HIGHER-DIMENSIONAL CHERN-SIMONS THEORY AND LINK INVARIANTS

A higher-dimensional generalization of (topological) Chern-Simons theory based on the concept of non-homogeneous differential forms is analyzed. A topological matter multiplet in an arbitrary irrep of the Lie group playing the role of an observable measuring "non-abelian linking numbers" of higher-dimensional links is introduced. The theory as a multiple highly on-shell reducible gauge system is quantized in the framework of the Batalin-Vilkovisky antifield-antibracket formalism. The corresponding monodromy matrix is derived in an explicitly covariant path-integral manner.