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Hitchin Functional
The Hitchin functional is a mathematical concept with applications in string theory that was introduced by the British mathematician Nigel Hitchin. and are the original articles of the Hitchin functional. As with Hitchin's introduction of generalized complex manifolds, this is an example of a mathematical tool found useful in mathematical physics. Formal definition This is the definition for 6-manifolds. The definition in Hitchin's article is more general, but more abstract. Let M be a compact, oriented 6-manifold with trivial canonical bundle. Then the Hitchin functional is a functional on 3-forms defined by the formula: : \Phi(\Omega) = \int_M \Omega \wedge * \Omega, where \Omega is a 3-form and * denotes the Hodge star operator. Properties * The Hitchin functional is analogous for six-manifold to the Yang-Mills functional for the four-manifolds. * The Hitchin functional is manifestly invariant under the action of the group of orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms. * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting points of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diffeomorphism
In mathematics, a diffeomorphism is an isomorphism of smooth manifolds. It is an invertible function that maps one differentiable manifold to another such that both the function and its inverse are differentiable. Definition Given two manifolds M and N, a differentiable map f \colon M \rightarrow N is called a diffeomorphism if it is a bijection and its inverse f^ \colon N \rightarrow M is differentiable as well. If these functions are r times continuously differentiable, f is called a C^r-diffeomorphism. Two manifolds M and N are diffeomorphic (usually denoted M \simeq N) if there is a diffeomorphism f from M to N. They are C^r-diffeomorphic if there is an r times continuously differentiable bijective map between them whose inverse is also r times continuously differentiable. Diffeomorphisms of subsets of manifolds Given a subset X of a manifold M and a subset Y of a manifold N, a function f:X\to Y is said to be smooth if for all p in X there is a neighbor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topological String Theory
In theoretical physics, topological string theory is a version of string theory. Topological string theory appeared in papers by theoretical physicists, such as Edward Witten and Cumrun Vafa, by analogy with Witten's earlier idea of topological quantum field theory. Overview There are two main versions of topological string theory: the topological A-model and the topological B-model. The results of the calculations in topological string theory generically encode all holomorphic quantities within the full string theory whose values are protected by spacetime supersymmetry. Various calculations in topological string theory are closely related to Chern–Simons theory, Gromov–Witten invariants, mirror symmetry, geometric Langlands Program, and many other topics. The operators in topological string theory represent the algebra of operators in the full string theory that preserve a certain amount of supersymmetry. Topological string theory is obtained by a topological twist of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kähler Manifold
In mathematics and especially differential geometry, a Kähler manifold is a manifold with three mutually compatible structures: a complex structure, a Riemannian structure, and a symplectic structure. The concept was first studied by Jan Arnoldus Schouten and David van Dantzig in 1930, and then introduced by Erich Kähler in 1933. The terminology has been fixed by André Weil. Kähler geometry refers to the study of Kähler manifolds, their geometry and topology, as well as the study of structures and constructions that can be performed on Kähler manifolds, such as the existence of special connections like Hermitian Yang–Mills connections, or special metrics such as Kähler–Einstein metrics. Every smooth complex projective variety is a Kähler manifold. Hodge theory is a central part of algebraic geometry, proved using Kähler metrics. Definitions Since Kähler manifolds are equipped with several compatible structures, they can be described from different points of view: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calabi-Yau Space
In algebraic geometry, a Calabi–Yau manifold, also known as a Calabi–Yau space, is a particular type of manifold which has properties, such as Ricci flatness, yielding applications in theoretical physics. Particularly in superstring theory, the extra dimensions of spacetime are sometimes conjectured to take the form of a 6-dimensional Calabi–Yau manifold, which led to the idea of mirror symmetry. Their name was coined by , after who first conjectured that such surfaces might exist, and who proved the Calabi conjecture. Calabi–Yau manifolds are complex manifolds that are generalizations of K3 surfaces in any number of complex dimensions (i.e. any even number of real dimensions). They were originally defined as compact Kähler manifolds with a vanishing first Chern class and a Ricci-flat metric, though many other similar but inequivalent definitions are sometimes used. Definitions The motivational definition given by Shing-Tung Yau is of a compact Kähle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Involution (mathematics)
In mathematics, an involution, involutory function, or self-inverse function is a function that is its own inverse, : for all in the domain of . Equivalently, applying twice produces the original value. General properties Any involution is a bijection. The identity map is a trivial example of an involution. Examples of nontrivial involutions include negation (x \mapsto -x), reciprocation (x \mapsto 1/x), and complex conjugation (z \mapsto \bar z) in arithmetic; reflection, half-turn rotation, and circle inversion in geometry; complementation in set theory; and reciprocal ciphers such as the ROT13 transformation and the Beaufort polyalphabetic cipher. The composition of two involutions ''f'' and ''g'' is an involution if and only if they commute: . Involutions on finite sets The number of involutions, including the identity involution, on a set with elements is given by a recurrence relation found by Heinrich August Rothe in 1800: :a_0 = a_1 = 1 and a_n = a_ + ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orientifold
