Gauge theory and mirror symmetry

Outlined in this paper is a description of \emph{equivariance} in the world of 2-dimensional extended topological quantum field theories, under a topological action of compactLie groups. In physics language, I am gauging the theories --- coupling them to a principal bundle on the surface world-sheet. I describe the data needed to gauge the theory, as well as the computation of the gauged theory, the result of integrating over all bundles. The relevant theories are A-models, such as arise from the Gromov-Witten theory of a symplectic manifold with Hamiltonian group action, and the mathematical description starts with a group action on the generating category (the Fukaya category, in this example) which is factored through the topology of the group. Their mirror description involves holomorphic symplectic manifolds and Lagrangians related to the Langlands dual group. An application recovers the complex mirrors of flag varieties proposed by Rietsch

Relative quantum field theory

We highlight the general notion of a relative quantum field theory, which occurs in several contexts. One is in gauge theory based on a compact Lie algebra, rather than a compact Lie group. This is relevant to the maximal superconformal theory in six dimensions.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; v2 small changes for publication; v3 small final changes for publicatio

Topological dualities in the Ising model

We relate two classical dualities in low-dimensional quantum field theory: Kramers-Wannier duality of the Ising and related lattice models in $2$ dimensions, with electromagnetic duality for finite gauge theories in $3$ dimensions. The relation is mediated by the notion of boundary field theory: Ising models are boundary theories for pure gauge theory in one dimension higher. Thus the Ising order/disorder operators are endpoints of Wilson/'t Hooft defects of gauge theory. Symmetry breaking on low-energy states reflects the multiplicity of topological boundary states. In the process we describe lattice theories as (extended) topological field theories with boundaries and domain walls. This allows us to generalize the duality to non-abelian groups; finite, semi-simple Hopf algebras; and, in a different direction, to finite homotopy theories in arbitrary dimension