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    Geometry, Topology and Physics - M.nakahara

    Uploaded by

    Ning Bao

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    Geometry, Topology and Physies Contents Preface xi 1 Background in Physics 1.1 Path Integral and Quantum Field Theories 1 1.2 Gauge Theories 10 1.3 Magnetic Monopoles. 4 14 Instantons 7 1.5 Orders in Condensed Matter Systems 19 1.6 General Relativity 7 1.7 Berry's Phase. 29 1.8 String Theory 30 Problems 1 33 2 Mathematical Preliminaries. 38 2.1 Maps 35 2 Vector Spaces. 43 2.3 Topological Spaces. 48 2.4 Homeomorphisms and Topological Invariants. 33 Problems 2 59 3 Homology Group: ol 3.1 Abelian Groups Ql 3.2 Simplexes and Simplicial Complexes 66 3.3 Homology Groups of Simplicial Complexes 69 3.4 General Properties of Homology Groups 84 4 Homotopy Group 89 4.1 Fundamental Groups 89 4.2 General Properties of Fundamental Groups. o4 4.3 Examples of Fundamental Groups 99 4.4 Fundamental Groups of Polyhedra. 102 4.5 Higher Homotopy Groups 113 4.6 General Properties of Higher Homotopy Groups. 116 4.7 Examples of Higher Homotopy Groups 119 4.8 Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals 121 4.9 Textures in Superfluid 3He-A. 125 Problems 4 128 5.1 Manifolds 130 5.2 The Calculus on Manifolds 140 5.3 Flows and Lie Derivatives 150 5.4 Diflerential Forms 137 5.5 Integration of Differential Forms 164 5.6 Lie groups and Lie Algebras. 167 5.7 The Action of Lie groups on Manifolds 77 Problems § 185 6 De Rham Cohomology Groups... 6.1 Stokes’ Theorem 6.2 De Rham Cohomology Groups. 6.3 Poincaré’s Lemma 64 Structure of De Rham Cohomology Groups. 198 7 Riemannian Geometry 7.1 Riemannian Manifolds and Pseudo-Riemannian Manifolds 7.2 Parallel Transport, Connection and Covariant Derivative 7.3 Curvature and Torsion 7.4 Levi-Civita Connections. 7.5 Holonomy 7.6 Isometries and Conformal Transformations 7.7 Killing Vector Fields and Conformal Killing Vector Fields 7.8 Non-Coordinate Bases 7.9 Differential Forms and Hodge Theory 7.10 Aspects of General Relativity and the Polyakov String Problems 7 8 Complex Manifolds 8.1 Complex Manifolds 265 8.2 Calculus on Complex Manifolds. 273 8.3 Complex Differential Forms. 217 8.4 Hermitian Manifolds and Hermitian Differential Geometry 281 8.5 Kahler Manifolds and Kahler Differential Geometry 287 8.6 Harmonic Forms and f-cohomology * Groups. 292 8.7 Almost Complex Manifolds. 207 8.8 Orbifolds 300 9 Fibre Bundles... 9.1 Tangent Bundles. 9,2 Fibre Bundles 9.3 Vector Bundles. 9.4 Principal Bundles 318 Problems 9 328 10 Connections on Fibre Bundles .. 10.1 Connections on Principal Bundles 329 10.2 Holonomy 339 10.3 Curvature 340 10.4 The Covariant Derivative on Associated Vector Bundles, 346 10.5 Gauge Theories 354 10.6 Berry's Phase 304 Problems 10 371 11 Characteristic Classes ..... : 11.1 Invariant Polynomials and the Chern-Weil Homomorphism, 11.2 Chern Classes 11.3 Chern Characters. 11.4 Pontrjagin and Euler Classes 389 11.5 Chern-Simons Forms 397 11.6 Stiefel-Whitney Classes. 402 12 Index Theorems. 406 12.1 Elliptic Operators and Fredholm Operators 406 12.2 The Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem al 12.3 The De Rham Complex 413 12.4 The Dolbeauilt Complex als 12.5 The Signature Complex 47 12.6 Spin Complexes 4 12.7 The Heat Kernel and Generalised z-funetions 404 2.8 The Atiyah-Patodi-Singer Index Theorem 429 Problems 12 433 13 Anomalies in Gauge Field Theories. 434 13.1 Introduction 434 13.2 Abelian Anomalies 435 13.3 Non-Abelian Anomalies 441 13.4 The Wess-Zumino Consistency Conditions 445 13.5 Abelian Anomalies Versus Non-Abelian Anomalies. 451 13.6 The Parity Anomaly in Odd-Dimensional Spaces 456 14 Bosonic String Theory. 461 14.1 Differential Geometry on Riemann Surfaces 401 14,2 Quantum Theory of Bosonic Strings. 