# Realization of Witten-type topological quantum field theory in condensed matter physics

It is well-known that some exotic phases in condensed matter physics are described by Schwarz-type TQFTs, such as Chern-Simons theory of quantum Hall states. My question is whether there are condensed matter systems that can realize Witten-type TQFTs?

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 Wikipedia seems to only give one example of what a Witten-type TQFT is, and that is the WZW model which appears many places in condensed matter physics. I always thought that Witten type TQFT's are cohomological field theories, where there exist an operator $Q^2=0$ (so you have susy or BRST structure) and so on. I haven't seen any of these type theories in condensed matter physics – Heidar Nov 6 '12 at 18:45 The type of TQFT's that Atiyah's axioms capture (where its a functor between certain appropriate categories) are the ones that usually appear in condensed matter context (at least in toy models). According to wikipedia, these include the Schwarz-type TQFT's but it is not clear that they describe the Witten-types fully. – Heidar Nov 6 '12 at 18:47 @Heidar: That wikipedia article is wrong. The WZW model is not a topological field theory. It's conformal, but that's not the same thing. – user1504 Nov 6 '12 at 23:13 @user1504 This is also the first time I have seen the WZW being called a topological field theory. The theory is gapless and has a lot of dynamical degrees of freedom, so its quite hard for me to see in what sense it could be topological. – Heidar Nov 6 '12 at 23:16 It's simply not a topological field theory, and especially not one of Witten class. Whoever edited that wikipedia article didn't know what they were talking about. The WZW model isn't supersymmetric; it doesn't have a nilpotent supercharge. (It's intimately related to Chern-Simons theory, but that's a different story, and not relevant here.) – user1504 Nov 6 '12 at 23:20
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