We review and extend the Alexandrov-Kontsevich-Schwarz-Zaboronsky construction of solutions of the Batalin-Vilkovisky classical master equation. In particular, we study the case of sigma models on manifolds with boundary. We show that a special case of this construction yields the Batalin-Vilkovisky action functional of the Poisson sigma model on a disk. As we have shown in a previous paper, the perturbative quantization of this model is related to Kontsevich's deformation quantization of Poisson manifolds and to his formality theorem. We also discuss the action of diffeomorphisms of the target manifolds.
We introduce a technique to realise brane wrapping and double dimensional reduction in the context of AKSZ topological sigma models and also in their target spaces, which are symplectic $L_n$-algebroids (i.e. QP-manifolds). Our procedure involves a novel coisotropic reduction combined with an AKSZ transgression that realises degree-shifting; the reduced QP-manifold depends on topological data of the `wrapped' cycle. We check our procedure against the known rules for fluxes under wrapping in the context of M-theory/type IIA duality, and we also find a new relation between Courant algebroids and…
We generalize the AKSZ construction of topological field theories to allow the target manifolds to have possibly-degenerate (homotopy) Poisson structures. Classical AKSZ theories, which exist for all oriented spacetimes, are described in terms of dioperads. The quantization problem is posed in terms of extending from dioperads to properads. We conclude by relating the quantization problem for AKSZ theories on R^d to the formality of the E_d operad, and conjecture a properadic description of the space of E_d formality quasiisomorphisms.
We describe a covariant framework to construct a globalized version for the perturbative quantization of nonlinear split AKSZ Sigma Models on manifolds with and without boundary, and show that it captures the change of the quantum state as one changes the constant map around which one perturbs. This is done by using concepts of formal geometry. Moreover, we show that the globalized quantum state can be interpreted as a closed section with respect to an operator that squares to zero. This condition is a generalization of the modified Quantum Master Equation as in the BV-BFV formalism, which we …
We consider AKSZ constructions of BV actions for closed topological membranes, and their dimensional reductions to topological string sigma-models. Two inequivalent AKSZ constructions for topological membranes on $G_2$-manifolds are proposed, in each of which the two existing topological membrane theories appear as different gauge fixed versions. Their dimensional reductions give new AKSZ constructions for the topological A-model, which on further dimensional reduction gives an AKSZ formulation of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. We show that the two AKSZ membrane models originate through wor…
We describe a canonical reduction of AKSZ-BV theories to the cohomology of the source manifold. We get a finite dimensional BV theory that describes the contribution of the zero modes to the full QFT. Integration can be defined and correlators can be computed. As an illustration of the general construction we consider two dimensional Poisson sigma model and three dimensional Courant sigma model. When the source manifold is compact, the reduced theory is a generalization of the AKSZ construction where we take as source the cohomology ring. We present the possible generalizations of the AKSZ the…
We discuss the A-model as a gauge fixing of the Poisson Sigma Model with target a symplectic structure. We complete the discussion in [arXiv:0706.3164], where a gauge fixing defined by a compatible complex structure was introduced, by showing how to recover the A-model hierarchy of observables in terms of the AKSZ observables. Moreover, we discuss the off-shell supersymmetry of the A-model as a residual BV symmetry of the gauge-fixed PSM action.
