Geometry of Localized Effective Theories, Exact Semi-classical Approximation and the Algebraic Index

Abstract: In this paper we propose a general framework to study the quantum geometry of $\sigma$-models when they are effectively localized to small quantum fluctuations around constant maps. Such effective theories have surprising exact descriptions at all loops in terms of target geometry and can be rigorously formulated. We illustrate how to turn the physics idea of exact semi-classical approximation into a geometric set-up in this framework, using Gauss-Manin connection. As an application, we carry out this program in details by the example of topological quantum mechanics, and explain how to implement the idea of exact semi-classical approximation into a proof of the algebraic index theorem. The proof resembles much of the physics derivation of Atiyah-Singer index theorem and clarifies the geometric face of many other mathematical constructions.