2005/06/28 by P. O. Kazinski, S. L. Lyakhovich, Alexey Sharapov +1 · 1 citation
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Topics in Algebra #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Homotopy and Cohomology in Algebraic Topology #hep-th #math.QA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2005/07/076
published as JHEP 0507 (2005) 076 · Minor corrections, format changed, 40 pages
arxiv created 2005/06/28 · openalex publication_date 2005/07/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A path-integral quantization method is proposed for dynamical systems whose classical equations of motion do not necessarily follow from the action principle. The key new notion behind this quantization scheme is the Lagrange structure which is more general than the Lagrangian formalism in the same sense as Poisson geometry is more general than the symplectic one. The Lagrange structure is shown to admit a natural BRST description which is used to construct an AKSZ-type topological sigma-model. The dynamics of this sigma-model in d+1 dimensions, being localized on the boundary, are proved to be equivalent to the original theory in d dimensions. As the topological sigma-model has a well defined action, it is path-integral quantized in the usual way that results in quantization of the original (not necessarily Lagrangian) theory. When the original equations of motion come from the action principle, the standard BV path-integral is explicitly deduced from the proposed quantization scheme. The general quantization scheme is exemplified by several models including the ones whose classical dynamics are not variational.