arXiv research

Develops a new approach to describe gauge theories with background fields using presymplectic structures.

Paper introduces Tensor Gauge Flow Models for better data encoding.

We develop a description of higher gauge theory with higher groupoids as gauge structure from first principles. This approach captures ordinary gauge theories and gauged sigma models as well as their categorifications on a very general class of (higher) spaces comprising presentable differentiable stacks, as e.g. orbif…

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…

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…

Higher gauge theory via differential nonabelian cohomology

Analyzes quantization of flux observables in gauge theories.

Many physical theories, including notably string theory, require non-abelian higher gauge fields defining higher holonomy. Previous approaches to such higher connections on categorified principal bundles require these to be fake flat. This condition, however, renders them locally gauge equivalent to connections on abel…

The paper explores how fields in higher dimensions are quantized.

Bundle gerbes are a higher version of line bundles, we present nonabelian bundle gerbes as a higher version of principal bundles. Connection, curving, curvature and gauge transformations are studied both in a global coordinate independent formalism and in local coordinates. These are the gauge fields needed for the con…

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…

The paper explores how non-Killing fields on internal spaces can produce massive gauge fields with chiral interactions.

The paper extends gluing theorems for gravitational fields in higher dimensions.

New model calculates Wilson surfaces in higher gauge theory.

Novel Lie-superalgebraic description of superstring dynamics.

We construct manifestly superconformal field theories in six dimensions which contain a non-Abelian tensor multiplet. In particular, we show how principal 3-bundles over a suitable twistor space encode solutions to these self-dual tensor field theories via a Penrose-Ward transform. The resulting higher or categorified …

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…

The algebra of differential geometry operations on symmetric tensors over constant curvature manifolds forms a novel deformation of the sl(2,R) [semidirect product] R^2 Lie algebra. We present a simple calculus for calculations in its universal enveloping algebra. As an application, we derive generating functions for t…

This paper develops a geometric framework for Wilson surfaces in higher gauge theory.

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…

In four and higher dimensions, we show that any stationary admissible Yang-Mills field can be gauge transformed to a smooth field if the $L^2$ norm of the curvature is sufficiently small. There are three main ingredients. The first is Price's monotonicity formula, which allows us to assert that the curvature is small n…

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

Starting with minimal requirements from the physical experience with higher gauge theories, i.e. gauge theories for a tower of differential forms of different form degrees, we discover that all the structural identities governing such theories can be concisely recombined into a so-called Q-structure or, equivalently, a…

Study quantum aspects of 1-form symmetries using BV-BRST cohomology and gerbes.

We consider dimensional reduction of gauge theories with arbitrary gauge group in a formalism based on equivariant principal bundles. For the classical gauge groups we clarify the relations between equivariant principal bundles and quiver bundles, and show that the reduced quiver gauge theories are all generically buil…

The worldvolume theory of coincident M5-branes is expected to contain a nonabelian 2-form/nonabelian gerbe gauge theory that is a higher analog of self-dual Yang-Mills theory. But the precise details -- in particular the global moduli / instanton / magnetic charge structure -- have remained elusive. Here we deduce from…

Finsler geometry connects to higher-spin fields and curved-space Fronsdal equations.

The reduction theorems for general linear and classical connections are generalized for operators with values in higher order gauge-natural bundles. We prove that natural operators depending on the $s_1$-jets of classical connections, on the $s_2$-jets of general linear connections and on the $r$-jets of tensor fields …

Develops a new framework for anomaly description in quantum field theories.

Study of $U(1)$ gauge theories on $G_2$ manifolds, including instantons and Chern-Simons.

This thesis proposes a global geometric formulation of Extended Field Theories.

Study boundary structure of gauge fields on AdS spaces.

Study quantum aspects of 1-form symmetries using BV-BRST cohomology.

Kaluza-Klein Theory states that a metric on the total space of a principal bundle $P\rightarrow M$, if it is invariant under the principal action of $P$, naturally reduces to a metric together with a gauge field on the base manifold $M$. We propose a generalization of this Kaluza-Klein principle to higher principal bun…

The model integrates Standard Model bosons into a higher-dimensional spacetime.

The purpose of this contribution is to point out connections between recent ideas about gerbes and gerbal actions (as higher categorical extension of representation theory) and old discussion in quantum field theory on commutator anomalies, gauge group extensions, and 3-cocycles. The unifying concept is the classical o…

The paper defines and analyzes higher-order Yang-Mills-Higgs functionals and their gradient flows.

We define and study invariants which can be uniformly constructed for any gauge system. By a gauge system we understand an (anti-)Poisson supermanifold provided with an odd Hamiltonian self-commuting vector field called a homological vector field. This definition encompasses all the cases usually included into the noti…

Unified view of spectral networks linking geometry and gauge theory.

Higher Gauge Flow Models integrate higher geometry and symmetries into Generative Flow Models.

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

The paper studies how test particles' mass and charge vary in Kaluza-Klein models.

Survey on advanced gauge theory concepts.

Cohomotopy charge quantization implies String structure on M5-branes.

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

This is a survey of motivations, constructions and applications of higher prequantum geometry. In section 1 we highlight the open problem of prequantizing local field theory in a local and gauge invariant way, and we survey how a solution to this problem exists in higher differential geometry. In section 2 we survey ex…

We give an abstract formulation of the formal theory partial differential equations (PDEs) in synthetic differential geometry, one that would seamlessly generalize the traditional theory to a range of enhanced contexts, such as super-geometry, higher (stacky) differential geometry, or even a combination of both. A moti…

We show that general relativity can be viewed as a higher gauge theory involving a categorical group, or 2-group, called the teleparallel 2-group. On any semi-Riemannian manifold M, we first construct a principal 2-bundle with the Poincare 2-group as its structure 2-group. Any flat metric-preserving connection on M giv…