28 research outputs found
Hidden Quantum Gravity in 4d Feynman diagrams: Emergence of spin foams
We show how Feynman amplitudes of standard QFT on flat and homogeneous space
can naturally be recast as the evaluation of observables for a specific spin
foam model, which provides dynamics for the background geometry. We identify
the symmetries of this Feynman graph spin foam model and give the gauge-fixing
prescriptions. We also show that the gauge-fixed partition function is
invariant under Pachner moves of the triangulation, and thus defines an
invariant of four-dimensional manifolds. Finally, we investigate the algebraic
structure of the model, and discuss its relation with a quantization of 4d
gravity in the limit where the Newton constant goes to zero.Comment: 28 pages (RevTeX4), 7 figures, references adde
Super-A-polynomials for Twist Knots
We conjecture formulae of the colored superpolynomials for a class of twist
knots where p denotes the number of full twists. The validity of the
formulae is checked by applying differentials and taking special limits. Using
the formulae, we compute both the classical and quantum super-A-polynomial for
the twist knots with small values of p. The results support the categorified
versions of the generalized volume conjecture and the quantum volume
conjecture. Furthermore, we obtain the evidence that the Q-deformed
A-polynomials can be identified with the augmentation polynomials of knot
contact homology in the case of the twist knots.Comment: 22+16 pages, 16 tables and 5 figures; with a Maple program by Xinyu
Sun and a Mathematica notebook in the ancillary files linked on the right; v2
change in appendix B, typos corrected and references added; v3 change in
section 3.3; v4 corrections in Ooguri-Vafa polynomials and quantum
super-A-polynomials for 7_2 and 8_1 are adde
A Class of Topological Actions
We review definitions of generalized parallel transports in terms of
Cheeger-Simons differential characters. Integration formulae are given in terms
of Deligne-Beilinson cohomology classes. These representations of parallel
transport can be extended to situations involving distributions as is
appropriate in the context of quantized fields.Comment: 41 pages, no figure
An Invitation to Higher Gauge Theory
In this easy introduction to higher gauge theory, we describe parallel
transport for particles and strings in terms of 2-connections on 2-bundles.
Just as ordinary gauge theory involves a gauge group, this generalization
involves a gauge '2-group'. We focus on 6 examples. First, every abelian Lie
group gives a Lie 2-group; the case of U(1) yields the theory of U(1) gerbes,
which play an important role in string theory and multisymplectic geometry.
Second, every group representation gives a Lie 2-group; the representation of
the Lorentz group on 4d Minkowski spacetime gives the Poincar\'e 2-group, which
leads to a spin foam model for Minkowski spacetime. Third, taking the adjoint
representation of any Lie group on its own Lie algebra gives a 'tangent
2-group', which serves as a gauge 2-group in 4d BF theory, which has
topological gravity as a special case. Fourth, every Lie group has an 'inner
automorphism 2-group', which serves as the gauge group in 4d BF theory with
cosmological constant term. Fifth, every Lie group has an 'automorphism
2-group', which plays an important role in the theory of nonabelian gerbes. And
sixth, every compact simple Lie group gives a 'string 2-group'. We also touch
upon higher structures such as the 'gravity 3-group' and the Lie 3-superalgebra
that governs 11-dimensional supergravity.Comment: 60 pages, based on lectures at the 2nd School and Workshop on Quantum
Gravity and Quantum Geometry at the 2009 Corfu Summer Institut
Geometric phases in adiabatic Floquet theory, abelian gerbes and Cheon's anholonomy
We study the geometric phase phenomenon in the context of the adiabatic
Floquet theory (the so-called the Floquet theory). A double
integration appears in the geometric phase formula because of the presence of
two time variables within the theory. We show that the geometric phases are
then identified with horizontal lifts of surfaces in an abelian gerbe with
connection, rather than with horizontal lifts of curves in an abelian principal
bundle. This higher degree in the geometric phase gauge theory is related to
the appearance of changes in the Floquet blocks at the transitions between two
local charts of the parameter manifold. We present the physical example of a
kicked two-level system where these changes are involved via a Cheon's
anholonomy. In this context, the analogy between the usual geometric phase
theory and the classical field theory also provides an analogy with the
classical string theory.Comment: This new version presents a more complete geometric structure which
is topologically non trivia
Dichromatic state sum models for four-manifolds from pivotal functors
A family of invariants of smooth, oriented four-dimensional manifolds is defined via handle decompositions and the Kirby calculus of framed link diagrams. The invariants are parametrised by a pivotal functor from a spherical fusion category into a ribbon fusion category.
A state sum formula for the invariant is constructed via the chain-mail procedure, so a large class of topological state sum models can be expressed as link invariants. Most prominently, the Crane-Yetter state sum over an arbitrary ribbon fusion category is recovered, including the nonmodular case. It is shown that the Crane-Yetter invariant for nonmodular categories is stronger than signature and Euler invariant.
A special case is the four-dimensional untwisted Dijkgraaf-Witten model. Derivations of state space dimensions of TQFTs arising from the state sum model agree with recent calculations of ground state degeneracies in Walker-Wang models.
Relations to different approaches to quantum gravity such as Cartan geometry and teleparallel gravity are also discussed
The Supermembrane with Central Charges on a G2 Manifold
We construct the 11D supermembrane with topological central charges induced
through an irreducible winding on a G2 manifold realized from the T7/Z2xZ2xZ2
orbifold construction. The hamiltonian H of the theory on a T7 target has a
discrete spectrum. Within the discrete symmetries of H associated to large
diffeomorphisms, the Z2xZ2xZ2 group of automorphisms of the quaternionic
subspaces preserving the octonionic structure is relevant. By performing the
corresponding identification on the target space, the supermembrane may be
formulated on a G2 manifold, preserving the discretness of its supersymmetric
spectrum. The corresponding 4D low energy effective field theory has N=1
supersymmetry.Comment: Reviewed version. spectral propertis discussed, two more sections
added, 27 pages,Late