1994/03/21 by Michael R. Douglas, Douglas, Michael R. · 1 citation
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #Geometric and Algebraic Topology #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Topological Materials and Phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/9403119
openalex publication_date 1994/03/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We reinterpret U(N) Chern-Simons-Witten theory quantized on a torus as a free fermion system. Its Hilbert space and some observables are simply related to those of group quantum mechanics, even at finite N and k. Its large N limit can be described using techniques developed for matrix quantum mechanics and two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. We discuss the bosonization of this theory, which for YM2 gave a precise interpretation of Wilson loop operators in terms of string creation and annihilation operators, and examine its consequences for a string interpretation here. The formalism seems entirely adequate for the leading large N results and in a sense can be thought of as a `classical string field theory'. In considering subleading orders in 1/N, we identify some major differences between CSW and YM2, which must be dealt with to find a CSW gauge string interpretation. Although these particular differences are probably not relevant for `QCD string,' they do illustrate some of the issues there, and we comment on this. We also propose an approach to dealing with large N transitions.