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Topological Quantum Field Theory and the Geometric Langlands Correspondence

Posted on:2014-02-08Degree:Ph.DType:Thesis
University:California Institute of TechnologyCandidate:Setter, KevinFull Text:PDF
GTID:2450390005483037Subject:Applied Mathematics
Abstract/Summary:
In the pioneering work of A. Kapustin and E. Witten, the geometric Langlands program of number theory was shown to be intimately related to duality of GL-twisted N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory compactified on a Riemann surface. In this thesis, we generalize Kapustin-Witten by investigating compactification of the GL-twisted theory to three dimensions on a circle (for various values of the twisting parameter t). By considering boundary conditions in the three-dimensional description, we classify codimension-two surface operators of the GL-twisted theory, generalizing those surface operators studied by S. Gukov and E. Witten. For t = i, we propose a complete description of the 2-category of surface operators in terms of module categories, and, in addition, we determine the monoidal category of line operators which includes Wilson lines as special objects. For t = 1 and t = 0, we discuss surface and line operators in the abelian case.;We generalize Kapustin-Witten also by analyzing a separate twisted version of N = 4, the Vafa-Witten theory. After introducing a new four-dimensional topological gauge theory, the gauged 4d A-model, we locate the Vafa-Witten theory as a special case. Compactification of the Vafa-Witten theory on a circle and on a Riemann surface is discussed. Several novel two- and three-dimensional topological gauge theories are studied throughout the thesis and in the appendices.;In work unrelated to the main thread of the thesis, we conclude by classifying codimension-one topological defects in two-dimensional sigma models with various amounts of supersymmetry.
Keywords/Search Tags:Theory, Topological
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