Questions tagged [topological-quantum-field-theory]

Topological quantum field theory.

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Is there a version of the 2d cobordism hypothesis for surfaces with non-empty incoming and outgoing boundary?

Question: Is there a condition on an object $x$ of an $(\infty,2)$-category $\mathcal C$ which is equivalent to $x = Z(pt_+)$ for a unique TFT $Z$ from the $(\infty,2)$-category of framed bordisms ...
Sam Gunningham's user avatar
11 votes
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A proof of the gluing axiom of a TQFT

I posted the following question on math stackexchange but I have not received any answer. So I hope people here can help me. In the book Lectures on tensor categories and modular functors by Bakalov ...
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9 votes
1 answer
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Trace of a functor (or dimension of a category) in extended 2d TQFTs

In an extended 2d TQFT $Z$, a point (with orientation + or -) is assigned a category $Z(+)$ or $Z(-)$. This category should be as close to a vector space as possible: $\mathbb{C}$-linear, monoidal, ...
Ryan Thorngren's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
519 views

Does the following "symmetric" 2nd cohomology group of a finite group with coefficients in $Z_2$ always vanish?

Let $G$ be a finite group. Usually, a 2-cocycle on $G$ with values in $\mathbb{Z}\_2 = \{+1, -1\}$ is a collection of signs $\epsilon_{g,h} \in \{+1, -1\}$, $g,h \in G$, satisfying the cocycle ...
Bruce Bartlett's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
2k views

Motivation and unsolved problems of TQFT

I have been studying topological quantum field theory by mainly reading the Turaev's book. I'd like to know if there are unsolved problems that motivate mathematicians to study TQFT, like Riemann's ...
10 votes
4 answers
889 views

Understand Witten's "QFT and Jones Polynomials" - how does he get to the twisted Dirac operator L_{-}?

Hi, this is my first post here, so I hope I am asking the question the right way. I am trying to understand to following piece of algebra: In his paper, Witten claims that $\int_M Tr(B \wedge DB) + \...
moep's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
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S-matrix for the HOMFLY/Hecke category

This question concerns the HOMFLY-PT category, closely related to Hecke algebras. (See here for example.) The minimal idempotents of this category are indexed by pairs $(\lambda_+, \lambda_-)$ of ...
Kevin Walker's user avatar
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S-matrix for the BMW category

This question concerns the Birman-Murakami-Wenzl category, or equivalently the tangle category associated to the 2-variable Kauffman polynomial. (See here for example.) The minimal idempotents of ...
Kevin Walker's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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Examples of calculations of Turaev-Reshetikhin TQFT of cobordisms with boundaries have genera greater than 1

I am studying Turaev-Reshetikhin TQFT. I describe the definition of the invariant $\tau(M)$ of a cobordism $(M, \partial_{-}M, \partial_{+}M)$ in the previous question breifly. Framings in the ...
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3 votes
1 answer
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Framings in the definition of Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFT

I posted the following question at Mathe Stack Exchange.link text But it has not yet answered. I am sorry if you check both sites but I also want people here to look at this problem. I am studying ...
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5 votes
1 answer
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Set of physical states of FQHE on closed Riemann surface = ?

Disclaimer. One might argue that my question is off topic as it is clearly a question about physics... But I'd like a mathematically phrased answer, and I expect that only a mathematician can offer an ...
André Henriques's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
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Why does the index of the Dirac operator on a manifold with boundary live inside the Pfaffian line of the boundary Dirac operator?

I am trying to understand a statement from page 72 of What is an elliptic object? by Stolz and Teichner. They have a spin Riemannian 2-manifold $\Sigma$, with boundary 1-manifold $Y$. The Dirac ...
Sam Gunningham's user avatar
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0 answers
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Finding a ribbon graph for a mapping class group action

Turaev defines TQFT $(T, \tau)$ in his book "Quantum invariants of knots and 3-manifolds". He uses it to define an action of a mapping class group of a d-surface $\Sigma$. This action $\epsilon$ is ...
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1 answer
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Reference request for TQFT, functoriality

I am reading Turaev's blue book Quantum Invariants of Knots and 3-manifolds. It is difficult for me to understand the proof of Theorem 1.9 in chapter 4, which says; The function $(M, \partial_{-}M, \...
Link's user avatar
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Isomorphism of cobordisms

Let $(M, \partial_{-}M, \partial_{+}M)$ be a decorated 3-cobordism, where $M$ be a (topological) 3-manifold and $\partial M=-\partial_{-}M \cup \partial_{+}M$. (decorated in a sense of Turaev, Quantum ...
knot's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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A special ribbon graph presents a cylinder.

