A first approximation for quantization of singular spaces

Many mathematical models of physical phenomena that have been proposed in recent years require more general spaces than manifolds. When taking into account the symmetry group of the model, we get a reduced model on the (singular) orbit space of the symmetry group action. We investigate quantization of singular spaces obtained as leaf closure spaces of regular Riemannian foliations on compact manifolds. These contain the orbit spaces of compact group actions and orbifolds. Our method uses foliation theory as a desingularization technique for such singular spaces. A quantization procedure on the orbit space of the symmetry group–that commutes with reduction–can be obtained from constructions which combine different geometries associated with foliations and new techniques originated in Equivariant Quantization. The present paper contains the first of two steps needed to achieve these just detailed goals.     

String orbifolds and quotient stacks

In this note we observe that, contrary to the usual lore, string orbifolds do not describe strings on quotient spaces, but rather seem to describe strings on objects called quotient stacks, a result that follows from simply unraveling definitions, and is further justified by a number of results. Quotient stacks are very closely related to quotient spaces; for example, when the orbifold group acts freely, the quotient space and the quotient stack are homeomorphic. We explain how sigma models on quotient stacks naturally have twisted sectors, and why a sigma model on a quotient stack would be a nonsingular CFT even when the associated quotient space is singular. We also show how to understand twist fields in this language, and outline the derivation of the orbifold Euler characteristic purely in terms of stacks. We also outline why there is a sense in which one naturally finds B≠0 on exceptional divisors of resolutions. These insights are not limited to merely understanding existing string orbifolds: we also point out how this technology enables us to understand orbifolds in M-theory, as well as how this means that string orbifolds provide the first example of an entirely new class of string compactifications. As quotient stacks are not a staple of the physics literature, we include a lengthy tutorial on quotient stacks, describing how one can perform differential geometry on stacks.     

Chern-Simons gauge theory on orbifolds: Open strings from three dimensions

Chern-Simons gauge theory is formulated on three-dimensional $\text{Z}$₂ orbifolds. The locus of singular points on a given orbifold is equivalent to a link of Wilson lines. This allows one to reduce any correlation function on orbifolds to a sum of more complicated correlation functions in the simpler theory on manifolds. Chern-Simons theory on manifolds is known to be related to two-dimensional (2D) conformal field theory (CFT) on closed-string surfaces; here it is shown that the theory on orbifolds is related to 2D CFT of unoriented closed- and open-string models, i.e. to worldsheet orbifold models. In particular, the boundary components of the worldsheet correspond to the components of the singular locus in the 3D orbifold. This correspondence leads to a simple identification of the open-string spectra, including their Chan-Paton degeneration, in terms of fusing Wilson lines in the corresponding Chern-Simons theory. The correspondence is studied in detail, and some exactly solvable examples are presented. Some of these examples indicate that it is natural to think of the orbifold group $\text{Z}$₂ as a part of the gauge group of the Chern-Simons theory, thus generalizing the standard definition of gauge theories.     

Lagrangian Floer Superpotentials and Crepant Resolutions for Toric Orbifolds

We investigate the relationship between the Lagrangian Floer superpotentials for a toric orbifold and its toric crepant resolutions. More specifically, we study an open string version of the crepant resolution conjecture (CRC) which states that the Lagrangian Floer superpotential of a Gorenstein toric orbifold ${\mathcal{X}}$ and that of its toric crepant resolution Y coincide after analytic continuation of quantum parameters and a change of variables. Relating this conjecture with the closed CRC, we find that the change of variable formula which appears in closed CRC can be explained by relations between open (orbifold) Gromov-Witten invariants. We also discover a geometric explanation (in terms of virtual counting of stable orbi-discs) for the specialization of quantum parameters to roots of unity which appears in Ruan’s original CRC (Gromov-Witten theory of spin curves and orbifolds, contemp math, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, pp 117–126, 2006). We prove the open CRC for the weighted projective spaces ${\mathcal{X} = \mathbb{P}(1,\ldots,1, n)}$ using an equality between open and closed orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants. Along the way, we also prove an open mirror theorem for these toric orbifolds.     

Generalized symmetry breaking on orbifolds

We reconsider the phenomenon of mass generation via coordinate-dependent compactifications of higher-dimensional theories on orbifolds. For definiteness, we study a generic five-dimensional theory compactified on S(1)/Z(2). We show that the presence of fixed points, where the fields or their derivatives may be discontinuous, permits new realizations of the Scherk-Schwarz mechanism where, for example, the mass terms are localized at the orbifold fixed points. Our technique can be used to describe the explicit breaking of global flavor symmetries and supersymmetries by brane-localized mass terms. It can also be applied to the spontaneous breaking of local symmetries, such as gauge symmetries or supergravities.     

Ramond-Ramond Fields, Fractional Branes and Orbifold Differential K-Theory

We study D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields on global orbifolds of Type II string theory with vanishing H-flux using methods of equivariant K-theory and K-homology. We illustrate how Bredon equivariant cohomology naturally realizes stringy orbifold cohomology. We emphasize its role as the correct cohomological tool which captures known features of the low-energy effective field theory, and which provides new consistency conditions for fractional D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields on orbifolds. We use an equivariant Chern character from equivariant K-theory to Bredon cohomology to define new Ramond-Ramond couplings of D-branes which generalize previous examples. We propose a definition for groups of differential characters associated to equivariant K-theory. We derive a Dirac quantization rule for Ramond-Ramond fluxes, and study flat Ramond-Ramond potentials on orbifolds.     

