HEP Seminar: Vivek Saxena, NHETC, Rutgers University
Higher-Form Fields and Gauss Laws
Event Details:
- Date: Monday, April 27, 2026
- Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM
- Location: 4138 Physics Research Building
Abstract
In gauge theories with Chern–Simons interactions, the Gauss law implies that physical states are not ordinary functions on the space of fields, but sections of a nontrivial line bundle. Gauge equivalence classes of higher-form fields are naturally described using differential cohomology, which I will briefly introduce. Closely analogous structures govern the properly quantized Chern–Simons term for the C-field in M-theory (more precisely, in eleven-dimensional supergravity). In this setting, the Gauss law requires a nontrivial lifting of gauge transformations, naturally described in the language of differential cohomology.
I will explain how this perspective leads, in AdS/CFT, to a formulation of the M-theory partition function in terms of conformal blocks of the six-dimensional (2,0) theory, and reveals a previously overlooked dependence on the spacetime metric. Time permitting, I will also comment on a subtle refinement of Abelian p-form dualities arising from this viewpoint. This talk is based on joint work in progress with G. W. Moore.