Speaker
Alberto Cattaneo, Zurich U
Abstract
The BV formalism is a cohomological procedure that solves two goals: it gives a resolution of the critical locus of the Euler–Lagrange equations modulo symmetries and allows showing the formal independence of the functional integral from deformations of the gauge fixing.
When studying field theories on manifolds with boundaries (or, more generally, higher-codimensional stratifications) the BV formalism is nicely coupled with the BFV formalism—responsible for the cohomological resolution of the reduced phase space (roughly speaking, the space of initial conditions).
Another important aspect is the BV pushforward (i.e., a partial integration) which plays a role in defining effective theories, in casting renormalization à la Wilson for gauge theories, and in constructing nontrivial observables.