Seminário de Teoria Quântica do Campo Topológica  

06/02/2013, 14:00 — 15:00 — Sala P5.18, Pavilhão de Matemática
John Huerta, Instituto Superior Técnico

Introduction to anomalies

In physics, an "anomaly" is the failure of a classical symmetry at the quantum level. Anomalies play a key role in assessing the consistency of a quantum field theory, and link up with cohomology in mathematics, a general tool by which mathematicians understand whether a desired construction is possible. In this informal series of talks, we aim to understand what physicists mean by an "anomaly" and their mathematical interpretation.