468 143 One-Loop Amplitudes 487 References 492 Index 497 Preface This book is a considerable expansion of lectures T gave at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sussex during the winter term of 1986, The audience included postgiaduate students and facully members working in particle physics, condensed matter physics and general relativity. The lectures were quite informal and I have tried to keep this informality as much as possible in this book. The proof of a theorem is given only when it is instructive and not very technical; otherwise examples will make the theorem plausible, Many figures will help the reader to obtain concrete images of the subjects. In spite of the extensive use of the concepts of topology, difterential geometry and other areas of contemporary mathematics in recent developments in theoretical physics, it is rather difficult to find a self-contained book that is easily accessible to postgraduate students in physics. This book is meant to fill the gap between highly advanced books or research papers and the many excellent introductory books. As a reader, | imagined a first-year postgraduate student in theoretical physics who has some familiarity with quantum field theory and relativity. In this book, the reader will find many examples from physics, in which topological and geometrical notions are very important, These examples are eclectic collections from particle physics, general relativity and condensed matter physics. Readers should feel free to skip examples that are out of their direct concern. However, I believe these examples should be the theoretical minima to students in theoretical physics. Mathematicians who are interested in the application of their discipline to theoretical physics will also find this book interesting ‘The book is largely divided into four parts. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with the preliminary concepts in physics and mathematics respectively. In Chapter I, a brief summary of the physics treated in this book is given, The subjects covered are path integrals, gauge theories (including monopoles and instantons), defects in condensed matter physies, general relativity, Berry's phase in quantum mechanics and strings. Most of the subjects are subsequently explained in detail from the topological and geometrical viewpoints. Chapter 2 supplements the undergraduate mathematics that the average physicist has studied. If readers are quite familiar with sets, maps and general topology, they may skip this chapter and proceed to the next, Chapters 3 to 8 are devoted to the basics of algebraic topology and differential geometry. In Chapters 3 and 4, the idea of the classification of spaces with homology groups and homotopy {groups is introduced. In Chapter 5, we define a manifold, which is one of the central concepts in modern theoretical physics. Differential forms defined there play very important roles throughout this book. Differential forms allow us to define the dual of the homology group called the de Rham cohomology group in Chapter 6, Chapter 7 deals with a manifold endowed with a metric. With the metric, we may define such geometrical concepts as connection, covariant derivati curvature, torsion and many more. In Chapter 8. a complex manifold is defined as a special manifold on which there exists a natural complex structure. Chapters 9 to 12 are devoted to the unification of topology and geometry. In Chapter 9, we define a fibre bundle and show that this is a natural setting for many physical phenomena. The connection defined in Chapter 7 is naturally generalised to that on fibre bundles in Chapter 10. Characteristic classes defined in Chapter 11 enable us to classily fibre bundles using various cohomology classes. Characteristic classes are particularly important in the Atiyah- theorem in Chapter 12. We do not prove this, one of the most important theorems in contemporary mathematics, but simply write down the special forms of the theorem so that we ‘may use them in practical applications in physics inger index ‘Chapters 13 and 14 are devoted to the most fascinating applications of topology and geometry in contemporary physics. In Chapter 13, we apply the theory of fibre bundles, characteristic classes and index theorems to the study of anomalies in gauge theories, In Chapter 14, Polyakov's bosonic string theory is analysed from the geometrical point of view. We give an explicit computation of the one-loop amplitude. would like to express deep gratitude to my teachers, friends and students. Special thanks are due to Tetsuya Asai, David Bailin, Hiroshi Khono, David Lancaster, Sigeki Matsutani, Hiroyuki Nagashima, David Pattarini, Felix E A Pirani, Kenichi Tamano, David Waxman and David Wong. The basic concepts in Chapter 5 owe very much to the lectures by FE A Pirani at King's, College, University of London. ‘The evaluation of the string Laplacian in Chapter 14 using the Eisenstein series and the Kronecker limiting formula was suggested by T Asai. I would like to