We study AKSZ-type BV constructions for the topological A- and B-models within a double field theory formulation that incorporates backgrounds with geometric and non-geometric fluxes. We relate them to a Courant sigma-model, on an open membrane, corresponding to a generalized complex structure, which reduces to the A- or B-models on the boundary. We introduce S-duality at the level of the membrane sigma-model based on the generalized complex structure, which exchanges the related AKSZ field theories, and interpret it as topological S-duality of the A- and B-models. Our approach leads to new cl…
Using methods of formal geometry, the Poisson sigma model on a closed surface is studied in perturbation theory. The effective action, as a function on vacua, is shown to have no quantum corrections if the surface is a torus or if the Poisson structure is regular and unimodular (e.g., symplectic). In the case of a Kahler structure or of a trivial Poisson structure, the partition function on the torus is shown to be the Euler characteristic of the target; some evidence is given for this to happen more generally. The methods of formal geometry introduced in this paper might be applicable to othe…
General boundary conditions ("branes") for the Poisson sigma model are studied. They turn out to be labeled by coisotropic submanifolds of the given Poisson manifold. The role played by these boundary conditions both at the classical and at the perturbative quantum level is discussed. It turns out to be related at the classical level to the category of Poisson manifolds with dual pairs as morphisms and at the perturbative quantum level to the category of associative algebras (deforming algebras of functions on Poisson manifolds) with bimodules as morphisms. Possibly singular Poisson manifolds …
A globalized version of a trace formula for the Poisson Sigma Model on the disk is presented by using its formal global picture in the setting of the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. This global construction includes the concept of zero modes. Moreover, for the symplectic case of the Poisson Sigma Model with cotangent target, the globalized trace reduces to a symplectic construction which was presented by Grady, Li and Li for 1-dimensional Chern-Simons theory (topological quantum mechanics). In addition, the connection between this formula and the Nest-Tsygan theorem and the Tamarkin-Tsygan theor…
We construct a formal global quantization of the Poisson Sigma Model in the BV-BFV formalism using the perturbative quantization of AKSZ theories on manifolds with boundary and analyze the properties of the boundary BFV operator. Moreover, we consider mixed boundary conditions and show that they lead to quantum anomalies, i.e. to a failure of the (modified differential) Quantum Master Equation. We show that it can be restored by adding boundary terms to the action, at the price of introducing corner terms in the boundary operator. We also show that the quantum GBFV operator on the total space …
We consider the Poisson sigma model associated to a Poisson manifold. The perturbative quantization of this model yields the Kontsevich star product formula. We study here the classical model in the Hamiltonian formalism. The phase space is the space of leaves of a Hamiltonian foliation and has a natural groupoid structure. If it is a manifold then it is a symplectic groupoid for the given Poisson manifold. We study various families of examples. In particular, a global symplectic groupoid for a general class of two-dimensional Poisson domains is constructed.
We analyse the problem of boundary conditions for the Poisson-Sigma model and extend previous results showing that non-coisotropic branes are allowed. We discuss the canonical reduction of a Poisson structure to a submanifold, leading to a Poisson algebra that generalizes Dirac's construction. The phase space of the model on the strip is related to the (generalized) Dirac bracket on the branes through a dual pair structure.
We study the Poisson sigma model which can be viewed as a topological string theory. Mainly we concentrate our attention on the Poisson sigma model over a group manifold G with a Poisson-Lie structure. In this case the flat connection conditions arise naturally. The boundary conditions (D-branes) are studied in this model. It turns out that the D-branes are labelled by the coisotropic subgroups of G. We give a description of the moduli space of classical solutions over Riemann surfaces both without and with boundaries. Finally we comment briefly on the duality properties of the model.
The topics covered in this thesis may be divided into three parts. Firstly, we perform a study on the most general branes which are consistent with the Poisson sigma model, both at the classical and quantum levels. The second part is devoted to the particular case in which the target Poisson manifold is a Poisson-Lie group. Finally, we investigate the supersymmetric version of the twisted Poisson sigma model and its connection with twisted generalized complex geometry.
We prove that non-coisotropic branes in the Poisson-Sigma model are allowed at the quantum level. When the brane is defined by second-class constraints, the perturbative quantization of the model yields the Kontsevich's star product associated to the Dirac bracket on the brane. We also discuss the quantization when both first and second-class constraints are present.
This is a review aimed at a physics audience on the relation between Poisson sigma models on surfaces with boundary and deformation quantization. These models are topological open string theories. In the classical Hamiltonian approach, we describe the reduced phase space and its structures (symplectic groupoid), explaining in particular the classical origin of the non-commutativity of the string end-point coordinates. We also review the perturbative Lagrangian approach and its connection with Kontsevich's star product. Finally we comment on the relation between the two approaches.
