Differential topology and quantum field theory

Charles. Nash9780125140751, 0125140754

The remarkable developments in diferential topology and how these recent advances have been applied as a primary research tool on quantum field theory are presented in a style reflecting the genuinely two-sided interaction between mathematical physics and applied mathematics. The author, following on from his previous work (Nash/Sen: Differential Topology for Physicists, Academic Press, 1983), covers ellipitc differential and pseudo-differential operators, Atiyah-singer Index theory, Morse theory, instanntons and monopoles, topological quantum field theory, string theory and knot theory. The explanatory approach serves to illuminate and clarify these theories for graduate students and research workers entering the field for the first time.