CHERN–SIMONS THEORY AND KNOT INVARIANTS

We reconsider Chern-Simons gauge theory on a Seifert manifold M (the total space of a nontrivial circle bundle over a Riemann surface Σ). 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 localization as applied to the Chern-Simons path integral. In the process, we show that the partition function of Chern-Simons theory on M admits a topological interpretation in terms of the equivariant cohomology of the moduli space of flat connections on M.

Invariants for framed links in $S^3$ obtained from Chern-Simons gauge field theory based on an arbitrary gauge group (semi-simple) have been used to construct a three-manifold invariant. This is a generalization of a similar construction developed earlier for SU(2) Chern-Simons theory. The procedure exploits a theorem of Lickorish and Wallace and also those of Kirby, Fenn and Rourke which relate three-manifolds to surgeries on framed unoriented links. The invariant is an appropriate linear combination of framed link invariants which does not change under Kirby calculus. This combination does not see the relative orientation of the component knots. The invariant is related to the partition function of Chern-Simons theory. This thus provides an efficient method of evaluating the partition function for these field theories. As some examples, explicit computations of these manifold invariants for a few three-manifolds have been done.

We show that partition function of Chern-Simons theory on three-sphere with classical and exceptional groups (actually on the whole corresponding lines in Vogel's plane) can be represented as ratio of respectively triple and double sine functions (last function is essentially a modular quantum dilogarithm). The product representation of sine functions gives Gopakumar-Vafa structure form of partition function, which in turn gives a corresponding integer invariants of manifold after geometrical transition. In this way we suggest to extend gauge/string duality to exceptional groups, although one still have to resolve few problems. In both classical and exceptional cases an additional terms, non-perturbative w.r.t. the string coupling constant, appear. The full universal partition function of Chern-Simons theory on three-sphere is shown to be the ratio of quadruple sine functions. We also briefly discuss the matrix model for exceptional line.

formula omitted] reformulated link invariants from topological strings

Direct analysis of the path integral reduces partition functions in Chern–Simons theory on a three-manifold M with group G to partition functions in a WZW model of maps from a Riemann surface Σ to G. In particular, Chern–Simons theory on S3, S1×Σ, B3 and the solid torus correspond, respectively, to the WZW model of maps from S2 to G, the G/G model for Σ, and Witten's gauged WZW path integral Ansatz for Chern–Simons states using maps from S2 and from the torus to G. The reduction hinges on the characterization of \(\), the space of connections modulo those gauge transformations which are the identity at a point n, as itself a principal fiber bundle with affine-linear fiber.

We consider the conformal field theory of N complex massless scalars in 2+1 dimensions, coupled to a U(N) Chern-Simons theory at level k. This theory has a 't Hooft large N limit, keeping fixed \lambda = N/k. We compute some correlation functions in this theory exactly as a function of \lambda, in the large N (planar) limit. We show that the results match with the general predictions of Maldacena and Zhiboedov for the correlators of theories that have high-spin symmetries in the large N limit. It has been suggested in the past that this theory is dual (in the large N limit) to the Legendre transform of the theory of fermions coupled to a Chern-Simons gauge field, and our results allow us to find the precise mapping between the two theories. We find that in the large N limit the theory of N scalars coupled to a U(N)_k Chern-Simons theory is equivalent to the Legendre transform of the theory of k fermions coupled to a U(k)_N Chern-Simons theory, thus providing a bosonization of the latter theory. We conjecture that perhaps this duality is valid also for finite values of N and k, where on the fermionic side we should now have (for N_f flavors) a U(k)_{N-N_f/2} theory. Similar results hold for real scalars (fermions) coupled to the O(N)_k Chern-Simons theory.

Recently, Aharony, Bergman, Jafferis and Maldacena proposed that the N=6 Chern-Simons gauge theories are holographically dual to the M-theory backgrounds with multiple M2-branes on orbifolds C^4/Z_k. When k is large, they have the type IIA string description. In this paper we analyze the Penrose limit of this IIA background and express the string spectrum as the conformal dimensions of operators in the gauge theories. For BPS operators, we can confirm the agreements between the IIA string on plane waves and the gauge theories. We point out that there exist BMN-like operators in the gauge theories, though their holographic interpretation does not seem to be simple. Also we analyze the weak coupling limit of this theory and show that the Hagedorn/deconfinement transition occurs as expected.

