V. Drinfeld proposed conjectures on geometric Langlands correspondence and its quantum deformation. We refine these conjectures and propose their relationship with algebraic conformal field theory.
We prove duality isomorphisms of certain representations of W-algebras which play an essential role in the quantum geometric Langlands Program and some related results.
We show that (quantum) D-modules of Givental type on affine flag varieties are transformed to D-modules of Beilinson-Drinfeld type on $n$-reduced Sato Grassmannians via affine Miura transformation.
Montonen-Olive duality implies that the categories of A-branes on the moduli spaces of Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface C for a pair of Langlands-dual groups are equivalent. We reformulate this as a statement about categories of B-branes on the quantized moduli spaces of flat connections for these groups. We show that it implies the statement of the Quantum Geometric Langlands duality with a purely imaginary ``quantum parameter'' which is proportional to the inverse of the Planck constant of the gauge theory. The ramified version of the story is also considered.
A special case of the geometric Langlands correspondence is given by the relationship between solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations for the Gaudin model and opers - connections on the projective line with extra structure. In this paper, we describe a deformation of this correspondence for $SL(N)$. We introduce a difference equation version of opers called $q$-opers and prove a $q$-Langlands correspondence between nondegenerate solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations for the XXZ model and nondegenerate twisted $q$-opers with regular singularities on the projective line. We show that the quant…
The Langlands Program was launched in the late 60s with the goal of relating Galois representations and automorphic forms. In recent years a geometric version has been developed which leads to a mysterious duality between certain categories of sheaves on moduli spaces of (flat) bundles on algebraic curves. Three years ago, in a groundbreaking advance, Kapustin and Witten have linked the geometric Langlands correspondence to the S-duality of 4D supersymmetric gauge theories. This and subsequent works have already led to striking new insights into the geometric Langlands Program, which in partic…
An intrinsic construction of the tensor category of finite dimensional representations of the Langlands dual group of G in terms of a tensor category of perverse sheaves on the loop group, LG, is given. The construction is applied to the study of the topology of the affine Grassmannian of G and to establishing a Langlands type correspondence for "automorphic" sheaves on the moduli space of G-bundles.
By normalizing the space of commuting pairs of elements in a reductive Lie group G, and the corresponding space for the Langlands dual group, we construct pairs of hyperkahler orbifolds which satisfy the conditions to be mirror partners in the sense of Strominger-Yau-Zaslow. The same holds true for commuting quadruples in a compact Lie group. The Hodge numbers of the mirror partners, or more precisely their orbifold E-polynomials, are shown to agree, as predicted by mirror symmetry. These polynomials are explicitly calculated when G is a quotient of SL(n).
These lecture notes give an overview of recent results in geometric Langlands correspondence which may yield applications to quantum field theory. We start with a motivated introduction to the Langlands Program, including its geometric reformulation, addressed primarily to physicists. I tried to make it as self-contained as possible, requiring very little mathematical background. Next, we describe the connections between the Langlands Program and two-dimensional conformal field theory that have been found in the last few years. These connections give us important insights into the physical imp…
We study the moduli spaces of flat SL(r)- and PGL(r)-connections, or equivalently, Higgs bundles, on an algebraic curve. These spaces are noncompact Calabi-Yau orbifolds; we show that they can be regarded as mirror partners in two different senses. First, they satisfy the requirements laid down by Strominger-Yau-Zaslow (SYZ), in a suitably general sense involving a B-field or flat unitary gerbe. To show this, we use their hyperkahler structures and Hitchin's integrable systems. Second, their Hodge numbers, again in a suitably general sense, are equal. These spaces provide significant evidence …
We introduce the space of parameters for the metaplectic Langlands theory as *factorization gerbes* on the affine Grassmannian, and develop metaplectic Langlands duality in the incarnation of the metaplectic geometric Satake functor. We formulate a conjecture in the context of the global metaplectic Langlands theory, which is a metaplectic version of the "vanishing theorem" of ref. Ga5 (Theorem 4.5.2 in loc. cit.)
We first demonstrate how duality for the fibres of the so-called Hitchin fibration works for the Langlands dual groups Sp(2m) and SO(2m+1). We then show that duality for G2 is implemented by an involution on the base space which takes one fibre to its dual. A formula for the natural cubic form is given and shown to be invariant under the involution.
