Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar

Speaker: Lorenzo Riva

Title: Higher categories of cobordisms

Abstract: I will give a brief introduction to topological field theories from a higher categorical perspective. After saying a few things about higher categories, I will define a family of n-categories of bordisms and talk about their universal properties. I will try to squeeze in the canonical example — representations of the 2-dimensional oriented bordism 2-category are separable symmetric Frobenius algebras — and, time permitting, talk about my current work.