Linear bosonic quantum field theories arising from causal variational principles

We describe discrete symmetries of two-dimensional Yang–Mills theory with gauge group G associated with outer automorphisms of G, and their corresponding defects. We show that the gauge theory partition function with defects can be computed as a path integral over the space of twisted G-bundles and calculate it exactly. We argue that its weak-coupling limit computes the symplectic volume of the moduli space of flat twisted G-bundles on a surface. Using the defect network approach to generalised orbifolds, we gauge the discrete symmetry and construct the corresponding orbifold theory, which is again two-dimensional Yang–Mills theory but with gauge group given by an extension of G by outer automorphisms. With the help of the orbifold completion of the topological defect bicategory of two-dimensional Yang–Mills theory, we describe the reverse orbifold using a Wilson line defect for the discrete gauge symmetry. We present our results using two complementary approaches: in the lattice regularisation of the path integral, and in the functorial approach to area-dependent quantum field theories with defects via regularised Frobenius algebras.

     

Orbifolds as configuration spaces of systems with gauge symmetries

In systems like Yang-Mills or gravity theory, which have a symmetry of gauge type, neither phase space nor configuration space is a manifold but rather an orbifold with singular points corresponding to classical states of non-generically higher symmetry. The consequences of these symmetries for quantum theory are investigated. First, a certain orbifold configuration space is identified. Then, the Schrödinger equation on this orbifold is considered. As a typical case, the Schrödinger equation on (double) cones over Riemannian manifolds is discussed in detail as a problem of selfadjoint extensions. A marked tendency towards concentration of the wave function around the singular points in configuration space is observed, which generically even reflects itself in the existence of additional bound states and can be interpreted as a quantum mechanism of symmetry enhancement.     

Solitons in Affine and Permutation Orbifolds

We consider properties of solitons in general orbifolds in the algebraic quantum field theory framework and constructions of solitons in affine and permutation orbifolds. Under general conditions we show that our construction gives all the twisted representations of the fixed point subnet. This allows us to prove a number of conjectures: in the affine orbifold case we clarify the issue of fixed point resolutions; in the permutation orbifold case we determine all irreducible representations of the orbifold, and we also determine the fusion rules in a nontrivial case, which imply an integral property of chiral data for any completely rational conformal net.Supported in part by NSF.Supported in part by GNAMPA-INDAM and MIUR.Supported in part by NSF.     

Quantum Orbifolds

This is a study of orbifold-quotients of quantum groups (quantum orbifolds \({\Theta } \rightrightarrows G_{q}\)). These structures have been studied extensively in the case of the quantum S U ₂ group. A generalized theory of quantum orbifolds over compact simple and simply connected quantum groups is developed. Associated with a quantum orbifold there is an invariant subalgebra and a crossed product algebra. For each spin quantum orbifold, there is a unitary equivalence class of Dirac spectral triples over the invariant subalgebra, and for each effective spin quantum orbifold associated with a finite group action, there is a unitary equivalence class of Dirac spectral triples over the crossed product algebra. A Hopf-equivariant Fredholm index problem is studied as an application.     

Dirac operators on non-compact orbifolds

In this paper we prove that Dirac operators on non-compact almost complex, complete orbifolds which are sufficiently regular at infinity, admit a unique extension. Additonally, we prove a generalized orbifold Stokes’/Divergence theorem.     

Twisted Index Theory on Good Orbifolds, II:¶Fractional Quantum Numbers

This paper uses techniques in noncommutative geometry as developed by Alain Connes [Co2], in order to study the twisted higher index theory of elliptic operators on orbifold covering spaces of compact good orbifolds, which are invariant under a projective action of the orbifold fundamental group, continuing our earlier work [MM]. We also compute the range of the higher cyclic traces on K-theory for cocompact Fuchsian groups, which is then applied to determine the range of values of the Connes–Kubo Hall conductance in the discrete model of the quantum Hall effect on the hyperbolic plane, generalizing earlier results in [Bel+E+S], [CHMM]. The new phenomenon that we observe in our case is that the Connes–Kubo Hall conductance has plateaux at integral multiples of a fractional valued topological invariant, namely the orbifold Euler characteristic. Moreover the set of possible fractions has been determined, and is compared with recently available experimental data. It is plausible that this might shed some light on the mathematical mechanism responsible for fractional quantum numbers. Received: 4 November 1999 / Accepted: 22 September 2000     

Symmetries of parabolic contact structures

We generalize the concept of locally symmetric spaces to parabolic contact structures. We show that symmetric normal parabolic contact structures are torsion-free and some types of them have to be locally flat. We prove that each symmetry given at a point with non-zero harmonic curvature is involutive. Finally we give restrictions on the number of different symmetries which can exist at such a point.     

