We review the Batalin-Tyutin approach of quantising second class systems which consists in enlarging the phase space to convert such systems into first class. The quantisation of first class systems, it may be mentioned, is already well founded. We show how the usual analysis of Batalin-Tyutin may be generalised, particularly if one is dealing with nonabelian theories. In order to gain a deeper...

We show that the Hochschild–Kostant–Rosenberg map from the space of multivector fields on a graded manifold N (endowed with a Berezinian volume) to the cohomology of the algebra of multidifferential operators on N (as a subalgebra of the Hochschild complex of C∞(N)) is an isomorphism of Batalin–Vilkovisky algebras. These results generalize to differential graded manifolds.

We present a worldline description of topological non-abelian BF theory in arbitrary space-time dimensions. It is shown that starting with a trivial classical action defined on the worldline, the BRST cohomology has a natural representation as the sum of the de Rham cohomology. Based on this observation, we construct a second-quantized action of the BF theory. Interestingly enough, this theory ...

We embed the O(N) nonlinear sigma model in a non-Abelian gauge theory. As a first class system, it is quantized using two different approaches: the functional Schrödinger method and the non-local field-antifield procedure. Firstly, the quantization is performed with the functional Schrödinger method, for N = 2, obtaining the wave functionals for the ground and excited states. In the second plac...

This paper gives a way to renormalise certain quantum field theories on compact manifolds. Examples include Yang-Mills theory (in dimension 4 only), Chern-Simons theory and holomorphic Chern-Simons theory. The method is within the framework of the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. Chern-Simons theory is renormalised in a way respecting all symmetries (up to homotopy). This yields an invariant of sm...