Thursday, January 20, 2011

Witten's physical view about Khovanov homology translated to TGD framework

Khovanov homology generalizes the Jones polynomial as knot invariant. The challenge is to find a quantum physical construction of Khovanov homology analous to the topological QFT defined by Chern-Simons action allowing to interpret Jones polynomial as vacuum expectation value of Wilson loop in non-Abelian gauge theory.

Witten's approach to Khovanov homology relies on fivebranes as is natural if one tries to define 2-knot invariants in terms of their cobordisms involving violent un-knottings. Despite the difference in approaches it is very useful to try to find the counterparts of this approach in quantum TGD since this would allow to gain new insights to quantum TGD itself as almost topological QFT identified as symplectic theory for 2-knots, braids and braid cobordisms.

An essentially unique identification of string world sheets and therefore also of the braids whose ends carry quantum numbers of many particle states at partonic 2-surfaces emerges if one identifies the string word sheets as singular surfaces in the same manner as is done in Witten's approach. Even more, the conjectured slicings of preferred extremals by 3-D surfaces and string world sheets central for quantum TGD can be identified uniquely. The slicing by 3-surfaces would be interpreted in gauge theory in terms of Higgs= constant surfaces with radial coordinate of CP2 playing the role of Higgs. The slicing by string world sheets would be induced by different choices of U(2) subgroup of SU(3) leaving Higgs=constant surfaces invariant.

Also a physical interpretation of the operators Q, F, and P of Khovanov homology emerges. P would correspond to instanton number and F to the fermion number assignable to right handed neutrinos. The breaking of M4 chiral invariance makes possible to realize Q physically. The finding that the generalizations of Wilson loops can be identified in terms of the gerbe fluxes ∫ HA J supports the conjecture that TGD as almost topological QFT corresponds essentially to a symplectic theory for braids and 2-knots.

I do not bother to type the details but give a link to the article Could one generalize braid invariant defined by vacuum expectation of Wilson loop to an invariant of braid cobordisms and of 2-knots?. See also the new chapter Knots and TGD of "TGD: Physics as Infinite-Dimensional Geometry".

1 comment:

Elective Affinities said...

How I wish I could understand what you have written. I follow the rhtyhms of the words as I would surf the waves of an ocean, aware of deep beauty but unable to fathom it. How wonderful it must be to appreciate physics the way you do. How frustrating for the rest of us.