The Quill 12 ~ Between 't Hooft and Wilson


This post will contain only one ACT.
The kind of duality that exists between the electric charge and magnetic charge is very advanced and that extends to some of the wild mathematics. Let's explore some of the mathematics here. 
What mathematicians study as the Fourier transform between the lattice $H^2(M,\mathbb{Z})$ and the dual (complexified) torus $T$ is the same as electric-magnetic duality in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory with gauge group $U(1)$. There is a lot to unpack there.

In a past Quill, we saw a twist that produces $\mathcal{N}=1$ quantum mechanics, and that killed time (so the Hamiltonian is zero in cohomology) in a derived sense. We will now see the $U(1)$ gauge theory. For mathematicians, it is a connection on the $U(1)$ bundle, and for physicists, it is the theory of electromagnetism in three dimensions. Now, we will do a twist of a similar kind here to get a bigger Lie algebra (super Lie algebra). There are two kinds of twists (see Ben-Zvi's lectures on Langlands). But the idea is to include some more operators than the Hamiltonian only and study the cohomology. We already have seen the standard SUSY algebra in this post

A-type Twist: We include the operators (like the Q-charge with nilpotency $Q^2=0$) and 16 supercharges. Now, instead of asking for the cohomology on the ordinary Hilbert space of $L^2$ functions, we want to look at the cohomology on the space of connections modulo gauge equivalence. The obtained cohomology is again a de-Rham cohomology with differential forms.

B-type Twist: Now, we include a complex connection corresponding to Higgs fields, to the total connection is $d+A+i\sigma$ where $\sigma$ is one-form on the three-dimensional manifold $M$ (see this). Now, the bundle is not ordinary $U(1)$ but a complex bundle which we will call $\mathbb{C}$, which will also complexify the structure group of the bundle. Anyhow, the cohomology is now studied for the connection on the $\mathbb{C}$ bundle. In this case, the vector space contains the holomorphic functions on $M$. The cohomology that will be of interest, in this vector space, is the Dolbeault cohomology with operators like $\bar{\partial}^2=0$ and so on. 

Now, the A-twist can be associated with the locally constant functions in the zeroth de Rham cohomology, i.e., $H^2(M,\mathbb{Z})$. This $\mathbb{C}(H^2(M,\mathbb{Z}))$ corresponds to the dual lattice of the complexified torus (that is locally how the holomorphic functions would look like in the B-twist). More precisely, $\mathbb{C}(H^2(M,\mathbb{Z}))$ and $\mathbb{C}(T_\mathbb{C}$) are related by the Fourier series. And the lattice $H^2(M,\mathbb{Z})$ and the dual torus $T_\mathbb{C}$ are related by the Fourier transform.

Coming to physics, in A-twist, the 't Hooft operators create magnetic charges and the Wilson operators in the B-twist create electric charges. From the above duality, these operators are also related. So A-twist and B-twist are the same theory with different elementary charges. This is a manifestation of electric-magnetic duality. A-twist is gauge group $G$ and the B-twist is with dual group $^VG$.

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1 Response to The Quill 12 ~ Between 't Hooft and Wilson

  1. "A-twist is gauge group $U(1)$ and the B-twist is with dual group $^{L}U(1)$."

    I understood that reference.

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