We enumerate the singular algebraic curves in a complete linear system on a smooth projective surface. The system must be suitably ample in a rather precise sense. The curves may have up to eight nodes, or a triple point of a given type and up to three nodes. The curves must also pass through appropriately many general points. The number of curves is given by a universal polynomial in four basi...

The commutation relations of the composite fields are studied in the 3, 2 and 1 space dimensions. It is shown that the field of an atom consisting of a nucleus and an electron fields satisfies, in the space-like asymptotic limit, the canonical commutation relations within the sub-Fock-space of the atom. The field-particle duality in the bound state is discussed from the statistics point of view...

The dichotomy between fermions and bosons is at the root of many physical phenomena, from metallic conduction of electricity to super-fluidity, and from the periodic table to coherent propagation of light. The dichotomy originates from the symmetry of the quantum mechanical wave function to the interchange of two identical particles. In systems that are confined to two spatial dimensions partic...

These notes are based on lectures at the PSSCMP/PiTP summer school that was held at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study in July, 2015. They are devoted largely to topological phases of matter that can be understood in terms of free fermions and band theory. They also contain an introduction to the fractional quantum Hall effect from the point of view of effective field the...

The dephasing rate of an electron level in a quantum dot, placed next to a fluctuating edge current in the fractional quantum Hall effect, is considered. Using perturbation theory, we first show that this rate has an anomalous dependence on the bias voltage applied to the neighboring quantum point contact, because of the Luttinger liquid physics which describes the fractional Hall fluid. Next, ...