thank Euan Squires, David Bailin and Hiroshi Khono for useful comments and suggestions David Bailin suggested that | should write this book. He also advised Professor Douglas F Brewer to include this book is his series. I would like to thank the Science and Engineering Research Council of the United Kingdom, which made my stay at Sussex possible. It is a pity that I have no secretary to thank for the beautiful typing. Word processing has been carried out by myselffon two NEC PC98O1 computers. Jim A Revill of Adam Hilger helped me in many ways while preparing the manuscript, His indulgence over my failure to meet deadlines is also acknowledged. Many musicians have filled my office with beautiful music during the preparation of the manuscript’ I am grateful to J S Bach, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ravi Shankar and Erik Satie. Finally 1 am greatly indebted to my wife Yoko, to whom this book is dedicated, for her encouragement and moral support. MIKIO NAKAHARA SHIZUOKA, FEBRUARY 1989 BACKGROUND IN PHYSICS We assume that the reader is familiar with elementary quantum field theory and elementary relativity. In the present chapter, we outline the physies which we shall be concerned with in this book. This chapter is intended to establish notations and conventions and also to give enough background of selected topics with which many students may not be very familiar, Most of the topics are subsequently analysed in detail from topological and geometrical viewpoints. We put c (the speed of light) = A (Planck's constant/2z) = k (Boltz~ mann’s constant) = 1, unless written explicitly, We employ the Einstein summation convention: if the same index appears twice. once as a superscript and once as a subscript, then the index is summed over all possibie vaiues. For exampie, if « runs from | to m, we have A'B, = SAB, a The Euclidean metric is gy = Sy. = diag(+1..... +1) while the Min- kowski metric is gy = Myr = diag(—i, +1... +1). N, Z, B and C denote the sets of natural numbers. integers. real numbers and complex numbers, respectively. | denotes the set of quaternions. Let (1, i,j.) be a basis such that ij ——ji— k, Pk kj =i, ki k= j,i =k? = -1, Then = {a + ib + je + kdla, b, c,d € BR}. Note t that i, j and A have | the 2 x 2 matrix _Fepresentations, i= ios, ali spin matrices o) aro) a=(o 4) The symbol Ml denotes the end of a proof. 1.1 Path integral and quantum field theories Quantum field theory (ort) has achieved great success in particle physics as well as in condensed matter physics. We cannot find any evidence against ort when applied to metals, superconductors, super- fluids, quantum electrodynamics (ep), quantum chromodynamies 2 BACKGROUND IN PILYSICS (ocd). electroweak theory and grand unified theories (Guts). So far we have not established a ort for gravity. Superstring theory seems to be a good candidate for the Theory of Everything (vor), including gravity Although superstring theory deals with one-dimensional objects rather than particles, the basic tool to describe it is orr, We start our exposition with a short review of the standard orr in the path integral formalism. Relevant references are Bailin and Love (1986), Cheng and Li (1984) and Ramond (1981). Huang (1982) and Ryder (1985) contain a good introduction to topological methods in ort. Federbush (1987) is a survey of OFT written hy a mathem 1.1.1 Path integral formulation of quantum mechanics Let q be a position operator in the Schrodinger picture and let |g) be its eigenvector with eigenvalue q: qa) = aia). a.) @ is independent of time and so is the cigenvector |g). A state \yi)) satisties the Schrodinger equation d iG WO) = Hin) a2) ni is |yi)) — expl—itiej]y(}) courdi diagonalised, the state is represented as wlq. 0 = (aly) (1.3) Let (0) be a position operator in the Heisenberg picture and let qu) be an instamiancous eigenvector of 40) GOla 1) = alae) ay Since 4 slg) ot be of Gr) for ° #£. The dynamics of G(/) is dictated by the Heisenberg equation of motion, with the formal solution (0 = elje (5) la. t) = eg) (1.6) The wavefunction is y(q, 1) = (q. ty) Let us consider a process in which a particle starting at q at time ¢ is found at q’ at later time (’. By the fundamental assumption of quantum mechanics, the probability amplitude associated with this process is (aia t) = (q'le"""q) (1.7) 1.1 PATH INTEGRAL AND QUANTUM FIELD THEORIES, 3 We show that this amplitude is evaluated by summing over all possible paths that connect (g. ) and (q’. ¢’). Inserting the identity | aia. dq tl 1 (1.7), we have a’. tia.) = fag, day Ca" ta) Mass tala ay hae where we have divided the interval 1’ — r into n + 1 pieces en (1.9) Each inner product is (deere teed 4) = (dele lad ~ (aieilgad ~ ieCqierlHlgs). (1-10) H = p?