A self-contained study of monopole configurations of pure Yang-Mills theories and a discussion of their charges is carried out in the language of principal bundles. A $n$-dimensional monopole over the sphere $\mathbb{S}^{n}$ is a particular type of principal connection on a principal bundle over a symmetric space $K/H$ which is $K$-invariant, where $K=SO(n+1)$ and $H=SO(n)$. It is shown that principal bundles over symmetric spaces admit a unique $K$-invariant principal connection called canonical, which also satisfy ...

Starting with an indecomposable Poincare module M_0 induced from a given irreducible Lorentz module we construct a free Poincare invariant gauge theory defined on the Minkowski space. The space of its gauge inequivalent solutions coincides with (in general, is closely related to) the starting point module M_0. We show that for a class of indecomposable Poincare modules the resulting theory is a Lagrangian gauge theory of the mixed-symmetry higher spin fields. The procedure is based ...

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 ...

We review the usual account of the phenomena of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB), pointing out the common misunderstandings surrounding the issue, in particular within the context of quantum field theory. In fact, the common explanations one finds in this context, indicate that under certain conditions corresponding to the situation called SSB, the vacuum of the theory does not share the symmetries of the Lagrangian. We explain in detail why this statement is incorrect in general, ...

We define new invariants of 3d Calabi-Yau categories endowed with a stability structure. Intuitively, they count the number of semistable objects with fixed class in the K-theory of the category ("number of BPS states with given charge" in physics language). Formally, our motivic DT-invariants are elements of quantum tori over a version of the Grothendieck ring of varieties over the ground field. Via the quasi-classical limit "as the motive of affine line approaches to 1" ...

In arXiv:hep-th/0310113 we started a program of creating a reference-book on matrix-model tau-functions, the new generation of special functions, which are going to play an important role in string theory calculations. The main focus of that paper was on the one-matrix Hermitian model tau-functions. The present paper is devoted to a direct counterpart for the Kontsevich and Generalized Kontsevich Model (GKM) tau-functions. We mostly focus on calculating resolvents (=loop operator averages) in the Kontsevich model, ...

We give a general procedure to construct algebro-geometric Feynman rules, that is, characters of the Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebra of Feynman graphs that factor through a Grothendieck ring of immersed conical varieties, via the class of the complement of the affine graph hypersurface. In particular, this maps to the usual Grothendieck ring of varieties, defining motivic Feynman rules. We also construct an algebro-geometric Feynman rule with values in a polynomial ring, which does not factor through ...

We present a family of nonrelativistic Yang-Mills gauge theories in D+1 dimensions whose free-field limit exhibits quantum critical behavior with gapless excitations and dynamical critical exponent z=2. The ground state wavefunction is intimately related to the partition function of relativistic Yang-Mills in D dimensions. The gauge couplings exhibit logarithmic scaling and asymptotic freedom in the upper critical spacetime dimension, equal to 4+1. The theories can be deformed in the infrared by a relevant operator that ...

By application of the general twist-induced star-deformation procedure we translate second quantization of a system of bosons/fermions on a symmetric spacetime in a non-commutative language. The procedure deforms in a coordinated way the spacetime algebra and its symmetries, the wave-mechanical description of a system of n bosons/fermions, the algebra of creation and annihilation operators and also the commutation relations of the latter with functions of spacetime; our key requirement is the mode-decomposition independence of the ...

This is a paper compiled by students of the 2008 Summer School on Particles, Fields, and Strings held at the University of British Columbia on lectures given by Veronika Hubeny as understood and interpreted by the authors. We start with an introduction to the AdS/CFT duality. More specifically, we discuss the correspondence between relativistic, conformal hydrodynamics and Einstein's theory of gravity. Within our framework the Einstein equations are an effective description for the string theory ...

This is the first of a series of papers in which we present a brief introduction to the relevant mathematical and physical ideas that form the foundation of Particle Physics, including Group Theory, Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Field Theory and Interactions, Abelian and Non-Abelian Gauge Theory, and the SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) Gauge Theory that describes our universe apart from gravity. These notes are not intended to be a comprehensive introduction to any of the ideas contained in ...

This is a summary talk covering recent progress in perturbative methods for gauge theories and gravity, applications of AdS/CFT duality, vacuum energy, and string theory models of particle physics and cosmology.

In this article we continue our study of chiral fermions on a quantum curve. This system is embedded in string theory as an I-brane configuration, which consists of D4 and D6-branes intersecting along a holomorphic curve in a complex surface, together with a B-field. Mathematically, it is described by a holonomic D-module. Here we focus on spectral curves, which play a prominant role in the theory of (quantum) integrable hierarchies. We show how to associate ...

In quantum field theory the path integral is usually formulated in the wave picture, i.e., as a sum over field evolutions. This path integral is difficult to define rigorously because of analytic problems whose resolution may ultimately require knowledge of non-perturbative or even Planck scale physics. Alternatively, QFT can be formulated directly in the particle picture, namely as a sum over all multi-particle paths, i.e., over Feynman graphs. This path integral is well-defined, as a ...

We present a nontechnical review of the current understanding of the phenomenon of color confinement. The emphasis is put on recent advances., This is a combined and slightly expanded version of talks delivered at 14th International QCD Conference "QCD 08," 7-12th July 2008, Montpellier, France, the International Conference "Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum," Mainz, Germany, September 1-6, 2008 (Confinement 08), and the International Conference "Approaches to Quantum Chromodynamics," Oberwoelz, Austria, September 7-13, 2008.