On the geometry of the spin-statistics connection in quantum mechanics

The Spin-Statistics theorem states that the statistics of a system of identical particles is determined by their spin: Particles of integer spin are Bosons (i.e. obey Bose-Einstein statistics), whereas particles of half-integer spin are Fermions (i.e. obey Fermi-Dirac statistics). Since the original proof by Fierz and Pauli, it has been known that the connection between Spin and Statistics follows from the general principles of relativistic Quantum Field Theory. In spite of this, there are different approaches to Spin-Statistics and it is not clear whether the theorem holds under assumptions that are different, and even less restrictive, than the usual ones (e.g. Lorentz-covariance). Additionally, in Quantum Mechanics there is a deep relation between indistinguishabilty and the geometry of the configuration space. This is clearly illustrated by Gibbs' paradox. Therefore, for many years efforts have been made in order to find a geometric proof of the connection between Spin and Statistics. Recently, various proposals have been put forward, in which an attempt is made to derive the Spin-Statistics connection from assumptions different from the ones used in the relativistic, quantum field theoretic proofs. Among these, there is the one due to Berry and Robbins (BR), based on the postulation of a certain single-valuedness condition, that has caused a renewed interest in the problem. In the present thesis, we consider the problem of indistinguishability in Quantum Mechanics from a geometric-algebraic point of view. An approach is developed to study configuration spaces Q having a finite fundamental group, that allows us to describe different geometric structures of Q in terms of spaces of functions on the universal cover of Q. In particular, it is shown that the space of complex continuous functions over the universal cover of Q admits a decomposition into C(Q)-submodules, labelled by the irreducible representations of the fundamental group of Q, that can be interpreted as the spaces of sections of certain flat vector bundles over Q. With this technique, various results pertaining to the problem of quantum indistinguishability are reproduced in a clear and systematic way. Our method is also used in order to give a global formulation of the BR construction. As a result of this analysis, it is found that the single-valuedness condition of BR is inconsistent. Additionally, a proposal aiming at establishing the Fermi-Bose alternative, within our approach, is made.

Algebraische Zyklen auf abelschen Varietäten der Dimension 4 mit Polarisierung von Typ (1,2,2,2)

Diese Arbeit besch"aftigt sich mit algebraischen Zyklen auf komplexen abelschen Variet"aten der Dimension 4. Ziel der Arbeit ist ein nicht-triviales Element in $Griff^{3,2}(A^4)$ zu konstruieren. Hier bezeichnet $A^4$ die emph{generische} abelsche Variet"at der Dimension 4 mit Polarisierung von Typ $(1,2,2,2)$. Die ersten drei Kapitel sind eine Wiederholung von elementaren Definitionen und Begriffen und daher eine Festlegung der Notation. In diesen erinnern wir an elementare Eigenschaften der von Saito definierten Filtrierungen $F_S$ und $Z$ auf den Chowgruppen (vgl. cite{Sa0} und cite{Sa}). Wir wiederholen auch eine Beziehung zwischen der $F_S$-Filtrierung und der Zerlegung von Beauville der Chowgruppen (vgl. cite{Be2} und cite{DeMu}), welche aus cite{Mu} stammt. Die wichtigsten Begriffe in diesem Teil sind die emph{h"ohere Griffiths' Gruppen} und die emph{infinitesimalen Invarianten h"oherer Ordnung}. Dann besch"aftigen wir uns mit emph{verallgemeinerten Prym-Variet"aten} bez"uglich $(2:1)$ "Uberlagerungen von Kurven. Wir geben ihre Konstruktion und wichtige geometrische Eigenschaften und berechnen den Typ ihrer Polarisierung. Kapitel ref{p-moduli} enth"alt ein Resultat aus cite{BCV} "uber die Dominanz der Abbildung $p(3,2):mathcal R(3,2)longrightarrow mathcal A_4(1,2,2,2)$. Dieses Resultat ist von Relevanz f"ur uns, weil es besagt, dass die generische abelsche Variet"at der Dimension 4 mit Polarisierung von Typ $(1,2,2,2)$ eine verallgemeinerte Prym-Variet"at bez"uglich eine $(2:1)$ "Uberlagerung einer Kurve vom Geschlecht $7$ "uber eine Kurve vom Geschlecht $3$ ist. Der zweite Teil der Dissertation ist die eigentliche Arbeit und ist auf folgende Weise strukturiert: Kapitel ref{Deg} enth"alt die Konstruktion der Degeneration von $A^4$. Das bedeutet, dass wir in diesem Kapitel eine Familie $Xlongrightarrow S$ von verallgemeinerten Prym-Variet"aten konstruieren, sodass die klassifizierende Abbildung $Slongrightarrow mathcal A_4(1,2,2,2)$ dominant ist. Desweiteren wird ein relativer Zykel $Y/S$ auf $X/S$ konstruiert zusammen mit einer Untervariet"at $Tsubset S$, sodass wir eine explizite Beschreibung der Einbettung $Yvert _Thookrightarrow Xvert _T$ angeben k"onnen. Das letzte und wichtigste Kapitel enth"ahlt Folgendes: Wir beweisen dass, die emph{ infinitesimale Invariante zweiter Ordnung} $delta _2(alpha)$ von $alpha$ nicht trivial ist. Hier bezeichnet $alpha$ die Komponente von $Y$ in $Ch^3_{(2)}(X/S)$ unter der Beauville-Zerlegung. Damit und mit Hilfe der Ergebnissen aus Kapitel ref{Cohm} k"onnen wir zeigen, dass [ 0neq [alpha ] in Griff ^{3,2}(X/S) . ] Wir k"onnen diese Aussage verfeinern und zeigen (vgl. Theorem ref{a4}) begin{theorem}label{maintheorem} F"ur $sin S$ generisch gilt [ 0neq [alpha _s ]in Griff ^{3,2}(A^4) , ] wobei $A^4$ die generische abelsche Variet"at der Dimension $4$ mit Polarisierung vom Typ $(1,2,2,2)$ ist. end{theorem}

