Symposium On Anomalies Geometry Topology

Called by some "the theory of everything," superstrings may solve a problem which has eluded physicists for the past 50 years -- the final unification of the two great theories of the twentieth century, general relativity and quantum field theory. This is a course-tested comprehensive introductory graduate text on superstrings which stresses the most current areas of interest, not covered in other presentation, including: string field theory, multi loops, Teichmueller spaces, conformal field theory, and four-dimensional strings. The book begins with a simple discussion of point particle theory, and uses the Feynman path integral technique to unify the presentation of superstrings. Prerequisites are an aquaintance with quantum mechanics and relativity. This second edition has been revised and updated throughout.

A two-volume systematic exposition of superstring theory and its applications which presents many of the new mathematical tools that theoretical physicists are likely to need in coming years. This volume contains an introduction to superstrings

This is a collection of the works of Michael Atiyah, a well-established mathematician and winner of the Fields Medal. It is thematically divided into volumes; this one discusses gauge theory, a current topic of research.

One of the greatest mathematicians in the world, Michael Atiyah has earned numerous honors, including a Fields Medal, the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize. While the focus of his work has been in the areas of algebraic geometry and topology, he has also participated in research with theoretical physicists. For the first time, these volumes bring together Atiyah's collected papers--both monographs and collaborative works-- including those dealing with mathematical education and current topics of research such as K-theory and gauge theory. The volumes are organized thematically. They will be of great interest to research mathematicians, theoretical physicists, and graduate students in these areas.

One of the greatest mathematicians in the world, Michael Atiyah has earned numerous honors, including a Fields Medal, the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize. While the focus of his work has been in the areas of algebraic geometry and topology, he has also participated in research with theoretical physicists. For the first time, these volumes bring together Atiyah's collected papers--both monographs and collaborative works-- including those dealing with mathematical education and current topics of research such as K-theory and gauge theory. The volumes are organized thematically. They will be of great interest to research mathematicians, theoretical physicists, and graduate students in these areas.

Anomalies are ubiquitous features in quantum field theories. They can ruin the consistency of such theories and put significant restrictions on their viability, especially in dimensions higher than four. Global gauge and gravitational anomalies are to date, one of the scant powerful and probing tools available to physicists in the pursuit of uniqueness.This monograph is one of the very few that specializes in the study of global anomalies in quantum field theories. A discussion of various issues associated to three dimensional physics — the Chern-Simons-Witten theories — widen the scope of this book. Topics discussed here comprises: the ongoing quest for three-manifolds invariant, the role of the mapping class groups in (a) the detection and cancellation of global anomalies, (b) formulating three-manifolds invariant; the geometric quantization of Chern-Simons-Witten theories; deformation quantization; study of chiral and gravitational anomalies; anomalies and the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer Index theorem; exotic spheres; global gravitational anomalies in some six and ten dimensional supergravity and superstring theories, with an additional case study of Witten SU(2) Global Gauge Anomalies.In addition, five chapters lay out the mathematical basis for a thorough use of the topics above. One chapter focuses on the relationship between Teichmüller spaces, moduli spaces and mapping class groups. Another chapter is devoted to mapping class groups and arithmetic groups. Gauge theories on Riemann surfaces are studies in well over two chapters, the first one centered on the theory of bundles and the second on connections.Many readers will find this a useful book, especially theoretical physicists and mathematicians. The material presented here will be of interest to both the experts who will find complete, detailed and precise descriptions of important topics of current interest in mathematical physics, and to students and newcomers to the field, who will appreciate the vast amount of information provided here, especially on global anomalies.