International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics

We give an explicit operator realization of Dirac quantization of free particle motion on a surface of codimension 1. It is shown that the Dirac recipe is ambiguous and a natural way of fixing this problem is proposed. We also introduce a modification of Dirac procedure which yields zero quantum potential. Some problems of Abelian conversion quantization are pointed out.

Let M be either a projective manifold (M, Π) or a pseudo-Riemannian manifold (M, g). We extend, intrinsically, the projective/conformal Schwarzian derivatives we have introduced recently, to the space of differential operators acting on symmetric contravariant tensor fields of any degree on M. As operators, we show that the projective/conformal Schwarzian derivatives depend only on the projective connection Π and the conformal class of the metric [g], respectively. Furthermore, we compute the first cohomology group of Vect(M) with coefficients in the space of symmetric contravariant tensor fields valued in the space of δ-densities, and we compute the corresponding sl(n + 1, ℝ)-relative cohomology group.

We investigate the problem of symmetry breaking in the framework of dynamical systems with symmetry on a smooth manifold. Two cases will be analyzed: general and Hamiltonian dynamical systems. We give sufficient conditions for symmetry breaking in both cases.

We start by analyzing the Lie algebra of Hermitian vector fields of a Hermitian line bundle. Then, we specify the base space of the above bundle by considering a Galilei, or an Einstein spacetime. Namely, in the first case, we consider, a fibred manifold over absolute time equipped with a spacelike Riemannian metric, a spacetime connection (preserving the time fibring and the spacelike metric) and an electromagnetic field. In the second case, we consider a spacetime equipped with a Lorentzian metric and an electromagnetic field. In both cases, we exhibit a natural Lie algebra of special phase functions and show that the Lie algebra of Hermitian vector fields turns out to be naturally isomorphic to the Lie algebra of special phase functions. Eventually, we compare the Galilei and Einstein cases.

We investigate the covariant formulation of Chern–Simons theories in a general odd dimension which can be obtained by introducing a vacuum connection field as a reference. Field equations, Nöther currents and superpotentials are computed so that results are easily compared with the well-known results in dimension 3. Finally we use this covariant formulation of Chern–Simons theories to investigate their relation with topological BF theories.

An intrinsic description of the Hamilton–Cartan formalism for first-order Berezinian variational problems determined by a submersion of supermanifolds is given. This is achieved by studying the associated higher-order graded variational problem through the Poincaré–Cartan form. Noether theorem and examples from superfield theory and supermechanics are also discussed.