In theoretical physics orientifold is a generalization of the notion of orbifold, proposed by Augusto Sagnotti in 1987. The novelty is that in the case of string theory the non-trivial element(s) of the orbifold group includes the reversal of the orientation of the string. Orientifolding therefore produces unoriented strings—strings that carry no "arrow" and whose two opposite orientations are equivalent. Type I string theory is the simplest example of such a theory and can be obtained by orientifolding type IIB string theory. In mathematical terms, given a smooth manifold \mathcal, two discrete, freely acting, groups G_ and G_ and the worldsheet parity operator \Omega_ (such that \Omega_ : \sigma \to 2\pi - \sigma) an orientifold is expressed as the quotient space \mathcal/(G_ \cup \Omega G_). If G_ is empty, then the quotient space is an orbifold. If G_ is not empty, then it is an orientifold. Application to string theory In string theory \mathcal is the compact space form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compactification (physics)
In theoretical physics, compactification means changing a theory with respect to one of its space-time dimensions. Instead of having a theory with this dimension being infinite, one changes the theory so that this dimension has a finite length, and may also be periodic. Compactification plays an important part in thermal field theory where one compactifies time, in string theory where one compactifies the extra dimensions of the theory, and in two- or one-dimensional solid state physics, where one considers a system which is limited in one of the three usual spatial dimensions. At the limit where the size of the compact dimension goes to zero, no fields depend on this extra dimension, and the theory is dimensionally reduced. Compactification in quantum field theory Any two-dimensional scalar quantum field theory with a generic potential presents a universal feature, first unveiled by Campos Delgado and Dogaru, namely it is equivalent to a one-dimensional theory of particles, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Generalized Complex Structure
In the field of mathematics known as differential geometry, a generalized complex structure is a property of a differential manifold that includes as special cases a complex structure and a symplectic structure. Generalized complex structures were introduced by Nigel Hitchin in 2002 and further developed by his students Marco Gualtieri and Gil Cavalcanti. These structures first arose in Hitchin's program of characterizing geometrical structures via functionals of differential forms, a connection which formed the basis of Robbert Dijkgraaf, Sergei Gukov, Andrew Neitzke and Cumrun Vafa's 2004 proposal that topological string theories are special cases of a topological M-theory. Today generalized complex structures also play a leading role in physical string theory, as supersymmetric flux compactifications, which relate 10-dimensional physics to 4-dimensional worlds like ours, require (possibly twisted) generalized complex structures. Definition The generalized tangent bundl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Almost Complex Structure
In mathematics, an almost complex manifold is a smooth manifold equipped with a smooth linear complex structure on each tangent space. Every complex manifold is an almost complex manifold, but there are almost complex manifolds that are not complex manifolds. Almost complex structures have important applications in symplectic geometry. The concept is due to Charles Ehresmann and Heinz Hopf in the 1940s. Formal definition Let ''M'' be a smooth manifold. An almost complex structure ''J'' on ''M'' is a linear complex structure (that is, a linear map which squares to −1) on each tangent space of the manifold, which varies smoothly on the manifold. In other words, we have a smooth tensor field ''J'' of degree such that J^2=-1 when regarded as a vector bundle isomorphism J\colon TM\to TM on the tangent bundle. A manifold equipped with an almost complex structure is called an almost complex manifold. If ''M'' admits an almost complex structure, it must be even-dimensional. This can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symplectic Manifold
In differential geometry, a subject of mathematics, a symplectic manifold is a smooth manifold, M , equipped with a closed nondegenerate differential 2-form \omega , called the symplectic form. The study of symplectic manifolds is called symplectic geometry or symplectic topology. Symplectic manifolds arise naturally in abstract formulations of classical mechanics and analytical mechanics as the cotangent bundles of manifolds. For example, in the Hamiltonian formulation of classical mechanics, which provides one of the major motivations for the field, the set of all possible configurations of a system is modeled as a manifold, and this manifold's cotangent bundle describes the phase space of the system. Motivation Symplectic manifolds arise from classical mechanics; in particular, they are a generalization of the phase space of a closed system. In the same way the Hamilton equations allow one to derive the time evolution of a system from a set of differential equations, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohomology Class
In mathematics, specifically in homology theory and algebraic topology, cohomology is a general term for a sequence of abelian groups, usually one associated with a topological space, often defined from a cochain complex. Cohomology can be viewed as a method of assigning richer algebraic invariants to a space than homology. Some versions of cohomology arise by dualizing the construction of homology. In other words, cochains are functions on the group of chains in homology theory. From its beginning in topology, this idea became a dominant method in the mathematics of the second half of the twentieth century. From the initial idea of homology as a method of constructing algebraic invariants of topological spaces, the range of applications of homology and cohomology theories has spread throughout geometry and algebra. The terminology tends to hide the fact that cohomology, a contravariant theory, is more natural than homology in many applications. At a basic level, this has to do wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
