Abstract
There are very few explicit evaluations of path integrals for topological gauge theories in more than 3 dimensions. Here we provide such a calculation for the path integral representation of the Ray-Singer Torsion of a flat connection on a vector bundle on base manifolds that are themselves S1 bundles of any dimension. The calculation relies on a suitable algebraic choice of gauge which leads to a convenient factorisation of the path integral into horizontal and vertical parts.
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Acknowledgments
M. Kakona thanks the External Activities Unit of the ICTP for a Ph.D. grant at EAIFR in the University of Rwanda and the HECAP group at the ICTP for supporting this work. The work of M. Blau is supported by the NCCR SwissMAP (The Mathematics of Physics) of the Swiss Science Foundation.
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Blau, M., Kakona, M. & Thompson, G. On the evaluation of the Ray-Singer torsion path integral. J. High Energ. Phys. 2024, 65 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2024)065
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2024)065