Related papers: Topological modular forms and conformal nets
A modular tensor category provides the appropriate data for the construction of a three-dimensional topological field theory. We describe the following analogue for two-dimensional conformal field theories: a 2-category whose objects are…
Invertible fermionic topological (IFT) phases are gapped phases of matter with nondegenerate ground states on any closed spatial manifold. When open boundary conditions are imposed, nontrivial IFT phases support gapless boundary degrees of…
This chapter is an introduction to the Free Fermionic Formulation of String Theory, with emphasis on heterotic model building. After a brief review of bosonization in two dimensional conformal field theories, we discuss how internal bosonic…
We prove that the bundles with flat connections on configuration spaces associated to braided fusion categories, as well as the bundles with flat connections on moduli spaces of curves (conformal blocks) associated to modular fusion…
Motivated by recent developments in string theory, we study the structure of boundary conditions in arbitrary conformal field theories. A boundary condition is specified by two types of data: first, a consistent collection of reflection…
Gapped phases of noninteracting fermions, with and without charge conservation and time-reversal symmetry, are classified using Bott periodicity. The symmetry and spatial dimension determines a general universality class, which corresponds…
Using basic homotopy constructions, we show that isomorphism classes of string structures on spin bundles are naturally given by certain degree 3 cohomology classes, which we call string classes, on the total space of the bundle. Using a…
We describe a coordinate-free perspective on conformal nets, as functors from intervals to von Neumann algebras. We discuss an operation of fusion of intervals and observe that a conformal net takes a fused interval to the fiber product of…
Let M be a closed, oriented, n-dimensional manifold. In this paper we describe a spectrum in the sense of homotopy theory, Z(T^*M), whose homology is naturally isomorphic to the Floer homology of the cotangent bundle, T^*M. This Floer…
The main goal of this article is to construct some geometric invariants for the topology of the set $\mathcal{F}$ of flat connections on a principal $G$-bundle $P\,\longrightarrow\, M$. Although the characteristic classes of principal…
We use string-net models to accomplish a direct, purely two-dimensional, approach to correlators of two-dimensional rational conformal field theories. We obtain concise geometric expressions for the objects describing bulk and boundary…
Topological phases of matter remain a focus of interest due to their unique properties -- fractionalisation, ground state degeneracy, and exotic excitations. While some of these properties can occur in systems of free fermions, their…
We obtain the topological expansion of the hermitian matrix model using its representation as a CFT on a hyperelliptic Riemann surface. To each branch point of the Riemann surface we associate an operator which represents a twist field…
We introduce a finite-dimensional algebra that controls the possible boundary conditions of a conformal field theory. For theories that are obtained by modding out a Z_2 symmetry (corresponding to a so-called D_odd-type, or half-integer…
These lecture notes give an introductory account of an approach to cohomological field theory due to Atiyah and Jeffrey which is based on the construction of Gaussian shaped Thom forms by Mathai and Quillen. Topics covered are: an…
We prove that finite-index conformal nets are fully dualizable objects in the 3-category of conformal nets. Therefore, assuming the cobordism hypothesis applies, there exists a local framed topological field theory whose value on the point…
A mathematical construction of the conformal field theory (CFT) associated to a compact torus, also called the "nonlinear Sigma-model" or "lattice-CFT", is given. Underlying this approach to CFT is a unitary modular functor, the…
We study constraints coming from the modular invariance of the partition function of two-dimensional conformal field theories. We constrain the spectrum of CFTs in the presence of holomorphic and anti-holomorphic currents using the…
We analyze the ring tmf_*tmf of cooperations for the connective spectrum of topological modular forms (at the prime 2) through a variety of perspectives: (1) the E_2-term of the Adams spectral sequence for tmf ^ tmf admits a decomposition…
Conformal blocks form a system of vector bundles over the moduli space of complex curves with marked points. We discuss various aspects of these bundles. In particular, we present conjectures about the dimensions of sub-bundles. They imply…