On quantum obstruction spaces and higher codimension gauge theories (Q2232641)

Recall that a BV manifold is a triple \((\mathcal{F},\mathcal{S},\omega)\) such that \(\mathcal{F}\) is a \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded supermanifold, \(\mathcal{S}\in\mathcal{O}(\mathcal{F})\) is an even function of degree 0, and \(\omega\in\Omega^2(\mathcal{F})\) is an odd symplectic form of degree \(-1\). To \(\mathcal{S}\) is associated a cohomological vector field \(\mathcal{Q}\) such that \(i_{\mathcal{Q}}\omega = \delta\mathcal{S}\), where \(\delta\) denotes the de Rham differential on \(\mathcal{F}\), and which is required to satisfy the classical master equation (CME) \(\mathcal{Q}(\mathcal{S}) = (\mathcal{S},\mathcal{S}) = 0\), where \((-,-)\) is the odd Poisson bracket induced by the odd symplectic form \(\omega\) (the BV bracket). The author reviews the definition of examples of classical BV theories, which consist of an assignment \(\Sigma\mapsto(\mathcal{F}_{\Sigma},\mathcal{S}_{\Sigma},\omega_{\Sigma})\) for a, usually closed, compact oriented manifold \(\Sigma\). He revisits the proof that the obstruction space for the quantization of a BV theory is given by the first cohomology group \(H^1_{\mathcal{Q}}(\mathcal{O}_{loc}(\mathcal{F}))\) of the algebra of local observable \(\mathcal{O}_{loc}(\mathcal{F})\) with respect to the action of the cohomological vector field \(\mathcal{Q}\), where a quantization is a formal deformation \(\mathcal{S}_{\hbar}\) of the BV action \(\mathcal{S}\) which is required to satisfy the Quantum master equation (CME) \((\mathcal{S}_{\hbar},\mathcal{S}_{\hbar}) + 2\hbar\Delta\mathcal{S}_{\hbar} = 0\), where \(\Delta\) denotes the BV Laplacian, defined in terms of partial derivatives over fields and anti-fields in \(\mathcal{O}_{loc}(\mathcal{F})\). Now, a BFV manifold is a triple \((\mathcal{F}^{\partial},\omega^{\partial},\mathcal{Q}^{\partial})\) such that \(\mathcal{F}^{\partial}\) is a \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded supermanifold, \(\omega^{\partial}\in\Omega^2(\mathcal{F})^{\partial}\) is an even symplectic form of ghost number (degree) 0 and \(\mathcal{Q}^{\partial}\) is a cohomological and symplectic field of degree \(+1\) with odd Hamiltonian function \(\mathcal{S}^{\partial}\in\mathcal{O}(\mathcal{F}^{\partial})\) of ghost number \(+1\) such that \(\mathcal{Q}^{\partial}(\mathcal{S}^{\partial}) = \{\mathcal{S}^{\partial},\mathcal{S}^{\partial}\} = 0\). This BFV manifold is exact if there exists a primitive 1-form \(\alpha^{\partial}\) such that \(\omega^{\partial} = \delta\alpha^{\partial}\), where \(\delta\) denotes again the de Rham differential on \(\mathcal{F}^{\partial}\). Then a BV-BFV manifold over such an exact BFV manifold is a quintuple \((\mathcal{F},\omega,\mathcal{S},\mathcal{Q},\pi)\) where \(\pi: \mathcal{F}\rightarrow\mathcal{F}^{\partial}\) is a surjective submersion such that \(\delta\pi\mathcal{Q} = \mathcal{Q}^{\partial}\) and \(i_{\mathcal{Q}}\omega = \delta\mathcal{S}+\pi^*\alpha^{\partial}\). The vector field \(Q\) associated to such a structure satisfies a modified classical master equation (mCME), which reads \(\mathcal{Q}(\mathcal{S}) = \pi^*(2\mathcal{S}^{\partial}-i_{\mathcal{Q}^{\partial}}\alpha^{\partial})\). The author reviews examples of BV-BFV theories and proves that the obstruction space for the quantization of the boundary BFV manifold \(\mathcal{F}^{\partial}\) underlying a BV-BFV manifold \((\mathcal{F},\omega,\mathcal{S},\mathcal{Q},\pi: \mathcal{F}\rightarrow\mathcal{F}^{\partial})\) over an exact BFV manifold \((\mathcal{F}^{\partial},\omega^{\partial} = \delta\alpha^{\partial},\mathcal{Q}^{\partial})\) is given by the second cohomology group \(H^2_{Q^{\partial}}(\mathcal{O}_{loc}(\mathcal{F}^{\partial})\), where such quantizations are defined in terms of a modified quantum master equation (mQME), the natural modified analogue of the quantum master equation (QME). Eventually, the author examines the definition of higher codimensional \(BV-BF^k V\) theories, using an interpretation of the quantization process in terms of little discs operads, BV operads and Swiss cheese operads. He conjectures that the obstruction space for the quantization of codimension \(k\) theories is given by the \(k+1\) cohomology group \(H^{k+1}_{Q^{\partial^k}}(\mathcal{O}_{loc}(\mathcal{F}^{\partial^k})\), generalizing the \(1\) codimensional case.