Quasi-topological gauged sigma models, the geometric Langlands program, and knots

DOI10.4310/ATMP.2015.V19.N2.A1MaRDI QIDQ2346205zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Meng-Chwan Tan

Publication date 29 May 2015

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

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1111.0691

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of vector bundles and moduli spaces in mathematical physics (twistor theory, instantons, quantum field theory) (14D21) Differentials and other special sheaves; D-modules; Bernstein-Sato ideals and polynomials (14F10) Grassmannians, Schubert varieties, flag manifolds (14M15) Hecke algebras and their representations (20C08) Simple groups (20E32) Compact groups (22C05) Knot theory (57K10) Floer homology (57R58) Symmetry breaking in quantum theory (81R40) Yang-Mills and other gauge theories in quantum field theory (81T13) Two-dimensional field theories, conformal field theories, etc. in quantum mechanics (81T40) Supersymmetric field theories in quantum mechanics (81T60)

Abstract: We construct and study a closed, two-dimensional, quasi-topological (0,2) gauged sigma model with target space a smooth G-manifold, where G is any compact and connected Lie group. When the target space is a flag manifold of simple G, and the gauge group is a Cartan subgroup thereof, the perturbative model describes, purely physically, the recently formulated mathematical theory of "Twisted Chiral Differential Operators". This paves the way, via a generalized T-duality, for a natural physical interpretation of the geometric Langlands correspondence for simply-connected, simple, complex Lie groups. In particular, the Hecke eigensheaves and Hecke operators can be described in terms of the correlation functions of certain operators that underlie the infinite-dimensional chiral algebra of the flag manifold model. Nevertheless, nonperturbative worldsheet twisted-instantons can, in some situations, trivialize the chiral algebra completely. This leads to a spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry whilst implying certain delicate conditions for the existence of Beilinson-Drinfeld D-modules. Via supersymmetric gauged quantum mechanics on loop space, these conditions can be understood to be intimately related to a conjecture by Hohn-Stolz [1] regarding the vanishing of the Witten genus on string manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. An interesting connection to Chern-Simons theory is also uncovered, whence we would be able to (i) relate general knot invariants of three-manifolds and Khovanov homology to "quantum" ramified D-modules and Lagrangian intersection Floer homology; (ii) furnish physical proofs of mathematical conjectures by Seidel-Smith [2] and Gaitsgory [3, 4] which relate knots to symplectic geometry and Langlands duality, respectively.

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(3)

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• Static charges in the low-energy theory of the S-duality twist
• Gauging spacetime symmetries on the worldsheet and the geometric Langlands program. II

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