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 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.
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 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.
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 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 targe…
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 …
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.
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…
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…
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.
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…
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 …
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…
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…
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 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 …
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…
In the present paper we introduce a quantum analogue of the classical folding of a simply-laced Lie algebra g to the non-simply-laced algebra g^sigma along a Dynkin diagram automorphism sigma of g For each quantum folding we replace g^sigma by its Langlands dual g^sigma^v and construct a nilpotent Lie algebra n which interpolates between the nilpotnent parts of g and (g^sigma)^v, together with its quantized enveloping algebra U_q(n) and a Poisson structure on S(n). Remarkably, for the pair (g, (g^sigma)^v)=(so_{2n+2},sp_{2n}), the algebra U_q(n) admits an action of the Artin braid group Br_n a…
