Classical Chern-Simons theory, Part 1

We study the symplectic quantization of Abelian gauge theories in $2+1$ space-time dimensions with the introduction of a topological Chern-Simons term.

These notes are based on the lecture the author gave at the workshop 'Geometry of Strings and Fields' held at Nordita, Stockholm. In these notes, I shall cover some topics in both the perturbative and non-perturbative aspects of the topological Chern-Simons theory. The non-perturbative part will mostly be about the quantization of Chern-Simons theory and the use of surgery for computation, while the non-perturbative part will include brief discussions about framings, eta inva...

We introduce a pre-symplectic structure on the space of connections in a G-principal bundle over a four-manifold and a Hamiltonian action on it of the group of gauge transformations that are trivial on the boundary. The moment map is given by the square of curvature so that the 0-level set is the space of flat connections. Thus the moduli space of flat connections is endowed with a pre-symplectic structure. In case when the four-manifold is null-cobordant we shall construct, ...

We reconsider Chern-Simons gauge theory on a Seifert manifold M (the total space of a nontrivial circle bundle over a Riemann surface). When M is a Seifert manifold, Lawrence and Rozansky have shown from the exact solution of Chern-Simons theory that the partition function has a remarkably simple structure and can be rewritten entirely as a sum of local contributions from the flat connections on M. We explain how this empirical fact follows from the technique of non-abelian l...

We present and study a model of 4-dimensional higher Chern-Simons theory, special Chern-Simons (SCS) theory, instances of which have appeared in the string literature, whose symmetry is encoded in a skeletal semistrict Lie 2-algebra constructed from a compact Lie group with non discrete center. The field content of SCS theory consists of a Lie valued 2-connection coupled to a background closed 3-form. SCS theory enjoys a large gauge and gauge for gauge symmetry organized in a...

A general method for the construction of smooth flat connections on 3-manifolds is introduced. The procedure is strictly connected with the deduction of the fundamental group of a manifold M by means of a Heegaard splitting presentation of M. For any given matrix representation of the fundamental group of M, a corresponding flat connection A on M is specified. It is shown that the associated classical Chern-Simons invariant assumes then a canonical form which is given by the ...

Topological quantum field theories can be used as a powerful tool to probe geometry and topology in low dimensions. Chern-Simons theories, which are examples of such field theories, provide a field theoretic framework for the study of knots and links in three dimensions. These are rare examples of quantum field theories which can be exactly (non-perturbatively) and explicitly solved. Abelian Chern-Simons theory provides a field theoretic interpretation of the linking and self...

In the present article, Chern-Simons gauge theory and its relationship with gravity are revisited from a geometrical viewpoint. In this setting, our goals are twofold: In one hand, to show how to represent the family of variational problems for Chern-Simons theory in the set of $K$-structures on the space-time $M$, by means of a unique variational problem of Griffiths type. On the other hand, to make an interpretation of the correspondence of these theories in terms of the co...

The recently proposed physical projector approach to the quantisation of gauge invariant systems is applied to the U(1) Chern-Simons theory in 2+1 dimensions as one of the simplest examples of a topological quantum field theory. The physical projector is explicitely demonstrated to be capable of effecting the required projection from the initially infinite number of degrees of freedom to the finite set of gauge invariant physical states whose properties are determined by the ...

We introduce a symplectic structure on the space of connections in a G-principal bundle over a four-manifold and the Hamiltonian action on it of the group of gauge transformations which are trivial on the boundary. The symplectic reduction becomes the moduli space of flat connections over the manifold. On the moduli space of flat connections we shall construct a hermitian line bundle with connection whose curvature is given by the symplectic form. This is the Chern-Simons pre...