Chern-Simons theory and fusion algebras

The colored Jones function of a knot is a sequence of Laurent polynomials that encodes the Jones polynomial of a knot and its parallels. It has been understood in terms of representations of quantum groups and Witten gave an intrinsic quantum field theory interpretation of the colored Jones function as the expectation value of Wilson loops of a 3-dimensional gauge theory, the Chern–Simons theory. We present the colored Jones function as an evaluation of the inverse of a non-commutative fermionic partition function. This result is in the form familiar in quantum field theory, namely the inverse of a generalized determinant. Our formula also reveals a direct relation between the Alexander polynomial and the colored Jones function of a knot and immediately implies the extensively studied Melvin–Morton–Rozansky conjecture, first proved by Bar–Natan and the first author about 10 years ago. Our results complement recent work of Huynh and Le, who also give a non-commutative formulae for the colored Jones function of a knot, starting from a non-commutative formula for the R matrix of the quantum group \(U_{q}(\mathfrak{sl}_{2})\); see Huynh and Le (in math.GT/0503296).

We investigate partition functions of the circular-quiver supersymmetric Chern-Simons theory which corresponds to the q-deformed Painlevé VI equation. From the partition functions with the lowest rank vanishing, where the circular quiver reduces to a linear one, we find 40 bilinear relations. The bilinear relations extend naturally to higher ranks if we regard these partition functions as those in the lowest order of the grand canonical partition functions in the fugacity. Furthermore, we show that these bilinear relations are a powerful tool to determine some unknown partition functions. We also elaborate the relation with some previous works on q-Painlevé equations.

Motivated by the relation between the Chern–Simons gauge theory and (2+1)-dimensional gravity, we find a formulation of gauge theories which applies to both orientable and non-orientable manifolds, using orientation bundles and density-valued forms. We show that on a non-orientable manifold, (2+1)D gravity is equivalent to BF theory, which is still topological and can be mapped in turn to Chern–Simons theory on the orientable double cover. By quantizing U(1) BF theory on a non-orientable manifold, we find that non-orientability introduces additional constraints on the quantized BF theory beyond those present for an orientable manifold, such that the coupling constant can only adopt a small number of discrete values. Specifically, for both the Klein bottle of demigenus 2 (N2) and the compact surface of non-orientable genus 3 (Dyck’s surface or N3), we find explicit representations for the holonomy, large gauge, and mapping class groups, as well as the Hilbert space; here the above symmetries along with the non-orientability of the surface constrain the coupling constant k to only take values 1/2, 1, or 2.

Quantum field theory for the multi-variable Alexander-Conway polynomial

We analyze the perturbative series expansion of vacuum expectation values (vevs) for Wilson loop operators in Chern-Simons (CS) gauge theory in the temporal gauge $A_{0}=0$. Following J. Labastida and E. P\'erez we introduce the notion of the kernels of knot polynomial invariants - the (non-invariant) vevs of the Wilson loops, arising from CS theory in the temporal gauge. A method for exact calculation of the kernels of knot polynomial invariants is presented.

We derive level-rank duality in pure Chern–Simons gauge theories from a non-supersymmetric Seiberg duality by using a non-supersymmetric brane configuration in type IIB string theory. The brane configuration consists of fivebranes, N D3 antibranes and an O3 plane. By swapping the fivebranes we derive a 3d non-supersymmetric Seiberg duality. After level shifts from loop effects, this identifies the IR of Sp(2N)2k−2N+2 and Sp(2k−2N+2)−2N pure Chern–Simons theories, which is a level-rank pair. We also derive level-rank duality in a Chern–Simons theory based on a unitary group.

We study a method to compute a topological phase factor of partition function for pure Chern-Simons theory incorporating the supersymmetric localization. We develop a regularization preserving supersymmetry and the topological phase appears as a result of the supersymmetric regularization. Applying this method to pure Chern-Simons theory on lens space we compute the background dependent phase factor coming from the Chern-Simons term. We confirm that the partition function computed in this method enjoys a couple of level rank dualities including the one recently proposed in arXiv:1607.07457 for all ranks and levels within our numerical calculation. We also present a phase factor with which the lens space partition function exhibits the perfect match between any level rank dual pair including the total phase.