Self-Dual Chern-Simons Theories [Paperback]

Self-duality greatly reduces the mathematical difficulties of a theory but it is also a notion of considerable physical significance. The new class of self-dual Chern-Simons theories discussed in detail in this book arise in the context of anyonic quantum field theory and have applications to models such as the quantum Hall effect, anyonic superconductivity, and Aharonov-Bohm scattering. There are also interesting connections with the theory of integrable models. The author presents the abelian and non-abelian models for relativistic and non-relativistic realizations of the self-dual Chern-Simons theories and finishes with some applications in quantum physics. The book is written for advanced students and researchers in mathematical, particle, and condensed matter physics.Self-duality greatly reduces the mathematical difficulties of a theory but it is also a notion of considerable physical significance. The new class of self-dual Chern-Simons theories discussed in detail in this book arise in the context of anyonic quantum field theory and have applications to models such as the quantum Hall effect, anyonic superconductivity, and Aharonov-Bohm scattering. There are also interesting connections with the theory of integrable models. The author presents the abelian and non-abelian models for relativistic and non-relativistic realizations of the self-dual Chern-Simons theories and finishes with some applications in quantum physics. The book is written for advanced students and researchers in mathematical, particle, and condensed matter physics.Abelian Nonrelativistic Model.- Nonabelian Nonrelativistic Model.- Abelian Relativistic Model.- Nonabelian Relativistic Model.- Quantum Aspects.Self-dual Chern-Simons theories form a new class of self-dual gauge theories and provide a field theoretical formulation of anyonic excitations in planar (i.e., two-space-dimensional) systems. Much of the recent attention of these theories is due to the surprising and novel ways in which tlSI