We review various aspects of representation theory of affine algebras at the critical level, geometric Langlands correspondence, and Bethe ansatz in the Gaudin models. Geometric Langlands correspondence relates D-modules on the moduli space of G-bundles on a complex curve X and flat G^L-bundles on X. Beilinson and Drinfeld construct it by applying a localization functor to representations of affine algebras of critical level. We show that in genus zero the corresponding D-modules are closely related to the diagonalization problem in the Gaudin model associated to G. This allows us to give a ne…
We study surface and line operators in the GL-twisted N=4 gauge theory in four dimensions. Their properties depend on the parameter t which determines the BRST operator of theory. For t=i we propose a complete description of the 2-category of surface operators in terms of module categories. We also determine the monoidal category of line operators which includes Wilson lines as special objects. For t=1 and t=0 we only discuss surface and line operators in the abelian case. Applications to the categorification of the local geometric Langlands duality and its quantum version are briefly describe…
We formulate a two-parameter generalization of the geometric Langlands correspondence, which we prove for all simply-laced Lie algebras. It identifies the q-conformal blocks of the quantum affine algebra and the deformed W-algebra associated to two Langlands dual Lie algebras. Our proof relies on recent results in quantum K-theory of the Nakajima quiver varieties. The physical origin of the correspondence is the 6d little string theory. The quantum Langlands correspondence emerges in the limit in which the 6d string theory becomes the 6d conformal field theory with (2,0) supersymmetry.
We consider the problem of quantization of classical soliton integrable systems, such as the KdV hierarchy, in the framework of a general formalism of Gaudin models associated to affine Kac--Moody algebras. Our experience with the Gaudin models associated to finite-dimensional simple Lie algebras suggests that the common eigenvalues of the mutually commuting quantum Hamiltonians in a model associated to an affine algebra should be encoded by affine opers associated to the Langlands dual affine algebra. This leads us to some concrete predictions for the spectra of the quantum Hamiltonians of th…
The category of perverse sheaves on the affine Grassmannian of a complex reductive group $G$ gives a canonical geometric construction of the split form of the Langlands dual group $\check G_\bZ$ over the integers. Given a field $k$, we give a Tannakian construction of the quasi-split forms of $\check G_k$, as well as a construction of the gerbe associated to an inner form of $\check G_k$.
Given a compact Riemann surface $X$ and a complex reductive Lie group $G$ equipped with real structures, we define antiholomorphic involutions on the moduli space of $G$-Higgs bundles over $X$. We investigate how the various components of the fixed point locus match up, as one passes from $G$ to its Langlands dual $^LG$. Special attention is given to the case $G=SL(2,\C)$ and $^LG=PGL(2,\C)$.
We review and extend the vertex algebra framework linking gauge theory constructions and a quantum deformation of the Geometric Langlands Program. The relevant vertex algebras are associated to junctions of two boundary conditions in a 4d gauge theory and can be constructed from the basic ones by following certain standard procedures. Conformal blocks of modules over these vertex algebras give rise to twisted D-modules on the moduli stacks of G-bundles on Riemann surfaces which have applications to the Langlands Program. In particular, we construct a series of vertex algebras for every simple …
In [Rie08], the second author defined a Landau-Ginzburg model for homogeneous spaces G/P, as a regular function on an affine subvariety of the Langlands dual group. In this paper, we reformulate this LG-model (X^,W_t) in the case of the Lagrangian Grassmannian LG(m) as a rational function on a Langlands dual orthogonal Grassmannian, in the spirit of work by R. Marsh and the second author [MR12] for type A Grassmannians. This LG model has some very interesting features, which are not visible in the type A case, to do with the non-triviality of Langlands duality. We also formulate a conjecture r…
We give a generic spectral decomposition of the derived category of twisted D-modules on a moduli stack of mirabolic vector bundles on a curve X in characteristic p: that is, we construct an equivalence with the derived category of quasi-coherent sheaves on a moduli stack of mirabolic local systems on X. This equivalence may be understood as a tamely ramified form of the geometric Langlands equivalence. When X has genus 1, this equivalence generically solves (in the sense of noncommutative geometry) the quantum Calogero-Moser system.
