No label defined (Q4953630)

This paper is a written version of a series of 5 lectures given by the author at a summer school in Budapest in 1998. The topic of the lectures was the invariants of smooth 4-manifolds and their relation to physics. The first lecture describes gauge theories from physics and their mathematical formulations as \(U(1)\)-gauge theory for electro-magnetism, then Donaldson theory invariants relating to \(SU(2)\) and \(SO(3)\)-gauge theories, a description of how quantum versions of Donaldson theory lead to its relation to the Seiberg-Witten invariants, and finally a discussion of gauge theory with matter. The second and third lectures cover the basics of Seiberg-Witten theory, and parallel material in the author's book [The Seiberg-Witten equations and applications to the topology of smooth four-manifolds, Math. Notes, Princeton 44 (1996; Zbl 0846.57001)]. The second lecture introduces the Clifford algebra and Spin modules, its complexification and Spin\(^{\text{c}}\), discusses Spin\(^{\text{c}}\) structures on 4-manifolds, basic spin geometry and the Dirac operator, and gives the Seiberg-Witten equations for a Spin\(^{\text{c}}\) structure, defining the Seiberg-Witten moduli space. The third lecture studies the basic properties of this moduli space: finite dimensionality; smoothness for a generic perturbation of the equations; dimension; variation with change of metric; and compactness. It then defines the Seiberg-Witten invariants and discusses how to compute them on Kähler 4-manifolds. In the fourth lecture, the author gives an exposition of Taubes' work on symplectic 4-manifolds which relates the Seiberg-Witten invariants to the Gromov invariants. He also describes gluing techniques for the Seiberg-Witten equations and important results such as the connected sum theorem, the blow-up formula, adjunction formulas, and work of \textit{R. Fintushel} and \textit{R. J. Stern} [Invent. Math. 134, No. 2, 363-400 (1998; Zbl 0914.57015)] relating the Seiberg-Witten invariants of \(M(K)\) to the Alexander polynomial \(A(K)\) for 4-manifolds \(M(K)\) constructed using a knot \(K,\) and its application to symplectic topology. The fifth lecture returns to physics themes, as the author discusses the mathematical notions of superalgebra and supergeometry and then discusses an example of a supersymmetric Lagrangian and the classical and quantum field theories associated to it. A related longer article of the author and \textit{P. Deligne} [Notes on supersymmetry (following Joseph Bernstein), in `Quantum fields and strings: a course for mathematicians', Vol. 1, 2 (Princeton, NJ, 1996/1997), 41-97, Am. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1999] would be of interest to readers of this article. The paper also includes a lecture written by András Stipsicz entitled Discussion Sessions, where he provides various background information on smooth manifolds. This includes discussion about results on 4-manifolds relating to the possible intersection forms, basics on Spin and Spin\(^{\text{c}}\) structures, and information about almost complex structures and symplectic manifolds. A fuller account of much of the material in this section can be found in the book by \textit{R. E. Gompf} and \textit{A. I. Stipsicz} [\(4\)-manifolds and Kirby calculus, Grad. Stud. Math. 20 (1999; Zbl 0933.57020)]. The quality of the exposition of this paper is uniformly high, and it is highly recommended for a survey of the important material covered. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0938.57002].