The canonical structure of classical non-linear sigma models on Riemannian symmetric spaces, which constitute the most general class of classical non-linear sigma models known to be integrable, is shown to be governed by a fundamental Poisson bracket relation that fits into the $r$-$s$-matrix formalism for non-ultralocal integrable models first discussed by Maillet. The matrices $r$ and $s$ are computed explicitly and, being field dependent, satisfy fundamental Poisson bracket relations of their own, which can be expressed in terms of a new numerical matrix~$c$. It is proposed that all these P…
We construct a Chern-Simons type of theory using the $l_\infty$ algebra encoded by a Poisson structure on arbitrary Riemann surfaces with boundaries. A deformation quantization within the Batalin-Vilkovisky framework is performed by constructing propagators with Dirichlet boundary condition on Fulton-MacPherson compactified configuration space. Our results show that the BV quantization is independent of several gauge choices in propagators, which leads to global observables that are candidates for geometric invariants of Poisson structure and topological invariants for the worldsheet structure…
We develop quantization techniques for describing the nonassociative geometry probed by closed strings in flat non-geometric R-flux backgrounds M. Starting from a suitable Courant sigma-model on an open membrane with target space M, regarded as a topological sector of closed string dynamics in R-space, we derive a twisted Poisson sigma-model on the boundary of the membrane whose target space is the cotangent bundle T^*M and whose quasi-Poisson structure coincides with those previously proposed. We argue that from the membrane perspective the path integral over multivalued closed string fields …
We define even dimensional quantum spheres Sigma_q^2n that generalize to higher dimension the standard quantum two-sphere of Podle's and the four-sphere Sigma_q^4 obtained in the quantization of the Hopf bundle. The construction relies on an iterated Poisson double suspension of the standard Podle's two-sphere. The Poisson spheres that we get have the same symplectic foliation consisting of a degenerate point and a symplectic plane and, after quantization, have the same C^*-algebraic completion. We investigate their K-homology and K-theory by introducing Fredholm modules and projectors.
We complete the study of the Poisson-Sigma model over Poisson-Lie groups. Firstly, we solve the models with targets $G$ and $G^*$ (the dual group of the Poisson-Lie group $G$) corresponding to a triangular $r$-matrix and show that the model over $G^*$ is always equivalent to BF-theory. Then, given an arbitrary $r$-matrix, we address the problem of finding D-branes preserving the duality between the models. We identify a broad class of dual branes which are subgroups of $G$ and $G^*$, but not necessarily Poisson-Lie subgroups. In particular, they are not coisotropic submanifolds in the general …
A path-integral quantization method is proposed for dynamical systems whose classical equations of motion do \textit{not} necessarily follow from the action principle. The key new notion behind this quantization scheme is the Lagrange structure which is more general than the Lagrangian formalism in the same sense as Poisson geometry is more general than the symplectic one. The Lagrange structure is shown to admit a natural BRST description which is used to construct an AKSZ-type topological sigma-model. The dynamics of this sigma-model in $d+1$ dimensions, being localized on the boundary, are …
It has been shown recently that extended supersymmetry in twisted first-order sigma models is related to twisted generalized complex geometry in the target. In the general case there are additional algebraic and differential conditions relating the twisted generalized complex structure and the geometrical data defining the model. We study in the Hamiltonian formalism the case of vanishing metric, which is the supersymmetric version of the WZ-Poisson sigma model. We prove that the compatibility conditions reduce to an algebraic equation, which represents a considerable simplification with respe…
Into a geometric setting, we import the physical interpretation of index theorems via semi-classical analysis in topological quantum field theory. We develop a direct relationship between Fedosov's deformation quantization of a symplectic manifold X and the BV quantization of a one-dimensional sigma model with target X. This model is a quantum field theory of AKSZ type and is quantized rigorously using Costello's homotopic theory of effective renormalization. We show that Fedosov's Abelian connections on the Weyl bundle produce solutions to the effective quantum master equation. Moreover, BV i…
Based on work done by Bonechi, Cattaneo, Felder and Zabzine on Poisson sigma models, we formally show that Kontsevich's star product can be obtained from the twisted convolution algebra of the geometric quantization of a Lie 2-groupoid, one which integrates the Poisson structure. We show that there is an analogue of the Poisson sigma model which is valued in Lie 1-groupoids and which can often be defined non-perturbatively; it can be obtained by symplectic reduction using the quantization of the Lie 2-groupoid. We call these groupoid-valued sigma models and we argue that, when they exist, they…
These are lecture notes for the course "Poisson geometry and deformation quantization" given by the author during the fall semester 2020 at the University of Zurich. The first chapter is an introduction to differential geometry, where we cover manifolds, tensor fields, integration on manifolds, Stokes' theorem, de Rham's theorem and Frobenius' theorem. The second chapter covers the most important notions of symplectic geometry such as Lagrangian submanifolds, Weinstein's tubular neighborhood theorem, Hamiltonian mechanics, moment maps and symplectic reduction. The third chapter gives an introd…
