Connections in Geometry and Physics 2010

The study of D-branes at singular points of Calabi-Yau threefolds has revealed interesting connections between certain noncommutative algebras and singular algebraic varieties. In many respects, the choice of an appropriate noncommutative algebra is analogous to finding a resolution of singularities of the variety. We will explain this connection in detail, and outline a program for studying such ''noncommutative resolutions'' globally, for compact algebraic (Calabi--Yau) threefolds.

I will give an overview of recent work with Davide Gaiotto and Greg Moore. This work relates the phenomenon of ''wall-crossing'' for BPS states in four-dimensional N=2 theories to a new construction of hyperkahler metrics. These metrics include in particular the metrics on moduli spaces of solutions to Hitchin equations. I will also briefly describe some extensions of this work to incorporate line and surface operators in the N=2 theory (in progress).

In the past year, motivated by physics, a rich structure has emerged from studying certain contour integrals in Grassmannians. Physical considerations single out a natural meromorphic form in G(k,n) with a cyclic structure. The residues obtained from these contour integrals have been shown to be invariants of a Yangian algebra. These residues also control what happens deep inside collisions of protons taking place at colliders like the Large Hadron Collider or LHC at CERN. Applications of the Global Residue Theorem give rise to relations among residues which ensure important physical properties.

I'll give an introduction to twistor-string theory, which is an attempt to reformulate supersymmetric gauge theory in four-dimensional space-time in terms of a certain generalisation of Gromov-Witten theory in twistor space. The resulting theory is closely related to the multi-dimensional residue calculus in G(k,n) (introduced in Cachazo's talk).

I will discuss a hybrid between Chern-Simons and Rozansky-Witten models. In particular, Wilson loops in this topological field theory are objects of a quantum deformation of the equivariant derived category of coherent sheaves.

We show that the generating function of the equivariant (generalized) Donaldson invariants of ${\bf R}^2 X {\Sigma}$ is captured by the solution of a thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equation. Based on a joint work with S. Shatashvili.