Loop and path spaces and four-dimensional BF theories: connections, holonomies and observables

DOI10.1007/S002200050655zbMATH Open0939.58009arXivmath/9803077OpenAlexW2037540461MaRDI QIDQ1809274FDOQ1809274

Authors: Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, M. Rinaldi, Alberto Cattaneo 

Publication date: 16 December 1999

Published in: Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We study the differential geometry of principal G-bundles whose base space is the space of free paths (loops) on a manifold M. In particular we consider connections defined in terms of pairs (A,B), where A is a connection for a fixed principal bundle P(M,G) and B is a 2-form on M. The relevant curvatures, parallel transports and holonomies are computed and their expressions in local coordinates are exhibited. When the 2-form B is given by the curvature of A, then the so-called non-abelian Stokes formula follows. For a generic 2-form B, we distinguish the cases when the parallel transport depends on the whole path of paths and when it depends only on the spanned surface. In particular we discuss generalizations of the non-abelian Stokes formula. We study also the invariance properties of the (trace of the) holonomy under suitable transformation groups acting on the pairs (A,B). In this way we are able to define observables for both topological and non-topological quantum field theories of the BF type. In the non topological case, the surface terms may be relevant for the understanding of the quark-confinement problem. In the topological case the (perturbative) four-dimensional quantum BF-theory is expected to yield invariants of imbedded (or immersed) surfaces in a 4-manifold M.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9803077

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zbMATH Keywords

pathsconnectionsloopsfour-dimensional BF theories

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Connections (general theory) (53C05) Applications of global differential geometry to the sciences (53C80) Manifolds of mappings (58D15) Quantum field theory; related classical field theories (81T99)

Cited In (12)

• Wilson surfaces and higher dimensional knot invariants
• Wilson Surfaces for Surface Knots: A Field Theoretic Route to Higher Knots
• Double category related to path space parallel transport and representations of Lie 2 groups
• NEGATIVE FORMS AND PATH SPACE FORMS
• String holonomy and extrinsic geometry in four-dimensional topological gauge theory
• Geometric prequantization on the path space of a prequantized manifold
• Non-abelian higher gauge theory and categorical bundle
• Higher-dimensional \(BF\) theories in the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism: The BV action and generalized Wilson loops
• Topological field theory and quantum holonomy representations of motion groups
• Thin homotopy and the holonomy approach to gauge theories
• Configuration spaces and Vassiliev classes in any dimension
• PARALLEL TRANSPORT OVER PATH SPACES

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