We show that the Hitchin integrable system for a simple complex Lie group $G$ is dual to the Hitchin system for the Langlands dual group $\lan{G}$. In particular, the general fiber of the connected component $\Higgs_0$ of the Hitchin system for $G$ is an abelian variety which is dual to the corresponding fiber of the connected component of the Hitchin system for $\lan{G}$. The non-neutral connected components $\Higgs_α$ form torsors over $\Higgs_0$. We show that their duals are gerbes over $\Higgs_0$ which are induced by the gerbe of $G$-Higgs bundles $\gHiggs$. More generally, we establish a …
In Part I, we extend our analysis in [arXiv:0807.1107], and show that a mathematically conjectured geometric Langlands duality for complex surfaces in [1], and its generalizations -- which relate some cohomology of the moduli space of certain ("ramified") G-instantons to the integrable representations of the Langlands dual of certain affine (sub) G-algebras, where G is any compact Lie group -- can be derived, purely physically, from the principle that the spacetime BPS spectra of string-dual M-theory compactifications ought to be equivalent. In Part II, to the setup in Part I, we introduce Ome…
A recent attempt to extend the geometric Langlands duality to affine Kac-Moody groups, has led Braverman and Finkelberg [arXiv:0711.2083] to conjecture a mathematical relation between the intersection cohomology of the moduli space of G-bundles on certain singular complex surfaces, and the integrable representations of the Langlands dual of an associated affine G-algebra, where G is any simply-connected semisimple group. For the A-type groups, where the conjecture has been mathematically verified to a large extent, we show that the relation has a natural physical interpretation in terms of six…
In this paper we give a geometric version of the Satake isomorphism. Given a connected complex reductive algebraic group, we show that the category of representations of its Langlands dual is naturally equivalent to a certain category of perverse sheaves on the complex affine Grassmannian. We can work with perverse sheaves with coefficients in an arbitrary commutative ring and then we recover the representation theory of the split form of the dual group over the commutative ring.
We prove a system of relations in the Grothendieck ring of the category O of representations of the Borel subalgebra of an untwisted quantum affine algebra U_q(g^) introduced in [HJ]. This system was discovered in [MRV1, MRV2], where it was shown that solutions of this system can be attached to certain affine opers for the Langlands dual affine Kac-Moody algebra of g^, introduced in [FF5]. Together with the results of [BLZ3, BHK], which enable one to associate quantum g^-KdV Hamiltonians to representations from the category O, this provides strong evidence for the conjecture of [FF5] linking t…
Topological-Holomorphic ${\mathcal N} =4$ Gauge Theory: From Langlands Duality of Holomorphic Invariants to Mirror Symmetry of Quasi-topological Strings
We prove three new results about the global Springer action defined in \cite{GSI}. The first one determines the support of the perverse cohomology sheaves of the parabolic Hitchin complex, which serves as a technical tool for the next results. The second one (the Endoscopic Decomposition Theorem) links certain direct summands of the parabolic Hitchin complex of $G$ to the endoscopic groups of $G$. This result generalizes Ngô's geometric stabilization of the trace formula in \cite{NgoFL}. The third result links the stable parts of the parabolic Hitchin complexes for Langlands dual groups, and e…
We further explore the implications of our framework in [arXiv:1301.1977, arXiv:1309.4775], and physically derive, from the principle that the spacetime BPS spectra of string-dual M-theory compactifications ought to be equivalent, (i) a 5d AGT correspondence for any compact Lie group, (ii) a 5d and 6d AGT correspondence on ALE space of type ADE, and (iii) identities between the ordinary, q-deformed and elliptic affine W-algebras associated with the 4d, 5d and 6d AGT correspondence, respectively, which also define a quantum geometric Langlands duality and its higher analogs formulated by Feigin…
Let G be a connected reductive complex algebraic group. This paper is devoted to the space Z of meromorphic quasimaps from a curve into an affine spherical G-variety X. The space Z may be thought of as an algebraic model for the loop space of X. In this paper, we associate to X a connected reductive complex algebraic subgroup $\check H$ of the dual group $\check G$. The construction of $\check H$ is via Tannakian formalism: we identify a certain tensor category Q(Z) of perverse sheaves on Z with the category of finite-dimensional representations of $\check H$. Combinatorial shadows of the grou…
This is an expanded version of the text ``Perverse Sheaves on Loop Grassmannians and Langlands Duality'', AG/9703010. The main new result is a topological realization of algebraic representations of reductive groups over arbitrary rings. We outline a proof of a geometric version of the Satake isomorphism. Given a connected, complex algebraic reductive group G we show that the tensor category of representations of the Langlands dual group is naturally equivalent to a certain category of perverse sheaves on the loop Grassmannian of G. The above result has been announced by Ginsburg in and some o…
The global geometric Langlands correspondence relates Hecke eigensheaves on the moduli stack of G-bundles on a smooth projective algebraic curve X and holomorphic G'-bundles with connection on X, where G' is the Langlands dual group of G. This correspondence is relatively well understood when the connection has no singularities, i.e., is unramified. But what should happen if the connection has singularities, or ramification, at finitely many points of X? In this case we expect to attach to it a category of Hecke eigensheaves on a suitable moduli stack of G-bundles on X with parabolic (or level…
