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A boundary characterization of Turaev-Viro TQFTs

Quantum Algebra 2025-08-20 v1 Geometric Topology

Abstract

We consider three-dimensional topological field theories on manifolds with boundary defects and identify explicit boundary locality conditions. These conditions imply a state sum construction of the given TQFT. As a consistency check, we prove that Turaev-Viro state sum models obey the boundary locality conditions. Recent progress (arXiv:2410.18049v1) in the description of defects in Dijkgraaf-Witten theories enables us to show that these theories likewise satisfy boundary locality. This directly implies that Dijkgraaf-Witten theories with boundary defects admit a state sum description.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.13759,
  title  = {A boundary characterization of Turaev-Viro TQFTs},
  author = {Max-Niklas Steffen and Christoph Schweigert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.13759},
  year   = {2025}
}