ON THE INFRARED LIMIT OF THE CHERN-SIMONS-PROCA THEORY

We investigate a modification of the 2 + 1 dimensional abelian Chern-S imons theory, obtained by adding a Proca mass term to the gauge field. We are particularly interested in the infrared limit, which can be de scribed by two a priori different ''topological'' quantum mechanical m odels. We apply methods of equivariant cohomology and the ensuing supe rsymmetry to analyze the partition functions of these quantum mechanic al models. In particular, we find that a previously discussed phase-sp ace reductive limiting procedure which relates these two models can be seen as a direct consequence of our supersymmetry.