Mathematical aspects of Feynman integrals

In the present dissertation we consider Feynman integrals in the framework of dimensional regularization. As all such integrals can be expressed in terms of scalar integrals, we focus on this latter kind of integrals in their Feynman parametric representation and study their mathematical properties, partially applying graph theory, algebraic geometry and number theory. The three main topics are the graph theoretic properties of the Symanzik polynomials, the termination of the sector decomposition algorithm of Binoth and Heinrich and the arithmetic nature of the Laurent coefficients of Feynman integrals.rnrnThe integrand of an arbitrary dimensionally regularised, scalar Feynman integral can be expressed in terms of the two well-known Symanzik polynomials. We give a detailed review on the graph theoretic properties of these polynomials. Due to the matrix-tree-theorem the first of these polynomials can be constructed from the determinant of a minor of the generic Laplacian matrix of a graph. By use of a generalization of this theorem, the all-minors-matrix-tree theorem, we derive a new relation which furthermore relates the second Symanzik polynomial to the Laplacian matrix of a graph.rnrnStarting from the Feynman parametric parameterization, the sector decomposition algorithm of Binoth and Heinrich serves for the numerical evaluation of the Laurent coefficients of an arbitrary Feynman integral in the Euclidean momentum region. This widely used algorithm contains an iterated step, consisting of an appropriate decomposition of the domain of integration and the deformation of the resulting pieces. This procedure leads to a disentanglement of the overlapping singularities of the integral. By giving a counter-example we exhibit the problem, that this iterative step of the algorithm does not terminate for every possible case. We solve this problem by presenting an appropriate extension of the algorithm, which is guaranteed to terminate. This is achieved by mapping the iterative step to an abstract combinatorial problem, known as Hironaka's polyhedra game. We present a publicly available implementation of the improved algorithm. Furthermore we explain the relationship of the sector decomposition method with the resolution of singularities of a variety, given by a sequence of blow-ups, in algebraic geometry.rnrnMotivated by the connection between Feynman integrals and topics of algebraic geometry we consider the set of periods as defined by Kontsevich and Zagier. This special set of numbers contains the set of multiple zeta values and certain values of polylogarithms, which in turn are known to be present in results for Laurent coefficients of certain dimensionally regularized Feynman integrals. By use of the extended sector decomposition algorithm we prove a theorem which implies, that the Laurent coefficients of an arbitrary Feynman integral are periods if the masses and kinematical invariants take values in the Euclidean momentum region. The statement is formulated for an even more general class of integrals, allowing for an arbitrary number of polynomials in the integrand.

Periodic Higgs-de Rham flows and representations of algebraic fundamental groups

Let k := bar{F}_p for p > 2, W_n(k) := W(k)/p^n and X_n be a projective smooth W_n(k)-scheme which is W_{n+1}(k)-liftable. For all n > 1, we construct explicitly a functor, which we call the inverse Cartier functor, from a subcategory of Higgs bundles over X_n to a subcategory of flat Bundles over X_n. Then we introduce the notion of periodic Higgs-de Rham flows and show that a periodic Higgs-de Rham flow is equivalent to a Fontaine-Faltings module. Together with a p-adic analogue of Riemann-Hilbert correspondence established by Faltings, we obtain a coarse p-adic Simpson correspondence.