Evolution of Nielsen-Olesen''''s String from Chern-Simons Field Theory

We study the topology of Nielsen-Olesen's local field theory of single dual string. Based on the Chern-Simons field theory in three dimensons, we find many strings that can form world sheets in four dimensions. These strings have important relation to the zero point of the complex scalar field. These world sheets of strings can be expressed by the topological invariant number, Hopf index, and Brower degree. Nambu-Goto's action is obtained from the Nielsen's action definitely by using o-mapping theory.     

Evolution of Nielsen-Olesen's String from Chern-Simons Field Theory

We study the topology of Nielsen-Olesen's local field theory of single dual string. Based on the Chern-Simons field theory in three dimensons, we find many strings that can form world sheets in four dimensions. These strings have important relation to the zero point of the complex scalar field. These world sheets of strings can be expressed by the topological invariant number, Hopf index, and Brower degree. Nambu-Goto's action is obtained from the Nielsen's action definitely by using φ-mapping theory.     

Chern-Simons topological Lagrangians in odd dimensions and their Kaluza-Klein reduction

By clarifying the behavior of generic Chern-Simons secondary invariants under infinitesimal variation and finite gauge transformation, it is proved that they are eligible to be a candidate term in the Lagrangian in odd dimensions (2k ? 1 for gauge theories and 4k ? 1 for gravity). The coefficients in front of these terms may be quantized because of topological reasons. As a possible application, the dimensional reduction of such actions in Kaluza-Klein theory is discussed. The difficulty in defining the Chern-Simons action for topologically nontrivial field configurations is pointed out and resolved.     

Notes on generalized global symmetries in QFT

It was recently argued that quantum field theories possess one‐form and higher‐form symmetries, labelled ‘generalized global symmetries.’ In this paper, we describe how those higher‐form symmetries can be understood mathematically as special cases of more general 2‐groups and higher groups, and discuss examples of quantum field theories admitting actions of more general higher groups than merely one‐form and higher‐form symmetries. We discuss analogues of topological defects for some of these higher symmetry groups, relating some of them to ordinary topological defects. We also discuss topological defects in cases in which the moduli ‘space’ (technically, a stack) admits an action of a higher symmetry group. Finally, we outline a proposal for how certain anomalies might potentially be understood as describing a transmutation of an ordinary group symmetry of the classical theory into a 2‐group or higher group symmetry of the quantum theory, which we link to WZW models and bosonization.     

Two-dimensional topological gravity and intersection theory on the moduli space of holomorphic bundles

We define a two-dimensional topological Yang-Mills theory for an arbitrary compact simple Lie group. This theory is defined in terms of intersection theory on the moduli space of flat connections on a two-dimensional surface and corresponds physically to a two-dimensional reduction and truncation of four-dimensional topological Yang-Mills theory. Two-dimensional topological Yang-Mills theory defines a topological matter system and may be naturally coupled to two-dimensional topological gravity. This topological Yang-Mills theory is also closely related to Chern-Simons gauge theory in 2 + 1 dimensions. We also discuss a relation between SL (2, ) Chern-Simons theory and two-dimensional topological gravity.     

Topological Structure of Knotted Vortex Lines in Liquid Crystals

In this paper, a novel decomposition expression for the U（1） gauge field in liquid crystals （LCs） is derived. Using this decomposition expression and the b-mapping topological current theory, we investigate the topological structure of the vortex lines in LCs in detail. A topological invariant, i.e., the Chern-Simons （CS） action for the knotted vortex lines is presented, and the CS action is shown to be the total sum of all the self-linking and linking numbers of the knot family. Moreover, it is pointed out that the CS action is preserved in the branch processes of the knotted vortex lines.     

Vector and Spinor Decomposition of SU（2） Gauge Potential, Their Equivalence, and Knot Structure in SU（2） Chern-Simons Theory

In this paper, spinor and vector decompositions of SU（2） gauge potential are presented and their equivalence is constructed using a simply proposal. We also obtain the action of Faddeev nonlinear 0（3） sigma model from the SU（2） mass/ve gauge field theory, which is proposed according to the gauge invariant principle. At last, the knot structure in SU（2） Chern-Simons filed theory is discussed in terms of the Φ-mapping topological current theory, The topological charge of the knot is characterized by the Hopf indices and the Brouwer degrees of Φ-mapping.     

