CHERN-SIMONS QUANTUM-MECHANICS, SUPERSYMMETRY, AND SYMPLECTIC INVARIANTS

We explain the relation between supersymmetry and equivariant cohomology, combining recent investigations of Chern-Simons quantum mechanics and path integrals on coadjoint orbits. We then construct a supersymmetric (topological) quantum mechanics model whose partition function-probing the cohomology of the symplectomorphism group-yields a symplectic invariant introduced by Weinstein. We demonstrate by explicit calculation that this provides another example where the Duistermaat-Heckman theorem (exactness of the semi-classical approximation) appears to hold in infinite dimensions, and make some suggestions concerning its role in (conformal) field theory.