Orbifold Hodge numbers of the wreath product orbifolds

We prove that the wreath product orbifolds studied earlier by the first author provide a large class of higher dimensional examples of orbifolds whose orbifold Hodge numbers coincide with the ordinary ones of suitable resolutions of singularities. We also make explicit conjectures on elliptic genera for the wreath product orbifolds.     

Coherent states in geometric quantization

In this paper we study overcomplete systems of coherent states associated to compact integral symplectic manifolds by geometric quantization. Our main goals are to give a systematic treatment of the construction of such systems and to collect some recent results. We begin by recalling the basic constructions of geometric quantization in both the Kähler and non-Kähler cases. We then study the reproducing kernels associated to the quantum Hilbert spaces and use them to define symplectic coherent states. The rest of the paper is dedicated to the properties of symplectic coherent states and the corresponding Berezin–Toeplitz quantization. Specifically, we study overcompleteness, symplectic analogues of the basic properties of Bargmann’s weighted analytic function spaces, and the ‘maximally classical’ behavior of symplectic coherent states. We also find explicit formulas for symplectic coherent states on compact Riemann surfaces.     

Einstein gravity in almost Kähler and Lagrange–Finsler variables and deformation quantization

A geometric procedure is elaborated for transforming (pseudo) Riemannian metrics and connections into canonical geometric objects (metric and nonlinear and linear connections) for effective Lagrange, or Finsler, geometries which, in turn, can be equivalently represented as almost Kähler spaces. This allows us to formulate an approach to quantum gravity following standard methods of deformation quantization. Such constructions are performed not on tangent bundles, as in usual Finsler geometry, but on spacetimes enabled with nonholonomic distributions defining 2+2$2+2$ splitting with associate nonlinear connection structure. We also show how the Einstein equations can be written in terms of Lagrange–Finsler variables and corresponding almost symplectic structures and encoded into the zero-degree cohomology coefficient for a quantum model of Einstein manifolds.     

Topological orbifold models and quantum cohomology rings

We discuss the topological sigma model on an orbifold target space. We describe the moduli space of classical minima for computing correlation functions involving twisted operators, and show, through a detailed computation of an orbifold ofCP ¹ by the dihedral groupD ₄, how to compute the complete ring of observables. Through this procedure, we compute all the rings of dihedralCP ¹ orbifolds. We then considerCP ²/D ₄, and show how the techniques of topologicalanti-topological fusion might be used to compute twist field correlation functions for nonabelian orbifolds.Supported in part by Fannie and John Hertz Foundation     

Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds,mirror symmetry and the elliptic genus

We compute the elliptic genus for arbitrary two-dimensional N = 2 Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds. This is used to search for possible mirror pairs of such models. We show that if two Landau-Ginzburg models are conjugate to each other in a certain sense, then to every orbifold of the first theory corresponds an orbifold of the second theory with the same elliptic genus (up to a sign) and with the roles of the chiral and anti-chiral rings interchanged. These orbifolds thus constitute a possible mirror pair. Furthermore, new pairs of conjugate models may be obtained by taking the product of old ones. We also give a sufficient (and possibly necessary) condition for two models to be conjugate, and show that it is satisfied by the mirror pairs proposed by one of the authors and Hübsch.     

Orbifold models and modular transformation

The orbifold models of the heterotic string are constructed on the quotient spaces of generalized tori by translational and rotational discrete symmetries. In order to obtain the consistent orbifold models, the conditions of the modular invariance are derived from a one-loop vacuum amplitude. Z₃ orbifold models satisfying such conditions are searched systematically. It is shown that there are infinite possible models with N = 2 supersymmetry. Among these models, two examples having E₆ and E₇ gauge groups are discussed. The orbifold models with N = 1 supersymmetry are also discussed in detail. It is shown that there are only five consistent models in the class of these models based on E₈ ⊗ E′₈ heterotic string in which the extra six-dimensional torus and the E₈ ⊗ E′₈ maximal torus are modded out by the rotational and the translational Z₃ symmetries respectively.     

Deformation Quantization and the Baum–Connes Conjecture

 Alternative titles of this paper would have been ``Index theory without index' or ``The Baum–Connes conjecture without Baum.' In 1989, Rieffel introduced an analytic version of deformation quantization based on the use of continuous fields of C ^* -algebras. We review how a wide variety of examples of such quantizations can be understood on the basis of a single lemma involving amenable groupoids. These include Weyl–Moyal quantization on manifolds, C ^* -algebras of Lie groups and Lie groupoids, and the E-theoretic version of the Baum–Connes conjecture for smooth groupoids as described by Connes in his book Noncommutative Geometry. Concerning the latter, we use a different semidirect product construction from Connes. This enables one to formulate the Baum–Connes conjecture in terms of twisted Weyl–Moyal quantization. The underlying mechanical system is a noncommutative desingularization of a stratified Poisson space, and the Baum–Connes Conjecture actually suggests a strategy for quantizing such singular spaces. Received: 30 April 2002 / Accepted: 2 October 2002 Published online: 17 April 2003 RID="⋆" ID="⋆" Supported by a Fellowship from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Communicated by H. Araki, D. Buchholz and K. Fredenhagen