I am reading "Quantum Invariants of Knots and 3-Manifolds" by Turaev. I have a dificulty to understand the proof of Lemma 2.6 on page 172. The lemma says that a special ribbon graph drawn on page 167 ...
knot's user avatar
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15 votes
3 answers
2k views

Reshetikhin-Turaev as a 3-2-1-theory

I keep reading that the Reshetikhin-Turaev construction actually yields a 3-2-1 tqft. I know the construction that associates to a suitably decorated surface a vector space built up from a hom-space ...
Ulrich Pennig's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
359 views

Completion of n-fold Segal spaces

During a reading course about Jacob Lurie's paper about Local TQFTs, I came across the notion of Segal spaces as models for $(\infty,1)$-categories. Looking at things like the "double nerve" for 2-...
Ulrich Pennig's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
675 views

Deriving the Hilbert spaces for Chern-Simons TQFTs with complex gauge group

One method for finding the Hilbert spaces corresponding to surfaces in Chern-Simons TQFT is by geometrically quantizing the phase space, which is just the character variety of the surface. I know that ...
Blake's user avatar
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11 votes
0 answers
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When can we tell if PROPs, Algebraic Theories, etc. are faithfully detected in a given category?

I am interested in understanding a certain phenomenon. I am hoping this sort of problem has been studied before, but I don't know the proper terminology and am having trouble finding answers. I am ...
Chris Schommer-Pries's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
914 views

Homotopy Fixed Points of SO(2) on Fully Dualizable Algebras

Note: by fixed points, I always mean homotopy fixed points. As explained in Jacob Lurie's paper on the cobordism hypothesis, we have an action of O(2) on the $\infty $-groupoid $X$ given by ...
Sam Gunningham's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
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Are bundle gerbes bundles of algebras?

The category of line bundles (possibly with connection) on a smooth manifold M can be defined in two different ways: The first definition uses transition functions that satisfy a cocycle condition (...
Dmitri Pavlov's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
599 views

How to interpret sections over the $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ character variety as sections over the $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ character variety?

The motivation for this question comes from the Volume Conjecture of Kashaev-Murakami-Murakami. The Jones family of invariants of knots and $3$-manifolds can all be defined using $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ and ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
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What is the state in the WRT TQFT associated to a handlebody?

Let $Y^3$ be a handlebody with boundary $\Sigma$. By definition, there is some associated vector $v_{WRT}(Y^3)\in Z(\Sigma)$, the (finite dimensional) Hilbert space associated to $\Sigma$ by the ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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18 votes
3 answers
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How to calculate the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants from a triangulation?

I'm interested in the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants for 3-manifolds, and in particular, how to calculate them from a triangulation of the 3-manifold (recall that as they were first introduced, ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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23 votes
3 answers
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How many definitions are there of the Jones polynomial?

Even with the connection to quantum groups being made clearer (I believe it was not known when the Jones polynomial was first introduced), it seems to me that still we don't have the "right" ...
John Pardon's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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Group cohomology and TFTs

Ok, so I am still trying to make my way through the paper by Dijkgraaf and Witten "Group Cohomology and Topological Actions", and I have a question (what's new). The authors start by showing ...
Kevin Wray's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
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Spin TQFT's in dimensions (1+1)

I don't seem to be able to find anything written about Spin TQFT's in dimension (1+1). Does anyone know any references? Or is there some reason it is uninteresting?
Oscar Randal-Williams's user avatar
37 votes
5 answers
3k views

Usefulness of using TQFTs

What is a topological feature, that a (some) TQFT (e.g. in 3 or 4 dim) sees but homology/cohomology/homotopy groups don't? Or: what is an example where using classical theories is hard, but using a ...
ISH's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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topological B model

The topological A model was constructed by Witten in Comm. Math. Phys. Volume 118, Number 3 (1988), 411-449. I am looking for the original paper where topological B model was first introduced. I am ...
J Verma's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
645 views

What does it mean to extend a 2d (topological) conformal field theory to Deligne-Mumford space?

For 2D (topological) conformal field theory the corresponding moduli space is the space of Riemann surface with boundary, right? What does it mean by extending the theory to Deligne-Mumford space? How ...
Hao's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Why Lagrangian cobordism?

There are a good number of quantum topology papers in which a TQFT-like set-up is constructed as a functor to the category of vector spaces from some category of cobordisms which satisfy some "...
Daniel Moskovich's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
678 views

Are there non-supersymmetric and/or non-Calabi-Yau topological sigma models?

I am reading some aspects of Mirror Symmetry and in mirror symmetry the $N=2$ SCFT on a Calabi Yau Manifold can be divided into two sectors each of which is a topological sigma model, A-Model and B-...
J Verma's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
3k views

Witten's topological twisting

I am reading the Witten's topological twisting for $N = 2$ Superconformal Field Theory(SCFT) http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9112056 In this paper Witten constructed 2 TQFTs i.e. A-model and B-model from ...
J Verma's user avatar
  • 3,178
36 votes
3 answers
4k views

What are D-branes, really?

