Abstract
We show that the \$U(1,1)\$ (super) Chern Simons theory is one loop exact. This
provides a direct proof of the relation between the Alexander polynomial and
analytic and Reidemeister torsion. We then proceed to compute explicitely the
torsions of Lens spaces and Seifert manifolds using surgery and the \$S\$ and \$T\$
matrices of the \$U(1,1)\$ Wess Zumino Witten model recently determined, with
complete agreement with known results. \$U(1,1)\$ quantum field theories and the
Alexander polynomial provide thus "toy" models with a non trivial topological
content, where all ideas put forward by Witten for \$SU(2)\$ and the Jones
polynomial can be explicitely checked, at finite \$k\$. Some simple but
presumably generic aspects of non compact groups, like the modified relation
between Chern Simons and Wess Zumino Witten theories, are also illustrated. We
comment on the closely related case of \$GL(1,1)\$.
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