Higher algebraic structures and quantization

We derive (quasi-)quantum groups in 2+1 dimensional topological field theory directly from the classical action and the path integral. Detailed computations are carried out for the Chern-Simons theory with finite gauge group. The principles behind our computations are presumably more general. We extend the classical action in ad+1 dimensional topological theory to manifolds of dimension less thand+1. We then construct a generalized path integral which ind+1 dimensions reduces to the standard one and ind dimensions reproduces the quantum Hilbert space. In a 2+1 dimensional topological theory the path integral over the circle is the category of representations of a quasi-quantum group. In this paper we only consider finite theories, in which the generalized path integral reduces to a finite sum. New ideas are needed to extend beyond the finite theories treated here.The author is supported by NSF grant DMS-8805684, a Presidential Young Investigators award DMS-9057144, and by the O'Donnell Foundation. He warmly thanks the Geometry Center at the University of Minnesota for their hospitality while this work was undertaken     

One-Dimensional Chern-Simons Theory

We study a one-dimensional toy version of the Chern-Simons theory. We construct its simplicial version which comprises features of a low-energy effective gauge theory and of a topological quantum field theory in the sense of Atiyah.     

Computer calculation of Witten's 3-manifold invariant

Witten's 2+1 dimensional Chern-Simons theory is exactly solvable. We compute the partition function, a topological invariant of 3-manifolds, on generalized Seifert spaces. Thus we test the path integral using the theory of 3-manifolds. In particular, we compare the exact solution with the asymptotic formula predicted by perturbation theory. We conclude that this path integral works as advertised and gives an effective topological invariant.The first author is supported by NSF grant DMS-8805684, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and a Presidential Young Investigators award. The second author is supported by NSF grant DMS-8902153     

TOPOLOGY OF CURRENTS,EFFECTIVE LAGRANGIANS AND ANOMALIES—SOME RECENT PROGRESS IN TOPOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON GAUGE THEORIES

We briefly review some recent progress i.n topological investigations on quantum field theories with gauge symmetries.The subjects include fractional charges, topological currents,chiral effective Lagrangians and tt:cir gauge invariances,gauge anomalies in different dimensions etc, We explain tree generalization of the Chern-Simons secondary classes, the cohomologies of gauge groups realized upon these generalized classes and their cornbinatory forms which satisfy the generalized transgression formulas, and make use of them in the cohomological analyses on the structure of anomalies in different dimensionswhich represent Topological obstructions to the existence of consistent quantized gauge field theories.     

Topological phases of quantum theories. Chern-Simons theory

We analyze the vacuum structure (degeneracy, nodes and symmetries) of some quantum theories with special emphasis on the study of its dependence on the geometry and topology of the classical configuration space. The study of the topological limit shows that many low energy properties of those quantum theories can be inferred from the structure of their topological phases. After reviewing some simple pure quantum mechanical models (planar rotor, magnetic monopole and quantum Hall effect) we focus on the study of the rich relationship existing between topologically massive gauge theories and their topological phases, Chern-Simons theories. In particular we show that, although in a finite volume the degeneracy of the quantum vacuum of gauge theories depends on the topology of the underlying Riemann surface, in an infinite volume the vacuum is unique. Finally, the topological structure of Chern-Simons theory is analyzed in a covariant formalism within a geometric regularization scheme. We discuss in some detail the structure of the different metric dependent contributions to the Chern-Simons partition function and the associated topological invariants.     

Odd Chern-Simons Theory, Lie Algebra Cohomology and Characteristic Classes

We investigate the generic 3D topological field theory within the AKSZ-BV framework. We use the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism to construct explicitly cocycles of the Lie algebra of formal Hamiltonian vector fields and we argue that the perturbative partition function gives rise to secondary characteristic classes. We investigate a toy model which is an odd analogue of Chern-Simons theory, and we give some explicit computation of two point functions and show that its perturbation theory is identical to the Chern-Simons theory. We give a concrete example of the homomorphism taking Lie algebra cocycles to Q-characteristic classes, and we reinterpret the Rozansky-Witten model in this light.     

