Topological strings, twistors, and Skyrmions

Abstract: It has long been known that holomorphic field theories on twistor space lead to "physical" field theories on Minkowski space. In this talk I will discuss a type I (unoriented) version of the topological B model on twistor space. The corresponding theory on Minkowski space is a sigma-model with target the group SO(8). This is a variant of the Skyrme model that appears as the low-energy effective theory of mesons in QCD. (The group SO(8) appears because of the Green-Schwarz mechanism in the topological string). The origin of this model in the topological string implies many remarkable properties. For one thing, the model is, in a certain sense, integrable. Further, although the Lagrangian is power-counting non-renormalizable, counter-terms at all loops can be uniquely fixed.

differential geometrymetric geometry

Audience: researchers in the discipline

Western Hemisphere colloquium on geometry and physics

Series comments: Description: Biweekly colloquium of geometers and physicists

This weekly online colloquium features geometers and physicists presenting current research on a wide range of topics in the interface of the two fields. The talks are aimed at a broad audience. They will take place via Zoom on alternate Mondays at 3pm Eastern, noon Pacific, 4pm BRT. Each session features a 60 minute talk, followed by 15 minutes for questions and discussion. You may join the meeting 15 minutes in advance. Questions and comments may be submitted to the moderator via the chat interface during the talk, or presented in person during the Q&A session. These colloquia will be recorded and will be available (linked from the website) asap after the event.