Questions tagged [gauge-theory]
Gauge theory in physics and mathematics refers to a field theory whose fields include principal bundles with connection.
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Is symplectic reduction interesting from a physical point of view?
Do you think that symplectic reduction (Marsden Weinstein reduction) is interesting from a physical point of view? If so, why? Does it give you some new physical insights?
There are some possible ...
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What is the precise statement of the correspondence between stable Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface, solutions to Hitchin's self-duality equations on the Riemann surface, and representations of the fundamental group of the Riemann surface?
I am trying to find the precise statement of the correspondence between stable Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface $\Sigma$, (irreducible) solutions to Hitchin's self-duality equations on $\Sigma$, and ...
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Linking formulas by Euler, Pólya, Nekrasov-Okounkov
Consider the formal product
$$F(t,x,z):=\prod_{j=0}^{\infty}(1-tx^j)^{z-1}.$$
(a) If $z=2$ then on the one hand we get Euler's
$$F(t,x,2)=\sum_{n\geq0}\frac{(-1)^nx^{\binom{n}2}}{(x;x)_n}t^n,$$
on the ...
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How to understand Chern-Simons action
Hi all. The question I have should be a rather simple one, but I just can't think it through.
So the Chern-Simons action reads
\begin{equation}
S = \int_M {\rm tr} (A\wedge dA + \frac{2}{3} A\wedge A ...
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What is an "Instanton" in classical gauge theory? (to a mathematician)
There's already a question about the same topic but I think its aim is different.
Classical (non-quantum) gauge theory is a completely rigorous mathematical theory. It can be phrased in completely ...
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How can gauge theory techniques be useful to study when topological manifolds can be triangulated?
I was reading a review article arXiv:1310.7644 and it was explained there that in the last few years it was proven that there are topological manifolds of dimension greater than four that cannot be ...
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Are there results from gauge theory known or conjectured to distinguish smooth from PL manifolds?
My question begins with a caveat: I sometimes spend time with topologists, but do not consider myself to be one. In particular, my apologies for any errors in what I say below — corrections are ...
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Every 4-manifold has a $\operatorname{Spin}^c$ Structure
$\DeclareMathOperator\Spin{Spin}\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$I'm having trouble understanding the proof given in Morgan's The Seiberg–Witten Equations and Applications to the Topology of Smooth Four-...
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Yang-Mills and Chern-Simons functionals as Morse functions
Can the Yang-Mills or Chern-Simons action functionals be considered as [possibly perfect] Morse functions? I assume we would be in an equivariant scenario due to considering the configuration spaces ...
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The "miracle" of Heegard Floer.
Taking tori in symmetric products and "miraculously" proving that the Floer homology is independent of choices always seemed, well, miraculous. Some time ago Max Lipyanski explained to me the origins ...
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The classifying space of a gauge group
Let $G$ be a Lie group and $P \to M$ a principal $G$-bundle over a closed Riemann surface. The gauge group $\mathcal{G}$ is defined by
$$\mathcal{G}=\lbrace f : P \to G \mid f(p \cdot g) = g^{-1}f(p)...
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SO(3) monopole Floer homology
From what I understand about work on the Witten conjecture relating Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten invariants, the main strategy has been to relate them with the use of the "SO(3) monopole" theory ...
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Curvature as infinitesimal holonomy
Let $P \to M$ be a principal $G$-bundle, assume as much regularity as you want (compact $G$ or compact base manifold, ect). Via parallel transport, a connection $A$ on $P$ gives rise to the holonomy ...
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Example of ''annihilation'' of Seiberg-Witten Equation solutions
The proof that the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a 4-manifold $X$ with fixed Spin$^c$ structure really are invariant wrt the metric used to define them goes roughly as follows (for simplicity let $b_2^+...
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Finite dimensional approximation of Donaldson theory
In addition to the Seiberg-Witten invariant there has been further success with "finite dimensional approximations" of the Seiberg-Witten theory: Bauer-Furuta's stable (co)homotopy invariants, and ...
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Representing SU(3) with 3 ropes in 3 dimensions
The short question is: how exactly is SU(3) realized with ropes?
The long question: There is this idea that deformations of a configuration of three infinitely long, flexible ropes that cross each ...
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Does $(S^1\times S^3)\#(S^1\times S^3)\#(S^2\times S^2)$ admit a symplectic form?
This is a crosspost from this MSE question from a year ago.
