Kontsevich's deformation quantization and quantum field theory (Q2673449)

This book deals with Kontsevich's deformation quantization and its relation to quantum field theory. Let us recall that deformation quantization originated in the field of theoretical physics with the aim of understanding how to pass from a commutative classical algebra to a noncommutative quantum algebra. The book is divided into two parts. The first part contains three chapters. In the first chapter, the author studies the main notions of differential geometry, namely manifolds, vector fields, differential forms, integration on manifolds, Stokes' theorem, de Rham cohomology as well as Lie groups, Lie algebras, connections, real Hodge theory and category theory. The second chapter is aimed to introduce the most important concept of symplectic geometry in a precise way, first by considering the linear setting and then moving to the general case. Then, in the third chapter, the author deals with Poisson structures, symplectic groupoids and integrability conditions. Dirac manifolds and Morita equivalence for Poisson manifolds are also studied. The second part of the book contains two chapters. Chapter four focuses on deformation quantization and introduces the concept of star products. The examples of Fedosov quantization are given in detail. Then, Kontsevich's famous formality theorem is explained and proved using the notion of strong homotopy Lie algebras, the so-called \(L_\infty\) algebras. Kontsevich's star product then arises as a particular case of the formality theorem. The concept of graphs and configuration spaces are explained. The approach of operads by Tamarkin is also discussed. The last chapter concerns Kontsevich's construction from the point of view of quantum field theory. The functorial approach of Atiyah and Segal is studied and the Feynman path integrals are explained. Finally, the gauge formalism and the Poisson sigma models are considered. The phase space reduction in its Hamiltonian formulation is studied as a byproduct. The Cattaneo-Felder theorem is also considered with a sketch of its proof. The notion of AKSZ sigma model, which generalizes the Poisson sigma model, is briefly discussed.