Quantum Field Theory for Homological Algebraists
Abstract
The BV formalism in quantum field theory provides a homological theory of integration that
can be used to compute path integrals. The present note is an overview of such ideas.
Starting with a discussion of the combinatorial algorithms used by physicists to compute
correlators, we motivate the structures involved in studying observables in BV theories via
the finite dimensional case. In particular, we show that the quantum BV formalism recovers
the same algorithms from structures manifestly arising from integration. We then discuss
the infinite dimensional case.