In the past couple years, I've read many words pertaining to "D-branes" without feeling I have fully comprehended them. In broad terms, I think I get what they're about: They're supposed to serve as ...
Dan Kneezel's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
737 views

The algebro-geometric counterpart of the Dijkgraaf-Witten model

Can the Dikgraaf-Witten model for a finite gauge group $G$ [Robbert Dijkgraaf and Edward Witten, Topological Gauge Theories and Group Cohomology, Commun. Math. Phys. 129 (1990), 393] be described in ...
domenico fiorenza's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
467 views

Does a Dehn twist in the mapping class group of an cobordism give a BV-operator in string topology?

In her article Higher string topology operations, Godin in particular construct for each surface with $n$ incoming and $m \geq 1$ outgoing boundary circles an operation $H_\ast(BMod(S);det^{\otimes d})...
skupers's user avatar
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26 votes
2 answers
4k views

What's the current state of the classification of not-fully-extended TQFTs?

Recall that a $(k,k+1,\dots,k+n)$-TQFT is (supposed to be) a functor from the $n$-category whose $j$-morphisms are (isomorphism classes of) compact $(k+j)$-dimensional manifolds with boundary to some ...
Theo Johnson-Freyd's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
704 views

Can string topology be a open-closed TCFT with the full set of branes?

String topology studies the algebraic structure of the homology of the free loop space $LM = Map(S^1,M)$ of a oriented closed manifold. One aspect of this structure is that the pair $(H_\ast(LM;\...
skupers's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
881 views

What is the Gromov-Witten potential associated to String Topology?

Kevin Costello's article on the Gromov-Witten potential associated to a TCFT constructs for each TCFT, i.e. a functor from chains on Riemann surfaces with boundary ...
skupers's user avatar
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24 votes
1 answer
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When is a TQFT the dimensional reduction of a higher dimensional TQFT?

In Lurie's framework for TQFT's, a TQFT is a symmetric mondoial functor from $Cob_n(n)$ to some symmetric monoidal $n$-category $\mathcal{C}$. One can construct an $(n-1)$-dimensional TQFT from an $n$-...
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31 votes
8 answers
5k views

Resources for graphical languages / Penrose notation / Feynman diagrams / birdtracks?

There is an idea I've recently gotten interested in that doesn't seem to have a good agreed-upon name ("diagrammatic algebra?"). It centers around the use of two-dimensional diagrams of dots, ...
11 votes
1 answer
2k views

Seiberg-Witten theory on 4-manifolds with boundary

What generalizations of Seiberg-Witten theory to 4-manifolds with boundary do exist? I would be especially interested in theories which "behave good" under gluing along the boundary (comparable to ...
J Fabian Meier's user avatar
19 votes
1 answer
1k views

What happened to the Vacuum Hypothesis in TQFT?

I remember that in the beginning, there was an axiom for $(n+1)$-dimensional TQFT that said that the state space $V(\Sigma)$ assigned to an $n$-dimensional oriented manifold is spanned by the ...
Charlie Frohman's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
3k views

Calculating 6j-symbols (aka Racah-Wigner coefficients) for quantum groups

Which $6j$-symbols for quantised enveloping algebras are known explicitly? The quantum $6j$-symbols for $sl(2)$ are well-known. The references are Masbaum and Vogel and Frenkel and Khovanov. What ...
Bruce Westbury's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
1k views

Cohomology rings and 2D TQFTs

There is a "folk theorem" (alternatively, a fun and easy exercise) which asserts that a 2D TQFT is the same as a commutative Frobenius algebra. Now, to every compact oriented manifold $X$ we can ...
Kevin H. Lin's user avatar
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12 votes
0 answers
550 views

References for a certain generalization of Hochschild cohomology?

Let $C$ be an algebra. Let $E = C^{\otimes 2n}$ be the tensor product (over the ground field) of $2n$ copies of $C$. [EDIT: Or better, $E = C\otimes C^{op}\otimes C\otimes C^{op}\cdots\otimes C \...
Kevin Walker's user avatar
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39 votes
9 answers
9k views

Why are fusion categories interesting?

In the same vein as Kate and Scott's questions, why are fusion categories interesting? I know that given a "suitably nice" fusion category (which probably means adding adjectives such as "unitary," "...
Dave Penneys's user avatar
  • 5,335
12 votes
2 answers
1k views

Turaev-Viro extended TQFT

Hi I am looking for any papers which extends the Turaev-Viro TQFT to a 3-2-1 theory (i.e. allows manifolds with corners) . I know this construction is known, but I cannot find a source. Please help. ...
user1654's user avatar
  • 121
12 votes
2 answers
717 views

What do decategorification and "compactification on a circle" have to do with each other?

Some physicists have told me that if you think about an extended n-dimensional TQFT $F$, then the decategorification is given by $F'(X)=F(X\times S^1)$, which I believe they call "compactification on ...
Ben Webster's user avatar
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