arXiv research

Generalizes Hamiltonian structures to Dirac structures for new mechanics models.

The G/G WZW model results from the WZW-model by a standard procedure of gauging. G/G WZW models are members of Dirac sigma models, which also contain twisted Poisson sigma models as other examples. We show how the general class of Dirac sigma models can be obtained from a gauging procedure adapted to Lie algebroids in …

We show that in the context of two-dimensional sigma models minimal coupling of an ordinary rigid symmetry Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$ leads naturally to the appearance of the "generalized tangent bundle" $\mathbb{T}M \equiv TM \oplus T^*M$ by means of composite fields. Gauge transformations of the composite fields foll…

In this contribution we review some of the interplay between sigma models in theoretical physics and novel geometrical structures such as Lie (n-)algebroids. The first part of the article contains the mathematical background, the definition of various algebroids as well as of Dirac structures, a joint generalization of…

We introduce a new topological sigma model, whose fields are bundle maps from the tangent bundle of a 2-dimensional world-sheet to a Dirac subbundle of an exact Courant algebroid over a target manifold. It generalizes simultaneously the (twisted) Poisson sigma model as well as the G/G-WZW model. The equations of motion…

We reformulate the compatibility condition between a generalized metric and a small (non-maximal rank) Dirac structure in an exact Courant algebroid found in the context of the gauging of strings and formulated by means of two connections in purely Dirac-geometric terms. The resulting notion, a transverse generalized m…

We show that symmetries and gauge symmetries of a large class of 2-dimensional sigma models are described by a new type of a current algebra. The currents are labeled by pairs of a vector field and a 1-form on the target space of the sigma model. We compute the current-current commutator and analyse the anomaly cancell…

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…

Study of quantum aspects of generalized Gross-Neveu models, focusing on sigma models.

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 connections on Lie and Courant algebroids, defining basic curvature and Atiyah cocycle.

We show a constrained Hamiltonian system and a gauged sigma model have a structure of a momentum section and a Hamiltonian Lie algebroid theory recently introduced by Blohmann and Weinstein. We propose a generalization of a momentum section on a pre-multisymplectic manifold by considering gauged sigma models on a highe…

One has believed that low energy effective theories of the Higgs branch of gauged linear sigma models correspond to supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models, which have been already investigated by many works. In this paper we discuss a explicit derivation of supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models from gauged linear sigma …

We find the T-duality transformation rules for 2-dimensional (2,1) supersymmetric sigma-models in (2,1) superspace. Our results clarify certain aspects of the (2,1) sigma model geometry relevant to the discussion of T-duality. The complexified duality transformations we find are equivalent to the usual Buscher duality …

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…

We investigate the gauging of the Wess-Zumino term of a sigma model with boundary. We derive a set of obstructions to gauging and we interpret them as the conditions for the Wess-Zumino term to extend to a closed form in a suitable equivariant relative de Rham complex. We illustrate this with the two-dimensional sigma …

This paper examines a proposal for gauging non-linear sigma models with respect to a Lie algebroid action. The general conditions for gauging a non-linear sigma model with a set of involutive vector fields are given. We show that it is always possible to find a set of vector fields which will (locally) admit a Lie alge…

We consider gauged sigma-models from a Riemann surface into a Kaehler and hamiltonian G-manifold X. The supersymmetric N=2 theory can always be twisted to produce a gauged A-model. This model localizes to the moduli space of solutions of the vortex equations and computes the Hamiltonian Gromov-Witten invariants. When t…

We consider nonlinear gauged sigma-models with Kahler domain and target. For a special choice of potential these models admit Bogomolny (or self-duality) equations -- the so-called vortex equations. We find the moduli space and energy spectrum of the solutions of these equations when the gauge group is a torus T^n, the…

This is the second in a series of papers discussing in the framework of gerbe theory canonical and geometric aspects of the 2d nonlinear sigma model in the presence of conformal defects in the worldsheet. Employing the formal tools worked out in the first paper of the series, 1101.1126 [hep-th], a thorough analysis of …

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 …

We study some graded geometric constructions appearing naturally in the context of gauge theories. Inspired by a known relation of gauging with equivariant cohomology we generalize the latter notion to the case of arbitrary Q-manifolds introducing thus the concept of equivariant Q-cohomology. Using this concept we desc…

Introduces homotopy momentum sections on multisymplectic manifolds.

BiHermitian geometry, discovered long ago by Gates, Hull and Roceck, is the most general sigma model target space geometry allowing for (2,2) world sheet supersymmetry. By using the twisting procedure proposed by Kapustin and Li, we work out the type A and B topological sigma models for a general biHermtian target spac…

We construct zero-curvature representations for the equations of motion of a class of sigma-models with complex homogeneous target spaces, not necessarily symmetric. We show that in the symmetric case the proposed flat connection is gauge-equivalent to the conventional one.