/2m + Vig). (Al) Noting that (g;,1!4,) = Ogicr — 4) and (g,\p,) = dnilCB. Ala.) = (quarlB*Palg,) 1 VEG TID oy ) (Gil. lg) ~ Pefamigi | ME Kein — ah Ha -ay (12) _ fap Qt an -{$ lp. where use has been made of the completeness JP innit Substituting thie result into (1.10), we have 1 ~ ietp. 4 stele jane seme aay) This becomes exact when ¢—> (), that is when n— *. The amplitude (1.8) is now given by (iar tela = f SB q, Lo _ [i 4, a’. ig) = tim | Pe ee rr tar= lp, 2A) xeric S [p, Abad Mi é 4 BACKGROUND IN PHYSICS This is symbolically written as J rp-raexeli [ aetva — Hip. a) (1.15) which is called the path integral for the transition amplitude. It is clear from this construction that we have summed over all paths satisfying the boundary condi Example 1.1 Consider a tree particle with H = p?/2m. (1.14) is Sloan — 4) — im | ne} Flaaeroli wed hh Oe (qetige) = To integrate over q, we rewrite the exponent as 148 Bi? pod + Pad’ +L alPir— pd ~ € DZ. a a2 q-integrations yield an infinite product of d-functions ry" flow, te v which states that the momentum is conserved at each stage of the evolution. The amplitude becomes fdpw Tf Do MI (Gla = J Fe OXPL Pd ~ gn om - o}f (1.16) To evaluate this amplitude, we note the formula (a> 0). (1.17) We uncritical may introduc (= G/2m think that i(t’ — 1)/2m is a positive real number (We atiable. r= ir (Wick rotation) so that me a) “onl When the kinetic energy is of the form (1.11), we may execute p-integrations in (1.14). If we Wick rotate the time so that T= ir and replace ie by c, we have (q'st'iq 2) (1.18) ar - 1 . (2) “exp et - 4 exp(ipsaies 4) e where use has been made of (1.17). Now the amplitude is given in terms of q-integrations only, 1. PATH INFEGRAL AND QUANTUM FIELD THEORIES S ene (q's via, m= tim (2 "| J To, x expe S [- {4-4 4. ses) wf vgesp{- f «(2 ye vn} (1.19) where (// is the normalisation factor. The exponent in (1.19) is the action Sigt). a) The time-ordered correlation function has a path integral representa- tion given by (gs TIGA) GINig. 1) = J “ng op ate attsexp| — I dt[pg — H(p. gl (1.20) To obtain general n-point functions, it is convenient to couple an external source J(t) to q(r) and define the transition amplitude in the presence of J(r) by lg. elg. xy = | ep d ig). Gaty (q's hg. 2) = jp \ Je Pt dg ty We assume lim,,../(t) = 0. By functional differentiations, we obtain the n-point function (q's TIMG(t) -.- HrwIIg. 7) =(-1)" ——— (y! rig. ry! ONT)... ON(T,) 0 a where 5/3J(r) is defined by sity [uenaeryar = foe ~ nacevar = an) Exercise 1.2 Prove (1.20) separately for t, >t and 1, arc arbitrary, we may write auf op ngexp|- [arg - Jy). 0.27) In the case when the Hamiltonian is of the form (1.11). we have 2) =| ogexe(—| drt + Ja) (1.28) 1.1.2 Scalar field theory Let @(x) be a real scalar field satisfying My (a + m+ “Oy =0. (1.29) 3b The Lagrangian density yielding this equation is 38,98"9 — meg?) — Vid) (1.30) If the time is Wick rotated, the metric becomes Euclidean. The field configurations ai : dbs 1.1 PATH INTEGRAL AND QUANTUM FIELD THEORIES 7 Px, 1) = lx) P(x.) = G(x). (131) The path integral expression for the transition amplitude is (oa), Hala). 2) = f ‘vormexs{—[ ar | dz[p ~ (2. ol) (1.32) where % is the Hamiltonian density; 4 = a - The vacuum-to-vacuum amplitude in the presence of a source J(x) is «1.233 Js] Pe Pmenpl—f ae { dx[ap An. gt 9) The integration is over all 7 and all @ that satisty the boundary condition (1.31). For the Lagrangian density (1.30), it is easy 10 perform the n-integration in (1.33) to yield aul = | voesp(-[_ ar f axe. 3,0) + Jal}. (1.34) It can be shown that ZIJ] generates the n-point functions. We are particularly interested in the connected n-point functions, which are generated by W[/] defined by Z[J] — eM (1.35) From WLI] we define the effective action P{p.,] hy Ta) = WU) - J arar sen (1.36) where ba = (p)! = OWU]/SI. (1.37) Tis a Legendre transform of W. F[@.] generates one-particle irreducible diagrams. 1.1.3 &function evaluation of amplitude Let A be a symmetric positive-definite »

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