Consider the smooth four-manifold $M = (S^1\times S^3)\#(S^1\times S^3)\#(S^2\times S^2)$. Does $M$ admit a symplectic form?
If $\omega$ ...
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Reference request: Gauge natural bundles, and calculus of variation via the equivariant bundle approach
Let $P\rightarrow M$ be a principal fibre bundle with structure group $G$, $F$ a manifold and $\alpha: G\times F\rightarrow F$ a smooth left action.
There is an associated fibre bundle $E\rightarrow ...
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What is known about the Yang-Mills stratification over 3-manifolds?
Rade proved in his thesis (Crelle's Journal, 1992, available here: digizeitschriften.de/dms/toc/?PPN=PPN243919689) that if $E\rightarrow M$ is a $U(n)$-bundle over a 3-manifold, then the gradient flow ...
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About Simon Donaldson's book on four dimensional manifold
Recently I'm reading Donaldson's Geometry of four manifolds. It seems to me that the book requires a lot for background. Additionally, the proof in the book is too sketchy without too much detail. I ...
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Literature for gauge field theory on the lattice in geometrical formulation
I have found an article by Huebschmann, Rudolph and Schmidt about "A Gauge Model for Quantum Mechanics on a Stratified Space" and I am very interested in this subject, but I don't have any ...
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Seiberg-Witten theory on 4-manifolds with boundary
What generalizations of Seiberg-Witten theory to 4-manifolds with boundary do exist?
I would be especially interested in theories which "behave good" under gluing along the boundary (comparable to ...
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Symplectic structures from Lagrangians?
In Witten's paper 'Quantization of Chern-Simons Gauge Theory with Complex Gauge Group,' he makes the statement (p. 35) that the symplectic form on the moduli space of flat $G_\mathbb{C}$ connections ...
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Looking for reference on gauge fields as connections.
Can anyone give me references where I would see a detailed exposition of how to translate gauge field theory as known to physicists into the language of connections. I am looking for a detailed ...
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Is the space of connections modulo gauge equivalence paracompact?
I find this question interesting, but need to get it out of my system: is the space of connections (modulo gauge) on a compact four-manifold paracompact, in the Sobolev topology?
If so, I believe it ...
11
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Monopole Floer Homology vs. Heegaard-Floer theory
I have a (possibly very naive) question: what is the relation between Monopole Floer Homology and Heegaard-Floer theory? (both known and conjectured)
Is there some version of Atiyah-Floer conjecture ...
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Floer homology and Invariants for Einstein Field Equations?
Motivation: There have been the instanton (anti-self dual connection) solutions to the Yang-Mills equation $d_A^\ast F_A=0$ which extremize the YM energy $\int_M|F_A|^2$, leading to the Donaldson ...
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Is the Lie algebra-valued curvature two-form on a principal bundle P the curvature of a vector bundle over P?
I am an analyst struggling through some geometry used in physics.
Some background: For some Lie group $G$, let $P$ be a principal $G$-bundle over the smooth manifold $M$. Let $\omega$ be a connection ...
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Curvature of tautological connections over the space of connections
My question is about computing the curvature of a quotient connection, specifically for the case of the quotient of the tautological connection of a universal bundle on the moduli space of connections....
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Gauge theory on schemes
Gauge theories are traditionally formulated in space-time, superspace, manifolds, or supermanifolds.
Are there formulations of gauge theory in the context of algebraic geometry (e.g. defining fields ...
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Central Yang-Mills connections, and flat connections with prescribed holonomy
Let $X$ be $\Sigma^g$ which is the Riemann surface of genus $g$, and consider a trivial $G$-bundle over it.
1) In this $2$-d setting, the space of Yang-Mills central connections is the set of ...
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What is the definition of picture changing operation?
What is the definition of picture changing operation?
What is a standard reference where it is defined - not just used?
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Langlands dual group in math vs. Goddard-Nyuts-Olive dual group in physics
Given a group $G$, there is a so-called Langlands dual group $G^{∨}$.
Given a group $G$, there is also a so-called Goddard-Nyuts-Olive dual group $G^{'}$ that relates to the magnetic charge.
Are ...
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What is the BRST-anti-BRST formalism?
What is the BRST-anti-BRST formalism?
Is the Sp(2) doublet the ghost, antighost pair?
Introductory accounts of this subject seem to be hard to find. I would appreciate a reference for someone who ...
