Configuration space integrals and invariants for 3-manifolds and knots

The first part of this paper is a short review of the construction [dg-ga/9710001] of invariants of rational homology 3-spheres and knots in terms of configuration space integrals. The second part describes the relationship between the above construction and Kontsevich's proposal of removing one point from the rational homology sphere. Explicit formulae are computed. In the case of the "Theta" invariant, a comparison with Taubes's construction is briefly discussed.Comment: 17 pages, AMS-LaTeX; proceedings of the Madeira conference on "Low Dimensional Topology," January 199

Cabled Wilson Loops in BF Theories

A generating function for cabled Wilson loops in three-dimensional BF theories is defined, and a careful study of its behavior for vanishing cosmological constant is performed. This allows an exhaustive description of the unframed knot invariants coming from the pure BF theory based on SU(2), and in particular, it proves a conjecture relating them to the Alexander-Conway polynomial.Comment: 30 pages, LaTe

Deformation Quantization and Reduction

This note is an overview of the Poisson sigma model (PSM) and its applications in deformation quantization. Reduction of coisotropic and pre-Poisson submanifolds, their appearance as branes of the PSM, quantization in terms of L-infinity and A-infinity algebras, and bimodule structures are recalled. As an application, an "almost" functorial quantization of Poisson maps is presented if no anomalies occur. This leads in principle to a novel approach for the quantization of Poisson-Lie groups.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures; added references, corrected typo

Pre-Poisson submanifolds

This is an expository and introductory note on some results obtained in "Coisotropic embeddings in Poisson manifolds" (ArXiv math/0611480). Some original material is contained in the last two sections, where we consider linear Poisson structures.Comment: Proceedings of the conference "Poisson 2006". 14 page

Wave relations

The wave equation (free boson) problem is studied from the viewpoint of the relations on the symplectic manifolds associated to the boundary induced by solutions. Unexpectedly there is still something to say on this simple, well-studied problem. In particular, boundaries which do not allow for a meaningful Hamiltonian evolution are not problematic from the viewpoint of relations. In the two-dimensional Minkowski case, these relations are shown to be Lagrangian. This result is then extended to a wide class of metrics and is conjectured to be true also in higher dimensions for nice enough metrics. A counterexample where the relation is not Lagrangian is provided by the Misner space.Comment: 27 pages; minor clarifying changes added; to appear in CM

Introduction to supergeometry

These notes are based on a series of lectures given by the first author at the school of `Poisson 2010', held at IMPA, Rio de Janeiro. They contain an exposition of the theory of super- and graded manifolds, cohomological vector fields, graded symplectic structures, reduction and the AKSZ-formalism.Comment: Lecture notes of a course held at the school Poisson 2010 at IMPA, July 2010; 21 pages; references improve

Poisson sigma models and deformation quantization

This is a review aimed at a physics audience on the relation between Poisson sigma models on surfaces with boundary and deformation quantization. These models are topological open string theories. In the classical Hamiltonian approach, we describe the reduced phase space and its structures (symplectic groupoid), explaining in particular the classical origin of the non-commutativity of the string end-point coordinates. We also review the perturbative Lagrangian approach and its connection with Kontsevich's star product. Finally we comment on the relation between the two approaches.Comment: 11 page

The reduced phase space of Palatini-Cartan-Holst theory

General relativity in four dimensions can be reformulated as a gauge theory, referred to as Palatini-Cartan-Holst theory. This paper describes its reduced phase space using a geometric method due to Kijowski and Tulczyjew and its relation to that of the Einstein-Hilbert approach.Comment: Revised version comprising new results, a correction of Th 4.22 and the arguments leading to it. Manuscript accepted for publication in AHP. 31 page

Formality and Star Products

These notes, based on the mini-course given at the PQR2003 Euroschool held in Brussels in 2003, aim to review Kontsevich's formality theorem together with his formula for the star product on a given Poisson manifold. A brief introduction to the employed mathematical tools and physical motivations is also given.Comment: 49 pages, 9 figures; proceedings of the PQR2003 Euroschool. Version 2 has minor correction

On time

This note describes the restoration of time in one-dimensional parameterization-invariant (hence timeless) models, namely the classically-equivalent Jacobi action and gravity coupled to matter. It also serves as a timely introduction by examples to the classical and quantum BV-BFV formalism as well as to the AKSZ method.Comment: 36 pages. Improved exposition. To appear in Lett. Math. Phy