Lectures on 2D Yang-Mills, Equivariant cohomology, and topological field theories

Cordes, Moore, Ramgoolam.174-175-141-1

These are expository lectures reviewing A) recent developments in two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory and B) the construction of topological field theory Lagrangians. Topological field theory is discussed from the point of view of infinite-dimensional differential geometry. We emphasize the unifying role of equivariant cohomology both as the underlying principle in the formulation of BRST transformation laws and as a central concept in the geometrical interpretation of topological field theory path integrals.