BRS cohomology and Casimir operators

Casimir operators play a central role in the study of cohomology problems for semisimple Lie algebras. An attempt is made to generalize this to strings. This generalization may be useful for studying small oscillations around nontrivial backgrounds.     

BRS cohomology of the chiral superfield

As a start in a search for possible undiscovered anomalies which might break supersymmetry, a general calculation of BRS cohomology for the Wess Zumino chiral multiplet is performed. The calculation is done using spectral sequences in Fock space. It encompasses the vector space of all integrated local polynomials in the fields and their derivatives. This calculation shows that the BRS cohomology space contains an infinite number of polynomials with ghost charge one. Examples of these polynomials are given. All presently known examples possess uncontracted Lorentz spinor (and possibly vector) indices. A simple extension of these results to super Yang Mills theory indicates that there may be previously unnoticed anomalies in that theory.Research supported in part by the Robert A. Welch Foundation and NSF Grant PHY9009850     

Calculation of BRS cohomology with spectral sequences

A method for finding the general form of the BRS cohomology spaceH for the various gauge and supersymmetry theories is presented. The method is adapted for use in the space of integrated local polynomials of the gauge fields and ghosts with arbitrary numbers of fields and dervivatives. The technique uses the Hodge decomposition in a Fock space with a Euclidean inner product, and combines this with spectral sequences to generate simple and soluble equations whose solutions span a simple spaceE isomorphic to the complicated spaceH. The technique is illustrated for pedagogic purposes by the detailed calculation of the ghost charge zero and one sectors ofH for Yang-Mills theory with gauge groupSO (32) in ten dimensions. The method is appropriate for supersymmetric theories, gravity, supergravity and superstrings where higher order terms with many derivatives occur naturally in the effective action.Research supported in part by the Robert A. Welch Foundation and NSF Grants PHY 77-18762 and PHY 9009850     

BRS cohomology in string theory and the no-ghost theorem

It is shown that the operator counting the number of non-transverse modes of the bosonic string in 26 dimensions can be expressed as the anticommutator of the BRS charge Q with another operator. As a result it is easy to exhibit the cohomology of Q and express the transverse state projection operator of Brink and Olive in terms of Q.     

BRS cohomology of the supertranslations inD=4

Supersymmetry transformations are a kind of square root of spacetime translations. The corresponding Lie superalgebra always contains the supertranslation operator . We find that the cohomology of this operator depends on a spin-orbit coupling in anSU(2) group and has a quite complicated structure. This spin-orbit type coupling will turn out to be basic in the cohomology of supersymmetric field theories in general.     

Symplectic reduction,BRS cohomology,and infinite-dimensional Clifford algebras

This paper gives the mathematical foundations for the BRS quantization procedure. We first discuss the classical finite dimensional BRS procedure and relate it to Marsden-Weinstein reduction. This leads to interesting relations between Lie algebras and Clifford algebras and a novel way of computing Lie algebra cohomology in terms of the spin representation. We then discuss infinite-dimensional Clifford algebras and their spin representations. We find that in the infinite-dimensional case, the analog of the finite-dimensional construction of Lie algebra cohomology breaks down, the obstruction (anomaly) being the Kac-Peterson class which is the cohomology class associated to the representation of the Lie algebra on spinors which is now only a projective representation. Tensoring by a projective representation of opposite class kills the obstruction and gives rise to a cohomology theory and a quantization procedure. We discuss the gradings and Hermitian structures on the absolute and relative complexes.     

Some remarks on BRS transformations,anomalies and the cohomology of the Lie algebra of the group of gauge transformations

We show that ghosts in gauge theories can be interpreted as Maurer-Cartan forms in the infinite dimensional group ? of gauge transformations. We examine the cohomology of the Lie algebra of ? and identify the coboundary operator with the BRS operator. We describe the anomalous terms encountered in the renormalization of gauge theories (triangle anomalies) as elements of these cohomology groups.     

Two-dimensional topological gravity and equivariant cohomology

The analogy between topological string theory and equivariant cohomology for differentiable actions of the circle group on manifolds has been widely remarked on. One of our aims in this paper is to make this analogy precise. We show that topological string theory is the derived functor of semi-relative cohomology, just as equivariant cohomology is the derived functor of basic cohomology. That homological algebra finds a place in the study of topological string theory should not surprise the reader, granted that topological string theory is the conformal field theorist's algebraic topology.In [7], we have shown that the cohomology of a topological conformal field theory carries the structure of a batalin-Vilkovisky algebra (actually, two commuting such structures, corresponding to the two chiral sectors of the theory). In the second part of this paper, we describe the analogous algebraic structure on the equivariant cohomology of a topological conformal field theory: we call this structure a gravity algebra. This algebraic structure is a certain generalization of a Lie algebra, and is distinguished by the fact that it has an infinite sequence of independent operations {a ₁, ...,a _k },k2, satisfying quadratic relations generalizing the Jacobi rule. (The operad underlying the category of gravity algebras has been studied independently by Ginzburg-Kapranov [9].)The author is grateful to M. Bershadsky, E. Frenkel, M. Kapranov, G. Moore, R. Plesser and G. Zuckerman for the many ways in which they helped in the writing of this paper; also to the Department of Mathematics at Yale University for its hospitality while part of this paper was written.The author is partially supported by a fellowship of the Sloan Foundation and a research grant of the NSF.     

