Path Integrals And Anomalies In Curved Space

This book introduces path integrals, a powerful method for describing quantum phenomena, and then uses them to compute anomalies in quantum field theories. An advanced text for researchers and graduate students of quantum field theory and string theory, it also provides a stand-alone introduction to path integrals in quantum mechanics.

This book introduces path integrals, a powerful method for describing quantum phenomena, and then uses them to compute anomalies in quantum field theories. An advanced text for researchers and graduate students of quantum field theory and string theory, it also provides a stand-alone introduction to path integrals in quantum mechanics.

Self-contained introduction to the path integral method in field theory and its applications to quantum anomalies. The subjects covered are relevant to particle and high-energy nuclear theory, conformal field theory, applications to condensed matter theory, and string theory.

In this second edition, a comprehensive review is given for path integration in two- and three-dimensional (homogeneous) spaces of constant and non-constant curvature, including an enumeration of all the corresponding coordinate systems which allow separation of variables in the Hamiltonian and in the path integral. The corresponding path integral solutions are presented as a tabulation. Proposals concerning interbasis expansions for spheroidal coordinate systems are also given. In particular, the cases of non-constant curvature Darboux spaces are new in this edition. The volume also contains results on the numerical study of the properties of several integrable billiard systems in compact domains (i.e. rectangles, parallelepipeds, circles and spheres) in two- and three-dimensional flat and hyperbolic spaces. In particular, the discussions of integrable billiards in circles and spheres (flat and hyperbolic spaces) and in three dimensions are new in comparison to the first edition. In addition, an overview is presented on some recent achievements in the theory of the Selberg trace formula on Riemann surfaces, its super generalization, their use in mathematical physics and string theory, and some further results derived from the Selberg (super-) trace formula. Contents:IntroductionPath Integrals in Quantum MechanicsSeparable Coordinate Systems on Spaces of Constant CurvaturePath Integrals in Pseudo-Euclidean GeometryPath Integrals in Euclidean SpacesPath Integrals on SpheresPath Integrals on HyperboloidsPath Integral on the Complex SpherePath Integrals on Hermitian Hyperbolic SpacePath Integrals on Darboux SpacesPath Integrals on Single-Sheeted HyperboloidsMiscellaneous Results on Path IntegrationBilliard Systems and Periodic Orbit TheoryThe Selberg Trace FormulaThe Selberg Super-Trace FormulaSummary and Discussion Readership: Graduate and researchers in mathematical physics. Keywords:Path Integrals;Selberg Trace Formula;Quantum Chaos;Coordinate Systems;Homogeneous Spaces;Spaces of Non-Constant Curvature;Separation of VariablesKey Features:The 2nd edition brings the text up to date with new developments and results in the fieldContains enumeration of many explicit path integrals solutionsReviews: “This book is a good survey of results in a fascinating, highly geometrical, field in which much remains to be done.” Zentralblatt MATH

This book, addressing both researchers and graduate students, reviews equivariant localization techniques for the evaluation of Feynman path integrals. The author gives the relevant mathematical background in some detail, showing at the same time how localization ideas are related to classical integrability. The text explores the symmetries inherent in localizable models for assessing the applicability of localization formulae. Various applications from physics and mathematics are presented.

The Feynman path integrals are becoming increasingly important in the applications of quantum mechanics and field theory. The path integral formulation of quantum anomalies, i.e. the quantum breaking of certain symmetries, can now cover all the known quantum anomalies in a coherent manner. In this book the authors provide an introduction to the path integral method in quantum field theory and its applications to the analyses of quantum anomalies. No previous knowledge of fieldtheory beyond the advanced undergraduate quantum mechanics is assumed. The book provides the first coherent introductory treatment of the path integral formulation of chiral and Weyl anomalies, with applications to gauge theory in two and four dimensions, conformal field theory and string theory. Explicitand elementary path integral calculations of most of the quantum anomalies covered are given. The conceptual basis of the path integral bosonization in two-dimensional theory, which may have applications to condensed matter theory, for example, is clarified. The book also covers the recent interesting developments in the treatment of fermions and chiral anomalies in lattice gauge theory.

The quantization of physical systems moving on group and symmetric spaces has been an area of active research over the past three decades. This book shows that it is possible to introduce a representation-independent propagator for a real, separable, connected and simply connected Lie group with irreducible, square-integrable representations. For a given set of kinematical variables this propagator is a single generalized function independent of any particular choice of fiducial vector and the irreducible representations of the Lie group generated by these kinematical variables, which nonetheless correctly propagates each element of a continuous representation based on the coherent states associated with these kinematical variables. Furthermore, the book shows that it is possible to construct regularized lattice phase space path integrals for a real, separable, connected and simply connected Lie group with irreducible, square-integrable representations, and although the configuration space is in general a multidimensional curved manifold, it is shown that the resulting lattice phase space path integral has the form of a lattice phase space path integral on a multidimensional flat manifold. Hence, a novel and extremely natural phase space path integral quantization is obtained for general physical systems whose kinematical variables are the generators of a connected and simply connected Lie group. This novel phase space path integral quantization is (a) exact, (b) more general than, and (c) free from the limitations of the previously considered path integral quantizations of free physical systems moving on group manifolds. To illustrate the general theory, a representation-independent propagator is explicitly constructed for SU(2) and the affine group. Contents:Mathematical PreludePhysical PreludeA Review of Some Means to Define Path Integrals on Group and Symmetric SpacesNotations and PreliminariesThe Representation Independent Propagator for a General Lie GroupClassical Limit of the Representation Independent PropagatorConclusion and OutlookContinuous Representation TheoryExact Lattice Calculations Readership: Physicists. Keywords:Global Analysis;Analysis on Manifolds [For Geometric Integration Theory];Spaces and Manifolds of Mappings;Quantum Mechanics (Feynman Path Integrals), Relativity, Fluid Dynamics;Quantum Theory;General Quantum Mechanics and Problems of Quantization;Path IntegralsReviews: “The author explains the theory clearly and the book is almost self-contained …” Contemporary Physics

The theory of relativity describes the laws of physics in a given space-time. However, a physical theory must provide observational predictions expressed in terms of measurements, which are the outcome of practical experiments and observations. Ideal for readers with a mathematical background and a basic knowledge of relativity, this book will help readers understand the physics behind the mathematical formalism of the theory of relativity. It explores the informative power of the theory of relativity, and highlights its uses in space physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Readers are given the tools to pick out from the mathematical formalism those quantities that have physical meaning and which can therefore be the result of a measurement. The book considers the complications that arise through the interpretation of a measurement, which is dependent on the observer who performs it. Specific examples of this are given to highlight the awkwardness of the problem.