Refined descendant invariants of toric surfaces

We construct refined tropical enumerative genus zero invariants of toric surfaces that specialize to the tropical descendant genus zero invariants introduced by Markwig and Rau when the quantum parameter tends to $1$. In the case of trivalent tropical curves our invariants turn to be the Goettsche-Schroeter refined broccoli invariants. We show that this is the only possible refinement of the Markwig-Rau descendant invariants that generalizes the Goettsche-Schroeter refined broccoli invariants. We discuss also the computational aspect (a lattice path algorithm) and exhibit some examples.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures; matches the published versio

Convexities related to path properties on graphs; a unified approach

Path properties, such as 'geodesic', 'induced', 'all paths' define a convexity on a connected graph. The general notion of path property, introduced in this paper, gives rise to a comprehensive survey of results obtained by different authors for a variety of path properties, together with a number of new results. We pay special attention to convexities defined by path properties on graph products and the classical convexity invariants, such as the Caratheodory, Helly and Radon numbers in relation with graph invariants, such as clique numbers and other graph properties.

Geometric local invariants and pure three-qubit states

We explore a geometric approach to generating local SU(2) and $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ invariants for a collection of qubits inspired by lattice gauge theory. Each local invariant or 'gauge' invariant is associated to a distinct closed path (or plaquette) joining some or all of the qubits. In lattice gauge theory, the lattice points are the discrete space-time points, the transformations between the points of the lattice are defined by parallel transporters and the gauge invariant observable associated to a particular closed path is given by the Wilson loop. In our approach the points of the lattice are qubits, the link-transformations between the qubits are defined by the correlations between them and the gauge invariant observable, the local invariants associated to a particular closed path are also given by a Wilson loop-like construction. The link transformations share many of the properties of parallel transporters although they are not undone when one retraces one's steps through the lattice. This feature is used to generate many of the invariants. We consider a pure three qubit state as a test case and find we can generate a complete set of algebraically independent local invariants in this way, however the framework given here is applicable to mixed states composed of any number of $d$ level quantum systems. We give an operational interpretation of these invariants in terms of observables.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

On the Generalized Casson Invariant

The path integral generalization of the Casson invariant as developed by Rozansky and Witten is investigated. The path integral for various three manifolds is explicitly evaluated. A new class of topological observables is introduced that may allow for more effective invariants. Finally it is shown how the dimensional reduction of these theories corresponds to a generalization of the topological B sigma model