Composite Operators and Topological Contributions in Gauge Theory

Abstract

In $D$-dimensional gauge theory with a kinetic term based on the p-form tensor gauge field, we introduce a gauge invariant operator associated with the composite formed from a electric $(p-1)$-brane and a magnetic $(q-1)$-brane in $D=p+q+1$ spacetime dimensions. By evaluating the partition function for this operator, we show that the expectation value of this operator gives rise to the topological contributions identical to those in gauge theory with a topological Chern-Simons BF term.