We give a global formulation of the coupling of four-dimensional scalar sigma models to Abelian gauge fields for the generalized situation when the "duality structure" of the Abelian gauge theory is described by a flat symplectic vector bundle $(\mathcal{S},D,ω)$ defined over the scalar manifold $\mathcal{M}$. The cons…

We consider the Hermitian Yang-Mills (instanton) equations for connections on vector bundles over a 2n-dimensional Kähler manifold X which is a product Y x Z of p- and q-dimensional Riemannian manifold Y and Z with p+q=2n. We show that in the adiabatic limit, when the metric in the Z direction is scaled down, the gauge…

We give a covariant realization of the doubled sigma-model formulation of duality-symmetric string theory within the general framework of para-Hermitian geometry. We define a notion of generalized metric on a para-Hermitian manifold and discuss its relation to Born geometry. We show that a Born geometry uniquely define…

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 propose a geometric setup to study analytic aspects of a variant of the super symmetric two-dimensional nonlinear sigma model. This functional extends the functional of Dirac-harmonic maps by gravitino fields. The system of Euler--Lagrange equations of the two-dimensional nonlinear sigma model with gravitino is calc…

We compute the equivariant elliptic genera of several classes of ALE and ALF manifolds using localization in gauged linear sigma models. In the sigma model computation the equivariant action corresponds to chemical potentials for U(1) currents and the elliptic genera exhibit interesting pole structure as a function of …

We consider the reduction along two compact directions of a twisted N=4 gauge theory on a 4-dimensional orientable manifold which is not a global product of two surfaces but contains a non-orientable surface. The low energy theory is a sigma-model on a 2-dimensional worldsheet with a boundary which lives on branes cons…

New methods derive a generalized Frenkel trace formula for Lie groups.

Chern-Simons gauge theories in 3 dimensions and the Poisson Sigma Model (PSM) in 2 dimensions are examples of the same theory, if their field equations are interpreted as morphisms of Lie algebroids and their symmetries (on-shell) as homotopies of such morphisms. We point out that the (off-shell) gauge symmetries of th…

Generalizes sigma model with Lie algebroid structure and geometric conditions.

We introduce a functional that couples the nonlinear sigma model with a spinor field: $L=\int_M[|dφ|^2+(ψ,\Dψ)]$. In two dimensions, it is conformally invariant. The critical points of this functional are called Dirac-harmonic maps. We study some geometric and analytic aspects of such maps, in particular a removable si…

We investigate geometric aspects of double field theory (DFT) and its formulation as a doubled membrane sigma-model. Starting from the standard Courant algebroid over the phase space of an open membrane, we determine a splitting and a projection to a subbundle that sends the Courant algebroid operations to the correspo…

Stokes-Dirac structures are infinite-dimensional Dirac structures defined in terms of differential forms on a smooth manifold with boundary. These Dirac structures lay down a geometric framework for the formulation of Hamiltonian systems with a nonzero boundary energy flow. Simplicial triangulation of the underlaying m…

We study a functional, whose critical points couple Dirac-harmonic maps from surfaces with a two form. The critical points can be interpreted as coupling the prescribed mean curvature equation to spinor fields. On the other hand, this functional also arises as part of the supersymmetric sigma model in theoretical physi…

The gauge principle is at the heart of a good part of fundamental physics: Starting with a group G of so-called rigid symmetries of a functional defined over space-time Sigma, the original functional is extended appropriately by additional Lie(G)-valued 1-form gauge fields so as to lift the symmetry to Maps(Sigma,G). P…

The paper finds shape modes for vortices in a specific sigma model.

Study of 2d gauged linear sigma models to derive difference equations and spectral data.

BiKaehler geometry is characterized by a Riemannian metric g_{ab} and two covariantly constant generally non commuting complex structures K_+^a_b, K_-^a_b, with respect to which g_{ab} is Hermitian. It is a particular case of the biHermitian geometry of Gates, Hull and Roceck, the most general sigma model target space …

We study gauge transformations of Dirac structures and the relationship between gauge and Morita equivalences of Poisson manifolds. We describe how the symplectic structure of a symplectic groupoid is affected by a gauge transformation of the Poisson structure on its identity section, and prove that gauge-equivalent in…

We derive general expressions for the Kaehler form of the L^2-metric in terms of standard 2-forms on vortex moduli spaces. In the case of abelian vortices in gauged linear sigma-models, this allows us to compute explicitly the Kaehler class of the L^2-metric. As an application we compute the total volume of the moduli …

Using properties of the determinant line bundle for a family of elliptic boundary value problems, we explain how the Fock space functor defines an axiomatic quantum field theory which formally models the Fermionic path integral. The 'sewing axiom' of the theory arises as an algebraic pasting law for the determinant of …

We study a formulation of the standard Poisson sigma model in which the target space Poisson manifold carries the Hamilton action of some finite dimensional Lie algebra. We show that the structure of the action and the properties of the gauge invariant observables can be understood in terms of the associated target spa…

Study Dirac operators on finite warped cylinders with gauge fields.