nLab worldvolume

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Context

Physics

physics, mathematical physics, philosophy of physics

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theory (physics), model (physics)

experiment, measurement, computable physics

Quantum field theory

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Idea

In a sigma-model quantum field theory a field history is a morphism ϕ:ΣX\phi \colon \Sigma \to X for Σ\Sigma an nn-dimensional manifold or similar. One is to think of this as being the trajectory: of an (n1)(n-1)-brane propagating in the target space XX.

For the case n=1n = 1 (for instance the relativistic particle, a 0-brane) the term worldline for Σ\Sigma has a long tradition. Accordingly one calls Σ\Sigma the worldvolume of the given (n1)(n-1)-brane when n>1n \gt 1. For the case n=2n=2 (the case of relevance in string theory) one also says worldsheet.

Hence generally for any field theory defined on a worldvolume or spacetime Σ\Sigma, and with type of fields determined by a field bundle EfbΣE \overset{fb}{\to} \Sigma, one may think of a section of the field bundle as a field trajectory.

The space of all these is the space of trajectories (space of histories).

Last revised on January 12, 2023 at 10:19:58. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.