Quantum Gravity Seminar - Spring 2005

Gauge Theory and Topology

John Baez and Derek Wise

In the 2004-2005 academic year, our seminar is about gauge theory and topology. In the Fall and Winter we showed how to construct topological quantum field theories in which the gauge group is a finite group. These so-called Dijkgraaf-Witten models are a warmup for more interesting theories having a full-fledged Lie group as gauge group: in particular, BF theory and Chern-Simons theory. In the Spring, we hope to tackle these more interesting theories. But, we're starting out with some basic concepts from geometry that all mathematical physicists need to know: connections on principal bundles, curvature, and so on.

For the big picture, read this:

As usual, Derek Wise is writing notes for the seminar, based on lectures by John Baez:

If you discover any errors in the course notes please email me, and we'll try to correct them. We'll keep a list of errors that haven't been fixed yet.

You can also download the LaTeX, encapsulated PostScript and xfig files if for some bizarre reason you want them. However, I reserve all rights to this work.


baez@math.removethis.ucr.andthis.edu
© 2005 John Baez and Derek Wise

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