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Topological quantum field theory

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A twisted version of four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory is formulated. The model, which refines a nonrelativistic treatment by Atiyah, appears to underlie many recent developments in topology of low dimensional manifolds; the Donaldson polynomial invariants of four manifolds and the Floer groups of three manifolds appear naturally. The model may also be interesting from a physical viewpoint; it is in a sense a generally covariant quantum field theory, albeit one in which general covariance is unbroken, there are no gravitons, and the only excitations are topological.

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Communicated by A. Jaffe

On leave from Department of Physics, Princeton University. Research supported in part by NSF Grants No. 80-19754, 86-16129, 86-20266

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Witten, E. Topological quantum field theory. Commun.Math. Phys. 117, 353–386 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01223371

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