Topological quantum field theory

In gauge theory and mathematical physics, a topological quantum field theory (or topological field theory or TQFT) is a quantum field theory which computes topological invariants. Although TQFTs were invented by physicists, they are also of mathematical interest, being related to, among other things, knot theory and the theory of four-manifolds in algebraic topology, and to the theory of moduli spaces in algebraic geometry. Donaldson, Jones, Witten, and Kontsevich have all won Fields Medals for mathematical work related to topological field theory. In condensed matter physics, topological quantum field theories are the low-energy effective theories of topologically ordered states, such as fractional quantum Hall states, string-net condensed states, and other strongly correlated quantum liquid states. Overview In a topological field theory, correlation functions do not depend on the metric of spacetime. This means that the theory is not sensitive to changes in the shape of

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Nonperturbative Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetime

Kamran Salehi Vaziri

Quantum Field Theory(QFT) as one of the most promising frameworks to study high energy and condensed matter physics, has been mostly developed by perturbative methods. However, perturbative methods can only capture a small island of the space of QFTs.QFT in hyperbolic space can be used to link the conformal bootstrap and massive QFT. Conformal boundary correlators also can be studied by their general properties such as unitarity, crossing symmetry and analicity. On the other hand, by sending the curvature radius to infinity we reach to the flat-space limit in hyperbolic space. This allows us to use conformal bootstrap methods to study massive QFT in one higher dimension and calculate observables like scattering amplitudes or finding bounds on the couplings of theory. The main goal of my research during my Ph.D. would be to study QFTs in hyperbolic space to better understand strongly coupled QFTs.Hamiltonian truncation is a numerical method to study strongly coupled QFTs by imposing a UV cutoff. We use this method to study strongly coupled QFT in hyperbolic space background. For simplicity, we start with scalar field theory in 2-dimensional AdS. We expect to extract the spectrum of our theory as a function of AdS curvature and find the boundary correlation functions.

EPFL2022

The S-matrix Bootstrap Reloaded

Aditya Hebbar

Quantum field theories (QFTs) are the backbone upon which the edifice of modern physics is built. In this thesis we explore the S-matrix bootstrap which is a non-perturbative method that constrains the vast space of QFTs by using consistency conditions that they must satisfy. The thesis is divided into two parts.In part I of the thesis we study the S-matrix bootstrap for particles with spin in 4 spacetime dimensions and apply the formalism to scattering of identical Majorana fermions to estimate bounds on their quartic couplings and their cubic (Yukawa) coupling to scalar particles. In part II of the thesis, we consider the scattering of massless (Goldstone) excitations on a long flux tube. We use the S-matrix bootstrap to constrain Wilson coefficients of higher dimension operators in the low energy flux tube effective field theory. These constraints naturally translate to bounds on the ground state and excited state energy levels of long flux tubes. The techniques used in this thesis should be extendable to many other systems, both massive and massless. We conclude by discussing some of these possibilities.

EPFL2021

Quasilinear second order elliptic systems and topological degree

Hicham Georges Gebran

We consider a large class of quasilinear second order elliptic systems of the form - ∑α,β=1N aαβ(x,u(x)),∇u(x))∂2αβu(x) + b(x,u(x),∇u(x)) = 0, where x varies in an unbounded domain Ω of the Euclidean space RN and u = (u1,...,um) is a vector of functions. These systems generate operators acting between the Sobolev spaces W2,p(Ω, Rm) and Lp(Ω, Rm) for p > N. We investigate then the Fredholm and properness properties of these operators and the connections between them. These functional properties play important roles in the existence theory of nonlinear differential equations, and they are related to two recent topological degrees. A first part of this work is an extension of recent results obtained by Rabier and Stuart who studied the scalar case (a single equation) on RN. Our results cover the case of several equations (coupled equations) defined on more general domains. We also study the question of exponential decay of solutions. The general results obtained in our framework are then applied to more specific and new situations: steady reaction-diffusion systems and nonlinear elasticity, where by means of the topological degree, we prove new existence and global continuation results.

EPFL2005

PHYS-431: Quantum field theory I

The goal of the course is to introduce relativistic quantum field theory as the conceptual and mathematical framework describing fundamental interactions.

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The goal of the course is to introduce relativistic quantum field theory as the conceptual and mathematical framework describing fundamental interactions.

PHYS-702: Advanced Quantum Field Theory

The course builds on the two previous courses on the subject. The main subject is the study of quantum field theories at the loop level. The course introduces the concept of loop divergences and renormalization. Non abelian gauge theories are also discussed in depth.

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The Chern–Simons theory is a 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory of Schwarz type developed by Edward Witten. It was discovered first by mathematical physicist Albert Schwarz. It is named a

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In physics, topological order is a kind of order in the zero-temperature phase of matter (also known as quantum matter). Macroscopically, topological order is defined and described by robust ground