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Casson's invariant and the trivial connection contribution to witten's 3-manifold invariant
This question might turn out not to make any sense, but here it is: Witten's (and Reshetikhin and Turaev's) 3-manifold invariant can be "defined" as an integral over the space of connections on the ...
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Donaldson invariants for piecewise-linear $4$-manifolds
It is well known that in dimension $4$, the notion of piecewise linear manifolds and the notion of smooth manifolds are the same [1][2]. On the other hand, the computations of Donaldson invariants ...
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Is there a contact instanton connection on the tangent bundle of the 5-sphere?
A well-known example of a contact manifold is $S^5$, arising from it being a circle bundle over $\mathbb{CP^2}$. This is somewhat related to the reduction of the structure group from $SO(5)$ to $SU(2)$...
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Hartshorne's Conjectures about Algebraic Bundles?
In 1978 Hartshorne published a list of 26 open problems about algebraic bundles on projective spaces [Hart], proceeding from an Oxford conference organized by Atiyah.
I understand that many of these ...
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Wedge Product of Lie Algebra Valued One-Form
I've been reading about the formal structure of gauge theories and am a little confused by the notation. Could someone clarify this for me?
Suppose that $A$ is a Lie algebra valued 1-form ...
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Flat connections on 3-manifold with boundary
Suppose $Y$ is a 3-manifold and the boundary $\Sigma:=\partial Y$ is non-empty. Let $G$ be a Lie group with trivial center. Let $\overline {\mathcal A}_{flat}(\Sigma)$ and $\overline {\mathcal A}_{...
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Relation of SW and Donaldson Invariant
My question is:
I am request for the reference that Is there any relationship between the Seiberg-Witten Invariant and Donaldson's Invariant? Or the relationship between Seiberg-Witten Moduli Space ...
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K.Uhlenbeck's preprint "A priori estimates for Yang-Mills fields"
Does anyone have a copy of the unpublished preprint of Karen Uhlenbeck A priori estimates for Yang-Mills fields from around 1986?
It appears to have circulated for some time, and it is quoted in ...
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How to compute the Monopole Floer Homology for Surface $\times S^1$ ?
We know that Monopole Floer homology of a 3-manifold $M$ depends on a spin-c structure. My question is that if $M$ is $F\times S^1$ ($F$ is a surface of genus larger than 1) then how can we compute ...
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Deformation-Obstruction Theory of YM Instantons
In Donaldson-Kronhiemer Section 4.2.5. (local models of the moduli space of YM instantons) they first get local models of the moduli space $M$ inside the space of all connections modulo gauge $\...
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Todd genus of symplectic $4$-manifolds a smooth invariant?
Suppose that $(M_{1},\omega_{1})$ and $(M_{2},\omega_{2})$ are compact symplectic $4$-manifolds, that are (oriented) diffeomorphic. Is it true that the Todd genus ($\frac{1}{12} (c_{1}^{2} + c_{2})(M_{...
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Spin networks as functionals on the moduli space of connections modulo gauge transformations on a graph
I have just read a big part of John Baez's nice article Spin network states in Gauge theory. The definitions are quite clear in that article. However, there is a part which is not explained explicitly ...
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On the classification of $\mathrm{SU}(mn)/\mathbb{Z}_n$ principal bundles over 4-complexes
In
The Classification of Principal PU(n)-bundles Over a 4-complex, J. London Math. Soc. 2nd ser. 25 (1982) 513–524, doi:10.1112/jlms/s2-25.3.513
Woodward proposed a classification of $\mathrm{PU}...
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Infinitely many nonempty Seiberg-Witten moduli spaces
The classic "finiteness" statement in Seiberg-Witten (SW) theory is that, for any smooth closed connected 4-manifold, there are only finitely many spin-c structures with nontrivial SW ...
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Exact triangle for monopole Floer homology with $\mathbb{Z}$-coefficient
Let $Y$ be oriented 3 manifold with torus boundary and let $\gamma_{j}$ (j=0,1,2) be three curves on its boundary with $\#(\gamma_{j}\cap \gamma_{j+1})=-1$. We denote by $Y_{j}$ the manifold obtained ...
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Deformation of the covariant Laplacian
Let $M$ be a Riemann surface and $P \to M$ a principal $G$-bundle (with compact structure group $G$).
Fix a connection $A$ in $P$ and consider a nearby connection $B$, which is in Coulomb gauge ...