Gauge theory webs and surfaces

Abelian Gauge Theory on Riemann Surfaces

An Abelian gauge eld theory framed on a complex line bundle L over a compact Riemann surface M is developed which allows the coexistence, simultaneously in the same model, of magnetic vortices and antivortices represented by the N zeros and P poles of a section of L. The quantized minimum energy E is given in terms of the rst Chern class c 1 (L) and by a certain intersection number obtained fro...

Abelian Gauge Theory on Riemann Surfaces and New Topological Invariants

String Webs from Field Theory

The spectrum of stable electrically and magnetically charged supersymmetric particles can change discontinuously as one changes the vacuum on the Coulomb branch of gauge theories with extended supersymmetry in four dimensions. We show that this decay process can be understood and is well described by semiclassical field configurations purely in terms of the low energy effective action on the Co...

Gravity and Gauge Theory∗

Gauge theories are theories that are invariant under a characteristic group of “gauge” transformations. General relativity is invariant under transformations of the diffeomorphism group. This has prompted many philosophers and physicists to treat general relativity as a gauge theory, and diffeomorphisms as gauge transformations. I argue that this approach is misguided. The theories of three of ...

Webs on surfaces, rings of invariants, and clusters.

We construct and study cluster algebra structures in rings of invariants of the special linear group action on collections of 3D vectors, covectors, and matrices. The construction uses Kuperberg's calculus of webs on marked surfaces with boundary.