Derivation of index theorems by localization of path integrals

DOI10.1007/BF01102204MaRDI QIDQ1902450zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors A. Hietamäki

Publication date 21 November 1995

Published in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9312027

zbMATH Keywords

Atiyah-SingerCalliasindex theoremsloop spacepath integralssupersymmetry

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Homology with local coefficients, equivariant cohomology (55N25) Manifolds of mappings (58D15) Index theory and related fixed-point theorems on manifolds (58J20) Path integrals in quantum mechanics (81S40)

Abstract: We review the derivation of the Atiyah-Singer and Callias index theorems using the recently developed localization method to calculate exactly the relevant supersymmetric path integrals. (Talk given at the III International Conference on Mathematical Physics, String Theory and Quantum Gravity, Alushta, Ukraine, June 13-24, 1993)

Review text

There is by now a rich literature on the concept of ``localization of path integrals, first introduced by Duistermaat and Heckman in 1982, i.e., by detecting a hidden supersymmetry one shows that a given path integral reduces to an ordinary integral (or an infinite sum). It seems that equivariant cohomology is central to understanding the principle of localization. This article reviews certain examples of phase space path integrals of supersymmetric type leading to the derivation of the Atiyah-Singer and Callias index theorems. The essential difference between the two is that in the Callias case one needs to make use of a superloop space, while in the Atiyah-Singer case one gets away with an ordinary loop space.

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Cites work

• Axial anomalies and index theorems on open spaces
• On the variation in the cohomology of the symplectic form of the reduced phase space
• Quantization of symplectic orbits of compact Lie groups by means of the functional integral
• Supersymmetry and the Atiyah-Singer index theorem
• The moment map and equivariant cohomology

Cited in

(3)

• On exact evaluation of path integrals
• Equivariant BRST and localization
• Proof of the family index theorem via a path integral

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