Talk:Topological quantum field theory

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Contents 1 Removed most of a paragraph 2 referable literature required 3 strange classification 4 references for fixed spacetime

[edit] Removed most of a paragraph

"Physically speaking, topological field theories are not especially interesting. They are toy models, far simpler in structure than the quantum field theories which describe real-world physics. They can be thought of as warm-up exercises for the much harder task of quantizing gravity. Quantum gravity is believed to be background-independent (in some suitable sense), and TQFTs provide examples of background independent quantum field theories. Unfortunately, they are only background independent in a fairly trivial sense: they are independent of the spacetime metric (thought of as a background gravitational field), but they do not admit any local degrees of freedom. There is no radiation in a TQFT: no propagating waves, no gluons, no gravitons."

• Implying that TQFTs don't "describe real-world physics" is inconsistent with the preceding paragraph.
• "There is no radiation in a TQFT: no propagating waves, no gluons, no gravitons" conflicts with what I've seen elsewhere.

I'm assuming that there's a confusion here, and editing accordingly. 75.62.3.41 08:03, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] referable literature required

Quite impressing introduction. Even though I think the emphasize on a metric background is a bit strong (p.ex. metric independent, many TQFTs don't need a metric at all).

Can you give references of good introductions/ overviews. A review article would be nice. [melli]146.186.134.176 (talk) 00:56, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] strange classification

Even though I have already seen this classification in physics, I don't understand where typical topological sigma-models fit into it, p.ex. Poisson sigma model ([hep-th/9405110]), Courant sigma model ([hep-th/0608150]) or Dirac sigma model ([hep-th/0411112]).

[melli]146.186.134.176 (talk) 01:11, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] references for fixed spacetime

I am curious for some references on this section on fixed spacetime, i just saw a fantastic talk on the topic and am interested in reading more, i am interested in where this info is from, also in general having more references would be greatm perhaps a recommended reading? Sean, a student 21:42, 7 April 2008 (UTC)