Exactly soluble diffeomorphism invariant theories

A class of diffeomorphism invariant theories is described for which the Hilbert space of quantum states can be explicitly constructed. These theories can be formulated in any dimension and include Witten's solution to 2+1 dimensional gravity as a special case. Higher dimensional generalizations exist which start with an action similar to the Einstein action inn dimensions. Many of these theories do not involve a spacetime metric and provide examples of topological quantum field theories. One is a version of Yang-Mills theory in which the only quantum states onS ³×R are the vacua. Finally it is shown that the three dimensional Chern-Simons theory (which Witten has shown is intimately connected with knot theory) arises naturally from a four dimensional topological gauge theory.On leave from the Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA     

0-extended supergravity and Chern-Simons theories

We give generalizations of extended Poincaré supergravity with arbitrarily many supersymmetries in the absence of central charges in three dimensions by gauging its intrinsic global SO(N) symmetry. We call these ₀ (Aleph-null) supergravity theories. We further couple a non-Abelian supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory and an Abelian topological BF theory to ₀ supergravity. Our result overcomes the previous difficulty for supersymmetrization of Chern-Simons theories beyond N = 4. This feature is peculiar to the Chern-Simons and BF theories including supergravity in three dimensions. We also show that dimensional reduction schemes for four-dimensional theories such as N = 1 self-dual supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory or N = 1 supergravity theory that can generate ₀ globally and locally supersymmetric theories in three dimensions. As an interesting application, we present ₀ supergravity Liouville theory in two dimensions after appropriate dimensional reduction from three dimensions.     

Fermionic Magnons, non-Abelian spinons, and the spin quantum Hall effect from an exactly solvable spin-1/2 Kitaev model with SU(2) symmetry

We introduce an exactly solvable SU(2)-invariant spin-1/2 model with exotic spin excitations. With time reversal symmetry (TRS), the ground state is a spin liquid with gapless or gapped spin-1 but fermionic excitations. When TRS is broken, the resulting spin liquid exhibits deconfined vortex excitations which carry spin-1/2 and obey non-Abelian statistics. We show that this SU(2) invariant non-Abelian spin liquid exhibits the spin quantum Hall effect with quantized spin Hall conductivity σ(xy)(s)=?/2π, and that the spin response is effectively described by the SO(3) level-1 Chern-Simons theory at low energy. We further propose that a SU(2) level-2 Chern-Simons theory is the effective field theory describing the topological structure of the non-Abelian SU(2) invariant spin liquid.     

BRST Formalism in Self-Dual Chern-Simons Theory with Matter Fields

We apply BRST method to the self-dual Chern-Simons gauge theory with matter fields and the generators of symmetries of the system from an elegant Lie algebra structure under the operation of Poisson bracket. We discuss four different cases: abelian, nonabelian, relativistic, and nonrelativistic situations and extend the system to the whole phase space including ghost fields. In addition, we obtain the BRST charge of the field system and check its nilpotence of the BRST transformation which plays an important role such as in topological quantum field theory and string theory.     

Spectral asymmetry and vacuum charge in three-dimensional closed and open space

The parity violating effective action for three-dimensional fermions coupled to an abelian gauge background potential is determined in a non-perturbative manner. The three-dimensional spectral asymmetry is calculated on compact manifolds with and without boundary as well as in open space in terms of lower-dimensional topological objects. It is shown that by quantizing the theory in different vacuum sectors the anomalous contribution to the effective action may be modified by non-local terms. The coefficient of the parity violating Chern-Simons term is found to vary accordingly, in agreement with previous hamiltonian calculations.     

Polymer topology and Chern-Simons field theory

In this paper the statistical mechanical problem of two topologically linked polymers is related to a topological Ginzburg-Landau model coupled to two Chern-Simons field theories. The Chern-Simons fields play the role of propagators of the topological interactions. The effects of the topological constraints is investigated using the method of effective potential in one-loop approximation.