integrable systems. In the case of qua…
The paper proves properties of quantum representations and their Toledo invariants.