This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Joke137 (talk | contribs) at 22:55, 13 January 2006 (added authors, ref). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 22:55, 13 January 2006 by Joke137 (talk | contribs) (added authors, ref)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Chern-Simons theory is a topological gauge theory in three dimensions which describes knot and three-manifold invariants. It is named for its authors, S.-S. Chern and Jim Simons.
There is a correspondence to topological string theory, which is related to Gromov-Witten invariants.
This theory is gauge-invariant over boundary manifolds and manifolds with zero curvature form at their boundaries. However, this theory is gauge variant if there is no restriction on the curvature form at the boundary. This might be useful in anomaly inflow mechanisms.
This terms is nonlocal with respect to gauge invariant quantities.
The Chern-Simons term can also be added to models which aren't topological quantum field theories. In 3D, this gives rise to a massive photon if this term is added to the Yang-Mills action. This term can be induced by integrating over a massive charged Dirac field. It also appears in the quantum Hall effect.
See also
References
S.-S. Chern and J. Simons, "Characteristic forms and geometric invariants", Annals Math. 99, 48–69 (1974). Chern-simons Theory, Matrix Models, And Topological Strings (International Series of Monographs on Physics), Marcos Marino, OUP, 2005
Category: