Savdeep Sethi, University of Chicago
“Triples, Instantons and Domain Walls”
The vacuum structure of gauge theory on tori is surprisingly rich. For certain gauge groups, there exist disconnected components in the space of flat connections, which can be used to build novel topologically non-trivial gauge-field configurations. These configurations have applications in both field theory and string theory. I will describe these constructions and some of the many associated open questions.