Loop Spaces, Characteristic Classes and Geometric Quantization

This book deals with the differential geometry of manifolds, loop spaces, line bundles and groupoids, and the relations of this geometry to mathematical physics. The book will be of interest to topologists, geometers, Lie theorists and mathematical physicists, as well as to operator algebraists. It is written for graduate students and researchers, and will be an excellent textbook. It has a self-contained introduction to the theory of sheaves and their cohomology, line bundles and geometric prequantization à la Kostant--Souriau.

Discusses open problems and further research extensions Written by a distinguished and well-published researcher in the field Includes many examples and figures

Texte du rabat

This book examines the differential geometry of manifolds, loop spaces, line bundles and groupoids, and the relations of this geometry to mathematical physics. Applications presented in the book involve anomaly line bundles on loop spaces and anomaly functionals, central extensions of loop groups, Kähler geometry of the space of knots, and Cheeger--Chern--Simons secondary characteristics classes. It also covers the Dirac monopole and Dirac s quantization of the electrical charge.

Résumé

"The book is not only a well-written and thorough exposition of....abstract ideas, but it also treats geometric applications throughout... In addition, the book contains a nice exposition of various aspects of Cech, de Rham, and Deligne cohomology and an exposition of Grothendieck's decent theory for sheaves."

--Mathematical Reviews

Contenu
Complexes of Sheaves and their Hypercohomology.- Line Bundles and Central Extensions.- Kähler Geometry of the Space of Knots.- Degree 3 Cohomology: The Dixmier-Douady Theory.- Degree 3 Cohomology: Sheaves of Groupoids.- Line Bundles over Loop Spaces.- The Dirac Monopole.