Quantum topology and global anomalies

Anomalies are ubiquitous features in quantum field theories. They can ruin the consistency of such theories and put significant restrictions on their viability, especially in dimensions higher than four. Global gauge and gravitational anomalies are to date, one of the scant powerful and probing tools available to physicists in the pursuit of uniqueness.This monograph is one of the very few that specializes in the study of global anomalies in quantum field theories. A discussion of various issues associated to three dimensional physics - the Chern-Simons-Witten theories - widen the scope of thi