Topological gauge theories of antisymmetric tensor fields (Q1814430)

The authors consider a general class of topological quantum field theories based on BRST gauge fixed action. Such models were called \(BF\) systems. The action \(S\) has the form \(S=S(n,p)+\int\{Q,\psi\}\) where \(S(n,p)=\int_{M^ w}B_ p dA_{n-p-1},\) \(Q\) is a BRST-operator and \(\psi\) is a gauge fermion operator. Here \(B_ q,A_ q\) are \(q\)- dimensional vector valued forms. \(S\) does not depend on the metric. Using functional-integration techniques the authors prove the topological invariance of some interesting functions, e.q. the Ray-Singer torsion. Another interesting result concerns the representations of linking and intersection numbers of manifolds.