Higher spin BRS cohomology of supersymmetric chiral matter inD=4

We examine the BRS cohomology of chiral matter inN=1,D=4 supersymmetry to determine a general form of composite superfield operators which can suffer from supersymmetry anomalies. Composite superfield operators _{(a, b)} are products of the elementary chiral superfieldsS and and the derivative operatorsD , and . Such superfields _{(a, b)} can be chosen to have a symmetrized undotted indices _i and b symmetrized dotted indices . The result derived here is that each composite superfield _(a,b) is subject to potential supersymmetry anomalies ifa–b is an odd number, which means that _(a,b) is a fermionic superfield.     

Remarks on the cohomology of the BRS operator in string theory

The cohomology of the open bosonic string BRS operator is computed in a physical fashion. The method can be applied to the closed and to the fermionic models.     

A differential geometric setting for BRS transformations and anomalies I

The Becchi-Rouet-Stora relations and the cohomological construction of anomalies of gauge fields are described within the theory of principal connections of smooth vector bundles.     

A topological characterization of classical BRST cohomology

The recent identification of classical BRST cohomology with the vertical cohomology of a certain fibration is used to compute it in terms of the classical observables and the topology of the gauge orbits. When the gauge orbits are compact and orientable, a duality theorem is exhibited.     

BRST cohomology for certain reducible topological symmetries

In this paper, two different definitions of the BRST complex are connected. We obtain the BRST complex of topological quantum field theories (leading to equivariant cohomology) from the standard definition of the classical BRST complex (leading to Lie algebra cohomology) provided that we include ghosts for ghosts. Hereby, we use a finite dimensional model with a semi-direct product action ofH DiffM on a configuration spaceM, whereH is a compact Lie group representing the gauge symmetry in this model.     

Basic and equivariant cohomology in balanced topological field theory

We present a detailed algebraic study of the N=2 cohomological set-up describing the balanced topological field theory of Dijkgraaf and Moore. We emphasize the role of N=2 topological supersymmetry and internal symmetry by a systematic use of superfield techniques and of an covariant formalism. We provide a definition of N=2 basic and equivariant cohomology, generalizing Dijkgraaf’s and Moore’s, and of N=2 connection. For a general manifold with a group action, we show that: (i) the N=2 basic cohomology is isomorphic to the tensor product of the ordinary N=1 basic cohomology and a universal group theoretic factor; (ii) the affine spaces of N=2 and N=1 connections are isomorphic.     

The topological meaning of non-abelian anomalies

We show how the non-abelian anomaly for gauge fields coupled to Weyl fermions in 2n dimensions is related to the non-trivial topology of gauge orbit space. The form of the anomaly and its normalization are shown to follow from a familiar index theorem for a certain (2n + 2)-dimensional Dirac operator. We are thus able to recover and give topological meaning to a variety of results concerning anomalies in 4- and higher-dimensional theories.     

New gauge anomalies and topological invariants in various dimensions

The very precise combined HERA data provides a testing ground in which the relevance of novel QCD regimes, other than the successful linear DGLAP evolution, in small-x inclusive DIS data can be ascertained. We present a study of the dependence of the AAMQS fits, based on the running coupling BK non-linear evolution equations (rcBK), on the fitted dataset. This allows for the identification of the kinematical region where rcBK accurately describes the data, and thus for the determination of its applicability boundary. We compare the rcBK results with NNLO DGLAP fits, obtained with the NNPDF methodology with analogous kinematical cuts. Further, we explore the impact on LHC phenomenology of applying stringent kinematical cuts to the low-x HERA data in a DGLAP fit.     

Analogues of Mathai–Quillen forms in sheaf cohomology and applications to topological field theory

We construct sheaf-cohomological analogues of Mathai–Quillen forms, that is, holomorphic bundle-valued differential forms whose cohomology classes are independent of certain deformations, and which are believed to possess Thom-like properties. Ordinary Mathai–Quillen forms are special cases of these constructions, as we discuss. These sheaf-theoretic variations arise physically in A/2 and B/2 model pseudo-topological field theories, and we comment on their origin and role.