Related papers: Introduction to 2-dimensional Topological Quantum …
Lecture 1. Algebraic properties of correlators in 2D topological field theory. Moduli of a 2D TFT and WDVV equations of associativity. Lecture 2. Equations of associativity and Frobenius manifolds. Deformed flat connection and its monodromy…
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…
The study of topological quantum field theories increasingly relies upon concepts from higher-dimensional algebra such as n-categories and n-vector spaces. We review progress towards a definition of n-category suited for this purpose, and…
In this paper we propose a naive construction of 2-dimensional extended topological quantum field theories (TQFTs), which can be further generalized to the higher-dimension extended TQFTs.
We define the notions of unital/counital/biunital infinitesimal anti-symmetric bialgebras and coFrobenius bialgebras and discuss their algebraic properties. We also define the notion of a graded 2D open-closed TQFT. These structures arise…
This article consists of two parts. In Part 1, we present a formulation of two-dimensional topological quantum field theories in terms of a functor from a category of Ribbon graphs to the endofuntor category of a monoidal category. The key…
We present a general framework for TQFT and related constructions using the language of monoidal categories. We construct a topological category C and an algebraic category D, both monoidal, and a TQFT functor is then defined as a certain…
We review how modular categories, and commutative and non-commutative Frobenius algebras arise in rational conformal field theory. For Euclidean CFT we use an approach based on sewing of surfaces, and in the Minkowskian case we describe CFT…
We give an introduction for the non-expert to TQFT (Topological Quantum Field Theory), focussing especially on its role in algebraic topology. We compare the Atiyah axioms for TQFT with the Eilenberg Steenrod axioms for homology, give a few…
We provide a complete generators and relations presentation of the 2-dimensional extended unoriented and oriented bordism bicategories as symmetric monoidal bicategories. Thereby we classify these types of 2-dimensional extended topological…
This paper is devoted to the study of algebraic structures leading to link homology theories. The originally used structures of Frobenius algebra and/or TQFT are modified in two directions. First, we refine 2-dimensional cobordisms by…
Even the uninitiated will know that Quantum Field Theory cannot be introduced systematically in just four lectures. I try to give a reasonably connected outline of part of it, from second quantization to the path-integral technique in…
We show that reasonably well behaved 3d and 4D TQFts must contain certain algebraic structures. In 4D, we find both Hopf categories and trialgebras.
We initiate a systematic study of 3-dimensional `defect' topological quantum field theories, that we introduce as symmetric monoidal functors on stratified and decorated bordisms. For every such functor we construct a tricategory with…
We present a new set of axioms for 2D TQFT formulated on the category of cell graphs with edge-contraction operations as morphisms. We construct a functor from this category to the endofunctor category consisting of Frobenius algebras.…
This note is intended as an introduction to the functorial formulation of quantum field theories with defects. After some remarks about models in general dimension, we restrict ourselves to two dimensions - the lowest dimension in which…
Algebraic quantum field theory provides a general, mathematically precise description of the structure of quantum field theories, and then draws out consequences of this structure by means of various mathematical tools -- the theory of…
We study the path integral quantization of the topological 3BF theory, whose gauge symmetry is described by a 3-group. This theory is relevant for the quantization of general relativity coupled to Standard Model of elementary particles. We…
It has been shown in this paper that the commutative Frobenius algebra $QZ_5\otimes Z(QS_3)$ provides a complete invariant for two-dimensional cobordisms, i.e., that the corresponding two-dimensional quantum field theory is faithful. The…
In this paper we give a characterization of 2-dimensional topological field theories over a space $X$ as Frobenius bundles with connections over $LX$, the free loop space of $X$. This is a generalization of the folk theorem stating that…