Related papers: Categorifying the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov Connectio…
Everyone knows that if you have a bivariant homology theory satisfying a base change formula, you get an representation of a category of correspondences. For theories in which the covariant and contravariant transfer maps are in mutual…
Electromagnetism can be generalized to Yang-Mills theory by replacing the group U(1)$ by a nonabelian Lie group. This raises the question of whether one can similarly generalize 2-form electromagnetism to a kind of "higher-dimensional…
Topological T-duality correspondences are higher categorical objects that can be classified by a strict Lie 2-group. In this article we compute the categorical automorphism group of this 2-group; hence, the higher-categorical symmetries of…
We initiate the theory of graded commutative 2-rings, a categorification of graded commutative rings. The goal is to provide a systematic generalization of Paul Balmer's comparison maps between the spectrum of tensor-triangulated categories…
We derive higher Wess--Zumino--Witten (WZW) and gauged WZW (gWZW) terms within strict higher Chern--Simons (CS) gauge theory. Starting from the Cartan homotopy formula, we obtain the $(2n+2)$-dimensional higher CS forms and transgression…
We construct a parafermionic conformal theory with the symmetry Z_N, for N odd, based on the second solution of Fateev-Zamolodchikov for the corresponding parafermionic chiral algebra. Primary operators are classified according to their…
We explore finitely generated groups by studying the nilpotent towers and the various Lie algebras attached to such groups. Our main goal is to relate an isomorphism extension problem in the Postnikov tower to the existence of certain…
Interactions and relations between objects may be pairwise or higher-order in nature, and so network-valued data are ubiquitous in the real world. The "space of networks", however, has a complex structure that cannot be adequately described…
We construct a higher lattice gauge theory based on the representation of 2-groups described by a category of crossed modules on a lattice model described by path 2-groupoids. Using these lattice gauge representations, an exactly solvable…
We provide a visual and intuitive introduction to effectively calculating in 2-groups along with explicit examples coming from non-abelian 1- and 2-form gauge theory. In particular, we utilize string diagrams, tools similar to tensor…
This paper, in a sense, completes a series of three papers. In the previous two hep-th/0404013, hep-th/0410293, we have explored the possibility of refining the K-theory partition function in type II string theories using elliptic…
This is a set of lectures on the gauge/string duality and non-critical strings, with a particular emphasis on the discretized, or matrix model, approach. After a general discussion of various points of view, I describe the recent…
A groupoid is a small category in which all morphisms are isomorphisms. An inductive groupoid is a specialised groupoid whose object set is a regular biordered set and the morphisms admit a partial order. A normal category is a specialised…
We study moduli spaces of a class of three dimensional N=4 gauge theories which are in one-to-one correspondence with a certain set of ordered pairs of integer partitions. It was found that these theories can be realised on brane intervals…
We give a very simple construction of the string 2-group as a strict Fr\'echet Lie 2-group. The corresponding crossed module is defined using the conjugation action of the loop group on its central extension, which drastically simplifies…
We consider a class of N=2 conformal SU(N) SYM theories in four dimensions with matter in the fundamental, two-index symmetric and anti-symmetric representations, and study the corresponding matrix model provided by localization on a sphere…
By regarding the classical non abelian cohomology of groups from a 2-dimensional categorical viewpoint, we are led to a non abelian cohomology of groupoids which continues to satisfy classification, interpretation and representation…
Heterotic string theory compactified on a K3 surface times T^2 is believed to be equivalent to type II string theory on a suitable Calabi-Yau threefold. In particular, it must share the same hypermultiplet moduli space. Building on the…
We review the Kohno-Drinfeld theorem as well as a conjectural analogue relating quantum Weyl groups to the monodromy of a flat connection D on the Cartan subalgebra of a complex, semi-simple Lie algebra g with poles on the root hyperplanes…
The motivation of this work is to define cohomology classes in the space of knots that are both easy to find and to evaluate, by reducing the problem to simple linear algebra. We achieve this goal by defining a combinatorial graded cochain…