Non-self-dual Yang-Mills connections with quadrupole symmetry

We prove the existence of non-self-dual Yang-Mills connections onSU(2) bundles over the four-sphere, specifically on all bundles with second Chern number not equal±1. We study connections equivariant under anSU(2) symmetry group to reduce the effective dimensionality from four to one, and then use variational techniques. The existence of non-self-dualSU(2) YM connections on the trivial bundle (second Chern number equals zero) has already been established by Sibner, Sibner, and Uhlenbeck via different methods.Research partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-8806731Most of this research was done while the author was a Bantrell Fellow at the California Institute of Technology, and was partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-8801918     

Fermionic Quantization and Configuration Spaces for the Skyrme and Faddeev-Hopf Models

The fundamental group and rational cohomology of the configuration spaces of the Skyrme and Faddeev-Hopf models are computed. Physical space is taken to be a compact oriented 3-manifold, either with or without a marked point representing an end at infinity. For the Skyrme model, the codomain is any Lie group, while for the Faddeev-Hopf model it is S². It is determined when the topology of configuration space permits fermionic and isospinorial quantization of the solitons of the model within generalizations of the frameworks of Finkelstein-Rubinstein and Sorkin. Fermionic quantization of Skyrmions is possible only if the target group contains a symplectic or special unitary factor, while fermionic quantization of Hopfions is always possible. Geometric interpretations of the results are given. The first author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0204651 The second author was partially supported by EPSRC grant GR/R66982/01     

A Poisson Structure on Compact Symmetric Spaces

We present some basic results on a natural Poisson structure on any compact symmetric space. The symplectic leaves of this structure are related to the orbits of the corresponding real semisimple group on the complex flag manifold.Acknowledgements We thank Sam Evens for many useful discussions. The first author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0072520. The second author was partially supported by NSF(USA) grants DMS-0105195 and DMS-0072551 and by the HHY Physical Sciences Fund at the University of Hong Kong.     

A Genus-3 Topological Recursion Relation

In this paper, we give a new genus-3 topological recursion relation for Gromov-Witten invariants of compact symplectic manifolds. This formula also applies to intersection numbers on moduli spaces of spin curves. A by-product of the proof of this formula is a new relation in the tautological ring of the moduli space of 1-pointed genus-3 stable curves. Research of the first author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0204824 Research of the second author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0505835     

Classification of singular Sobolev connections by their holonomy

For a connection on a principalSU(2) bundle over a base space with a codimension two singular set, a limit holonomy condition is stated. In dimension four, finite action implies that the condition is satisfied and an a priori estimate holds which classifies the singularity in terms of holonomy. If there is no holonomy, then a codimension two removable singularity theorem is obtained.Research partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-8701813Research partially supported by NSF Grant INT-8511481     

Spin Gromov-Witten Invariants

We define and study r-spin Gromov-Witten invariants and r-spin quantum cohomology of a projective variety V, where r≥2 is an integer. The main element of the construction is the space of r-spin maps, the stable maps into a variety V from n-pointed algebraic curves of genus g with the additional data of an r-spin structure on the curve. We prove that is a Deligne-Mumford stack and use it to define the r-spin Gromov-Witten classes of V. We show that these classes yield a cohomological field theory (CohFT) which is isomorphic to the tensor product of the CohFT associated to the usual Gromov-Witten invariants of V and the r-spin CohFT. Restricting to genus zero, we obtain the notion of an r-spin quantum cohomology of V, whose Frobenius structure is isomorphic to the tensor product of the Frobenius manifolds corresponding to the quantum cohomology of V and the r^th Gelfand-Dickey hierarchy (or, equivalently, the A_r−1 singularity). We also prove a generalization of the descent property which, in particular, explains the appearance of the ψ classes in the definition of gravitational descendants.Research of the first author was partially supported by NSA grant number MDA904-99-1-0039Research of the second author was partially supported by NSF grant number DMS-9803427Research of the third author was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0104397     

A symmetric family of Yang-Mills fields

We examine a family of finite energySO(3) Yang-Mills connections overS ⁴, indexed by two real parameters. This family includes both smooth connections (when both parameters are odd integers), and connections with a holonomy singularity around 1 or 2 copies ofRP ². These singular YM connections interpolate between the smooth solutions. Depending on the parameters, the curvature may be self-dual, anti-self-dual, or neither. For the (anti)self-dual connections, we compute the formal dimension of the moduli space. For the non-self-dual connections we examine the second variation of the Yang-Mills functional, and count the negative and zero eigenvalues. Each component of the non-self-dual moduli space appears to consist only of conformal copies of a single solution.This work was partially supported by an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship     