We outline a proof of a geometric version of the Satake isomorphism. Given a connected, complex algebraic reductive group G we show that the tensor category of representations of the dual group $\check G$ is naturally equivalent to a certain category of perverse sheaves on the loop Grassmannian of G. The above result has been announced by Ginsburg in \cite{G} and some of the arguments are borrowed from \cite{G}. However, we use a more "natural" commutativity constraint for the convolution product, due to Drinfeld. Secondly, we give a direct geometric proof that the global cohomology functor is…
In the setting of the geometric Langlands conjecture, we argue that the phenomenon of divergence at infinity on Bun_G (that is, the difference between $!$-extensions and $*$-extensions) is controlled, Langlands-dually, by the locus of semisimple $\check{G}$-local systems. To see this, we first rephrase the question in terms of Deligne-Lusztig duality and then study the Deligne-Lusztig functor DL_G^\spec acting on the spectral Langlands DG category IndCoh_N(LS_G). We prove that DL_G^\spec is the projection IndCoh_N(LS_G) \to QCoh(LS_G), followed by the action of a coherent D-module St_G which w…
We present a gauge-theoretic interpretation of the "analytic" version of the geometric Langlands program, in which Hitchin Hamiltonians and Hecke operators are viewed as concrete operators acting on a Hilbert space of quantum states. The gauge theory ingredients required to understand this construction -- such as electric-magnetic duality between Wilson and 't Hooft line operators in four-dimensional gauge theory -- are the same ones that enter in understanding via gauge theory the more familiar formulation of geometric Langlands, but now these ingredients are organized and applied in a novel …
This is a survey of results and conjectures on mirror symmetry phenomena in the non-Abelian Hodge theory of a curve. We start with the conjecture of Hausel-Thaddeus which claims that certain Hodge numbers of moduli spaces of flat SL(n,C) and PGL(n,C)-connections on a smooth projective algebraic curve agree. We then change our point of view in the non-Abelian Hodge theory of the curve, and concentrate on the SL(n,C) and PGL(n,C) character varieties of the curve. Here we discuss a recent conjecture of Hausel-Rodriguez-Villegas which claims, analogously to the above conjecture, that certain Hodge…
We study the two-dimensional twisted (0,2) sigma-model on various smooth complex flag manifolds G/B, and explore its relevance to the geometric Langlands program. We find that an equivalence - at the level of the holomorphic chiral algebra - between a bosonic string on G/B and a B-gauged version of itself on G, will imply an isomorphism of classical W-algebras and a level relation which underlie a geometric Langlands correspondence for G=SL(N,C). This furnishes an alternative physical interpretation of the geometric Langlands correspondence for G=SL(N,C), to that demonstrated earlier by Kapust…
In 1967, Langlands conjectured a natural correspondence between automorphic representations and Galois representations, over number fields as well as over function fields. In 1983, Drinfeld discovered a geometric analog of the Langlands correspondence in the function field case, which extends the geometric class field theory of Lang and Rosenlicht. The so called Drinfeld-Langlands correspondence is a conjectural duality between two moduli spaces that are naturally associated to an algebraic curve X and a reductive group G. When X is projective and G is the full linear group GL(n), a large part…
We generalise the analysis carried out in [arXiv:0710.5796], and find that our previous results can be extended beyond the case of SL(N,C). In particular, we show that an equivalence--at the level of the holomorphic chiral algebra--between a bosonic string on a smooth coset manifold G/B and a B-gauged version of itself on G, will imply an isomorphism of classical W-algebras and a level relation which underlie a geometric Langlands correspondence for the simply-laced, complex ADE-groups. In addition, as opposed to line operators and branes of an open topological sigma-model, the Hecke operators…
Recently we propose a class of infinite-dimensional integral representations of classical gl(n+1)-Whittaker functions and local Archimedean local L-factors using two-dimensional topological field theory framework. The local Archimedean Langlands duality was identified in this setting with the mirror symmetry of the underlying topological field theories. In this note we introduce elementary analogs of the Whittaker functions and the Archimedean L-factors given by U(n+1)-equivariant symplectic volumes of appropriate Kahler U(n+1)-manifolds. We demonstrate that the functions thus defined have a d…
We construct and study a closed, two-dimensional, quasi-topological (0,2) gauged sigma model with target space a smooth G-manifold, where G is any compact and connected Lie group. When the target space is a flag manifold of simple G, and the gauge group is a Cartan subgroup thereof, the perturbative model describes, purely physically, the recently formulated mathematical theory of "Twisted Chiral Differential Operators". This paves the way, via a generalized T-duality, for a natural physical interpretation of the geometric Langlands correspondence for simply-connected, simple, complex Lie grou…
We reprove the theorem of Feigin and Frenkel relating the center of the critical level enveloping algebra of the Kac-Moody algebra for a semisimple Lie algebra to opers (which are certain de Rham local systems with extra structure) for the Langlands dual group. Our proof incorporates a construction of Beilinson and Drinfeld relating the Feigin-Frenkel isomorphism to (more classical) Langlands duality through the geometric Satake theorem.