Related papers: Three-dimensional TQFTs via string-nets and two-di…
In his PhD thesis, Goosen combined the string-net and the generators-and-relations formalisms for arbitrary once-extended 3-dimensional TQFTs. In this paper we work this out in detail for the simplest non-trivial example, where the…
A 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT) is a symmetric monoidal functor from the category of 3-cobordisms to the category of vector spaces. Such TQFTs provide in particular numerical invariants of closed 3-manifolds such as…
We present a state sum construction of two-dimensional extended Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFTs), so-called open-closed TQFTs, which generalizes the state sum of Fukuma--Hosono--Kawai from triangulations of conventional…
The notion of 2-framed three-manifolds is defined. The category of 2-framed cobordisms is described, and used to define a 2-framed three-dimensional TQFT. Using skeletonization and special features of this category, a small set of data and…
A string-net model associates a vector space to a surface in terms of graphs decorated by objects and morphisms of a pivotal fusion category modulo local relations. String-net models are usually considered for spherical fusion categories,…
We define a family of quantum invariants of closed oriented $3$-manifolds using spherical multi-fusion categories. The state sum nature of this invariant leads directly to $(2+1)$-dimensional topological quantum field theories…
We give a presentation of the $n$-dimensional oriented cobordism category $\text{Cob}_n$ with generators corresponding to diffeomorphisms and surgeries along framed spheres, and a complete set of relations. Hence, given a functor $F$ from…
Topological quantum field theory (TQFT) is a powerful tool to describe homologies, which normally involve complexes and a variety of maps/morphisms, what makes a functional integration approach with a sum over a single kind of maps…
(Talk presented at the XVth Workshop on Geometric Methods in Physics, Quantizations, Deformations and Coherent States, in Bialowieza, Poland, July 1-7, 1996.) The aim of this article is to introduce some basic notions of Topological Quantum…
We develop a string-net construction for the (2,1)-dimensional part of a $G$-equivariant three-dimensional topological field theory based on a $G$-graded spherical fusion category. In this construction, a $G$-equivariant generalization of…
In this paper, we establish the general theory of (2+1)-dimensional topological quantum field theory (in short, TQFT) with a Verlinde basis. It is a consequence that we have a Dehn surgery formula for 3-manifold invariants for this kind of…
Let C be a spherical fusion category. We prove that the Turaev-Viro-Barrett-Westbury state sum invariant of 3-manifolds derived from C is equal to the Reshetikhin-Turaev surgery invariant of 3-manifolds derived from Z(C), where Z(C) is the…
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…
In this paper, we describe the relation between the Turaev--Viro TQFT and the string-net space introduced in the papers of Levin and Wen. In particular, the case of surfaces with boundary is considered in detail.
A shaped triangulation is a finite triangulation of an oriented pseudo three manifold where each tetrahedron carries dihedral angles of an ideal hyberbolic tetrahedron. To each shaped triangulation, we associate a quantum partition function…
Homotopy Quantum Field Theories (HQFTs) generalize more familiar Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFTs). In generalization of the surgery construction of 3-dimensional TQFTs from modular categories, we use surgery to derive…
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…
In the third paper in this series, we examine the Reshetikhin-Turaev and Turaev-Viro TQFTs at the level of surfaces. In particular, we show that for a closed surface $\Sigma$, $Z_{TV, \mathcal{C}}(\Sigma) \cong Z_{RT, Z(\C)}(\Sigma)$, thus…
Rooted in group field theory and matrix models, random tensor models are a recent background-invariant approach to quantum gravity in arbitrary dimensions. Colored tensor models (CTM) generate random triangulated orientable…
The goal of this work is to describe a categorical formalism for (Extended) Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFTs) and present them as functors from a suitable category of cobordisms with corners to a linear category, generalizing 2d…