Yang-Mills on Surfaces with Boundary: Quantum Theory and Symplectic Limit

The quantum field measure for gauge fields over a compact surface with boundary, with holonomy around the boundary components specified, is constructed. Loop expectation values for general loop configurations are computed. For a compact oriented surface with one boundary component, let be the moduli space of flat connections with boundary holonomy lying in a conjugacy class in the gauge group G. We prove that a certain natural closed 2-form on , introduced in an earlier work by C. King and the author, is a symplectic structure on the generic stratum of for generic . We then prove that the quantum Yang-Mills measure, with the boundary holonomy constrained to lie in , converges in a natural sense to the corresponding symplectic volume measure in the classical limit. We conclude with a detailed treatment of the case , and determine the symplectic volume of this moduli space. Received: 30 June 1996 / Accepted: 22 July 1996     

Anti-Self-Duality of Curvature and Degeneration of Metrics with Special Holonomy

We study the structure of noncollapsed Gromov-Hausdorff limits of sequences, Mⁿ_i, of riemannian manifolds with special holonomy. We show that these spaces are smooth manifolds with special holonomy off a closed subset of codimension 4. Additional results on the the detailed structure of the singular set support our main conjecture that if the Mⁿ_i are compact and a certain characteristic number, C(Mⁿ_i), is bounded independent of i, then the singularities are of orbifold type off a subset of real codimension at least 6.The first author was partially supported by NSF Grant DMS 0104128 and the second by NSF Grant DMS 0302744.     

Regularity of harmonic maps with prescribed singularities

In this paper, we studied the regularity problem for harmonic maps into hyperbolic spaces with prescribed singularities along codimension two submanifolds. This is motivated from one of Hawking's conjectures on the uniqueness of Kerr solutions among all axially symmetric asymptotically flat stationary solutions to the vacuum Einstein equation in general relativity.Research partially supported by a NSF grant DMS-8907849.Research partially supported by a NSF grant     

Some Geometric Calculations on Wasserstein Space

We compute the Riemannian connection and curvature for the Wasserstein space of a smooth compact Riemannian manifold. This research was partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0604829.     

Random walk in random environment: A counterexample?

We describe a family of random walks in random environments which have exponentially decaying correlations, nearest neighbor transition probabilities which are bounded away from 0, and yet are subdiffusive in any dimensiond<.This author partially supported by NSF grant DMS 83-1080This author partially supported by NSF grant DMS-85-05020 and the Army Research Office through the Mathematical Sciences Institute at Cornell University     

The variational problems for classical N-vector models

We prove existence and regularity properties of solutions of the variational problems introduced in the previous paper [1] for classical lattice N-vector models. These results form a basis of our renormalization group approach to low temperature expansions for the considered models.The work has been partially supported by the NSF Grant DMS-9102639.     

Convex Hamiltonian energy surfaces and their periodic trajectories

In this paper we introduce symplectic invariants for convex Hamiltonian energy surfaces and their periodic trajectories and show that these quentities satisfy several nontrivial relations. In particular we show that they can be used to prove multiplicity results for the number of periodic trajectories.This paper represents results obtained while holding a visiting position at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences, New YorkResearch partially supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-8603149 and a Rutgers University Research Council Grant     

The semiclassical limit forSU(2) andSO(3) gauge theory on the torus

We prove that forSU(2) andSO(3) quantum gauge theory on a torus, holonomy expectation values with respect to the Yang-Mills measure converge, asT0, to integrals with respect to a symplectic volume measure µ₀ on the moduli space of flat connections on the bundle. These moduli spaces and the symplectic structures are described explicitly.Research supported in part by LEQSF Grant RD-A-08, and NSF Grant DMS 9400961.     

On a Penrose Inequality with Charge

We construct a time-symmetric asymptotically flat initial data set to the Einstein-Maxwell Equations which satisfieswhere m is the total mass, is the area radius of the outermost horizon and Q is the total charge. This yields a counter-example to a natural extension of the Penrose Inequality for charged black holes.The research of the first author was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0205545.The research of the second author was supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0222387.     

On algebraic equations satisfied by hypergeometric correlators in WZW models. I

It is proven that integral expressions for conformal correlators insl(2) WZW model found in [SV] satisfy certain natural algebraic equations. This implies that the above integrals really take their values in spaces of conformal blocks.The second author was supported in part by the NSF grant DMS-9202280. The third author was supported in part by the NSF grant DMS-9203939     

The Yamada polynomial of spacial graphs and knit algebras

The Yamada polynomial for embeddings of graphs is widely generalized by using knit semigroups and polytangles. To construct and investigate them, we use a diagrammatic method combined with the theory of algebrasH _N,M(a,q), which are quotients of knit semigroups and are generalizations of Iwahori-Hecke algebrasH _n(q). Our invariants are versions of Turaev-Reshetikhin's invariants for ribbon graphs, but our construction is more specific and computable.This research was supported in part by NSF grant DMS-9100383     

Moment maps at the quantum level

We introduce the notion of moment maps for quantum groups acting on their module algebras. When the module algebras are quantizations of Poisson manifolds, we prove that the construction at the quantum level is a quantization of that at the semi-classical level. We also prove that the corresponding smashed product algebras are quantizations of the semi-direct product Poisson structures.Research partially supported by NSF grant DMS-89-07710