This award will support collaborative research between U.S. and Irish physicists on classical topology and quantum symmetries. The U.S. investigators, all from Syracuse University, are Dr. A. P. Balachandran, Dr. Rafael D. Sorkin and Dr. William McGlinn. The Irish investigators are Professor L. O'Raifeartaigh (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), Dr. S. Sen (Dublin University) and Dr. C. E. Nash (St. Patrick's College, Maynooth). Topological concepts and symmetry principles play a significant role in many branches of theoretical physics. The investigators will study the role of topology, and its interplay with quantum mechanics and symmetry principles in quantum gravity, conformal field theories (CFT's) and the theory of magnetic monopoles. In gravity, they will examine the rich topological features of three dimensional spaces, the structure of associated quantum theories and its influence on symmetry principles. The properties of certain particle-like excitations called geons, associated with these spaces, will also be studied. Other topics include: 1) the properties of symmetry groups underlying CFT's and 2) the possible restoration of certain symmetries at the quantum level, which classically are "broken" for topological reasons in monopole theories. Both groups of U. S. and Irish physicists involved in this joint project have extensive expertise in the proposed subject area.
