Supersymmetric quantum theory and differential geometry (Q1270149)

An approach to differential geometry and topology based on supersymmetric (SUSY) quantum theory of non-relativistic particles with spin is described and investigated. It combines together Connes' work on non-commutative differential geometry and Witten's concepts and notions from SUSY quantum mechanics (QM). The main idea is to exchange in the QM description of particles propagating on a manifold \(M\) an algebra of observables \({\mathcal F}_{\hbar}\) (viewed as an abstract \(\ast \)-algebra) by the algebra \({\mathcal A}\) of smooth functions over the configuration space (\({\mathcal A}=C( M) \) for topological manifolds). Then (after Connes) the geometry of the configuration space \(M\) can be encoded by the spectral triple (data) \(( {\mathcal A},{\mathcal H},H) \), where \({\mathcal H}\) is the Hilbert space of pure vectors and \(H\) is the Hamiltonian. It is claimed that such a reformulation of differential topology and geometry in terms of spectral data is general and complete, which is shown for most interesting cases. In Pauli's QM of non-relativistic electrons, the spectral data \(( {\mathcal A},{\mathcal H} _{e},Q,\gamma) \) correspond to \(N=1\) SUSY QM, where \(Q=\sqrt{\hbar ^{2}/2m}D\) is a ``supercharge'', \(D\) is the Dirac operator, and \(\gamma \) is a section of the Clifford bundle which defines a \({\mathbb Z}_{2}\)-grading by \(\left\{\gamma,Q\right\} =0\). Next, the non-relativistic positronium is encoded by the spectral data \(( {\mathcal A},{\mathcal H}_{e-p}, d,d^{\ast},\gamma) \) with two ``supercharges'' \(d,d^{\ast}\), which describes \((1,1) \)-SUSY QM. By analogy, higher \(N\) SUSY QMs are defined. In this language, an algebraic formulation of classical differential geometry is given. The Riemannian geometry of a manifold \(M\) is reconstructed from \(N=1\) spectral data \(( C^{\infty}( M),L^{2}( S),D) \), where \(S\) is a \({\mathbb Z}_{2}\)-graded Dirac bundle. If \( M\) is a spin manifold, then \(L^{2}( S) \) is a Hilbert space of square integrable spinors and \(D\) is a Dirac operator associated to the spin connection \(S\). Thus, the symplectic, Hermitian, Kähler and hyper-Kähler geometries are built from \(N=( 1,1) \), \(N=2\), \( N=( 2,2) \), \(N=( 4,4) \) spectral data, respectively, and the classification of all geometries in terms of correspondent SUSY generators is done. It is argued that the given SUSY algebraic description of the hierarchy of geometries in terms of spectral data is the most natural for further generalizations to the non-commutative case.