arXiv research

Lectures on topological field theories and differential cohomology.

Higher gauge theory via differential nonabelian cohomology

Survey of Floer theories and their connections.

The paper explores gauge theory invariants and their duals via topological-holomorphic twist.

We construct a gauge fixed action for topological membranes on $G_2$-manifold such that its bosonic part is the standard membrane theory in a particular gauge. We prove that quantum mechanically the path-integral in this gauge localizes on associative submanifolds. Moreover on $M\times S^1$ the theory naturally reduces…

New gauge theory invariant detects non-smooth isotopy of $P^2$-knots.

We review the relations between (twisted) supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions and moduli problems in four-dimensional topology, and we study in detail the non-abelian monopole equations from this point of view. The relevance of exact results in N=1 and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories to the computation o…

A BV algebra is a formal framework within which the BV quantization algorithm is implemented. In addition to the gauge symmetry, encoded in the BV master equation, the master action often exhibits further global symmetries, which may be in turn gauged. We show how to carry this out in a BV algebraic set up. Depending o…

We consider the problem of existence of representations of topological groupoids on a principal bundle and the classification of such representations up to gauge transformation. Such representations naturally occur in various contexts such as gauge theory, lattice gauge fields, equivariant bundles, etc. In the course o…

The correlation functions of supersymmetric gauge theories on a four-manifold X can sometimes be expressed in terms of topological invariants of X. We show how the existence of superconformal fixed points in the gauge theory can provide nontrivial information about four-manifold topology. In particular, in the example …

Deep learning enhances Hamiltonian Monte Carlo for sampling gauge field configurations.

The Poisson--Weil sigma model, worked out by us recently, stems from gauging a Hamiltonian Lie group symmetry of the target space of the Poisson sigma model. Upon gauge fixing of the BV master action, it yields interesting topological field theories such as the 2--dimensional Donaldson-Witten topological gauge theory a…

This article reviews $\infty$-bundles and their applications in geometry and physics.

We explore 4d Yang-Mills gauge theories (YM) living as boundary conditions of 5d gapped short/long-range entangled (SRE/LRE) topological states. Specifically, we explore 4d time-reversal symmetric pure YM of an SU(2) gauge group with a second-Chern-class topological term at $θ=π$ (SU(2)$_{θ=π}$ YM), by turning on backg…

New theory captures framing anomaly in gauge theory.

New model calculates Wilson surfaces in higher gauge theory.

We define a holographic dual to the Donaldson-Witten topological twist of $\mathcal{N}=2$ gauge theories on a Riemannian four-manifold. This is described by a class of asymptotically locally hyperbolic solutions to $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauged supergravity in five dimensions, with the four-manifold as conformal boundary. Und…

New topological quantum gravity theories linked to Ricci flow.

Novel gauge-theoretic Floer homologies defined from 5d N=2 theory, linking 4, 3, and 2-manifolds.

Novel $A_{\infty}$-categories derived from gauge theories for manifold homologies.

In the first part of this paper, we work out a perturbative Lagrangian formulation of semistrict higher gauge theory, that avoids the subtleties of the relationship between Lie 2-groups and algebras by relying exclusively on the structure semistrict Lie 2-algebra v and its automorphism 2-group Aut(v). Gauge transformat…

Introduces a massive variant of Ray-Singer Torsion to avoid zero modes in topological field theories.

We show how to carry out the gauging of the Poisson sigma model in an AKSZ inspired formulation by coupling it to the a generalization of the Weil model worked out in ref. arXiv:0706.1289 [hep-th]. We call the resulting gauged field theory, Poisson--Weil sigma model. We study the BV cohomology of the model and show its…

Study of Ricci flow equations in topological quantum gravity.

Novel gauge-theoretic Floer homologies defined for 7, 6, and 5-manifolds.

The Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) multi-wall solutions are constructed in supersymmetric U(N_C) gauge theories in five dimensions with N_F(>N_C) hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation. Exact solutions are obtained with full generic moduli for infinite gauge coupling and with partial moduli for finite …

The homotopy theory of gauge groups has received considerable attention in recent decades. In this work, we study the homotopy theory of gauge groups over some high dimensional manifolds. To be more specific, we study gauge groups of bundles over $(n-1)$-connected closed $2n$-manifolds, the classification of which was …

We describe a topological field theory that studies the moduli space of solutions of the symplectic vortex equations. It contains as special cases the topological sigma-model and topological Yang-Mills over Kahler surfaces. The correlation functions of the theory are closely related to the recently introduced Hamiltoni…

We study the Chern-Simons topological quantum field theory with an inhomogeneous gauge group, a non-semi-simple group obtained from a semi-simple one by taking its semi-direct product with its Lie algebra. We find that the standard knot observables (i.e. traces of holonomies along knots) essentially vanish, but yet, th…

We study twisted N=2 superconformal gauge theory on a product of two Riemann surfaces Sigma and C. The twisted theory is topological along C and holomorphic along Sigma and does not depend on the gauge coupling or theta-angle. Upon Kaluza-Klein reduction along Sigma, it becomes equivalent to a topological B-model on C …

Researchers calculate the Ray-Singer Torsion for $S^{1}$ bundles.

The gradient flow of the Yang-Mills action acts pointwise on closed loops of gauge fields. We construct a topologically nontrivial loop of SU(2) gauge fields on S4 that is locally stable under the flow. The stable loop is written explicitly as a path between two gauge fields equivalent under a topologically nontrivial …

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…

We study the boundary conditions in the topologically twisted Chern-Simons matter theories with the Lie 3-algebraic structure. We find that the supersymmetric boundary conditions and the gauge invariant boundary conditions can be unified as the complexified gauge invariant boundary conditions which lead to the supergro…

Study topological twists of massive SQCD with gauge group SU(2) and 3 or fewer fundamental hypermultiplets.

Gauging procedure constructs lagrangians for carrollian gravity.

Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFTs) pertinent to some emergent low energy phenomena of condensed matter lattice models in 2+1 and 3+1D are explored. Many of our field theories are highly-interacting without free quadratic analogs. Some of our bosonic TQFTs can be regarded as the continuum field theory formulatio…

5D gauge theories are dual to 3D and 2D models via Floer homologies.

We make a precision test of a recently proposed conjecture relating Chern-Simons gauge theory to topological string theory on the resolution of the conifold. First, we develop a systematic procedure to extract string amplitudes from vacuum expectation values (vevs) of Wilson loops in Chern-Simons gauge theory, and then…

Summarizes quantum field theories with discrete symmetry, classifying representations and anomalies.

This is an introductory review of topological field theories (TFTs) called AKSZ sigma models. The AKSZ construction is a mathematical formulation for the construction and analyses of a large class of TFTs, inspired by the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism of gauge theories. We begin by considering a simple two-dimensional t…

Classifies extended Abelian Chern-Simons theories using quadratic modules.

Study of symmetries in 2D Yang-Mills theory, including orbifolds and higher forms.

New proof of a 111-year-old result using gauge theory.

A mostly expository account of old questions about the relationship between polyhedra and topological manifolds. Topics are old topological results, new gauge theory results (with speculations about next directions), and history of the questions.

L-CNNs learn gauge invariant quantities on lattices.

Given a principal bundle over a closed manifold, G --> P --> M, let P^{Ad} --> M be the associated adjoint bundle. Gruher and Salvatore showed that the Thom spectrum (P^{Ad})^{-TM} is a ring spectrum whose corresponding product in homology is a Chas-Sullivan type string topology product. We refer to this spectrum as th…

We review the string/gauge theory duality relating Chern-Simons theory and topological strings on noncompact Calabi-Yau manifolds, as well as its mathematical implications for knot invariants and enumerative geometry.