Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar

Speaker: Ahsan Khan (CMSA) Title: BPS Algebras in Landau-Ginzburg Models Abstract: The study of BPS states in supersymmetric quantum field theory has been a fruitful source of both mathematical and physical insights. In particular their study often leads to rich algebraic structures - from the "Algebra of the Infrared" of Gaiotto-Moore-Witten to the "Cohomological Hall […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Keyou Zeng (CMSA) Title: Mathematics around Twisted Holography Abstract: The holography principle is an important idea in physics and has been widely studied since the 90s. Twisted holography offers a way to simplify physical holography models through the procedure called twisting. In the first part of the talk, I’ll […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Vasily Krylov, Harvard CMSA & Math Title: Symplectic duality in examples Abstract: Over the past twenty years, mathematicians and physicists have shown increasing interest in studying certain Poisson varieties, known as “symplectic singularities.” Many of these objects naturally arise as Higgs or Coulomb branches of certain TQFTs and, therefore, […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Bowen Yang, Harvard CMSA Title: Topological Invariants of gapped states through cosheaves Abstract: We provide a proper mathematical framework for the constructions of topological invariants of gapped quantum states and interpret topological invariants of gapped states as lattice analogs of ’t Hooft anomalies in Quantum Field Theory. Our secondary […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Sunghyuk Park, Harvard CMSA Title: Skein traces and curve counting Abstract: Skein modules are vector space-valued invariants of 3-manifolds describing the space of line defects modulo skein relations (determined by a choice of a ribbon category). When the 3-manifold is S x I for some surface S, the skein […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Mayuko Yamashita, Kyoto University Title: Topological Modular Forms, its equivariant refinements and relation with supersymmetric quantum field theories Abstract: This talk is about the Segal-Stolz-Teichner program, which is one of the most deep and interesting topics relating homotopy theory and physics. Mathematically, they propose a geometric model of TMF, […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Thibault Décoppet, Harvard University Title: Fusion 2-Categories and their Classification Abstract: Categorifying the classical notion of fusion (1-)category, fusion 2-categories were recently introduced. These objects have found many applications in Physics, most notably to the classification of topological orders, but also to the description of non-invertible symmetries in 2+1 dimensions. […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Ben Gammage, Harvard University Title: Boundaries and duality for 3d gauge theories Abstract: 3d N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory has a pair of topological twists, the A-model and B-model, the latter of which is also known as Rozansky-Witten theory. Conjecturally, boundary conditions for these TFTs ought to admit descriptions in […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Dan Freed, Harvard University Title: Introduction to Factorization algebras

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speakers: Mayuko Yamashita, Kyoto University Title: Factorization algebras in TQFT Abstract: This is the first in the series of our working seminars on factorization algebras/homologies. This talk focuses on locally constant factorization algebras, which correspond to Topological QFTs. I first explain they are equivalent to algebras over E_n operads and […]

Geometry and Quantum Theory Seminar Speaker: Ahsan Khan Title: Perturbative Factorization Algebras Abstract: In physics the starting point in studying a QFT is to write down an appropriate action functional. My talk will aim to sketch how this connects with the framework of factorization algebras.