Related papers: 2-dimensional TFTs via modular $\infty$-operads
We introduce the category of singular 2-dimensional cobordisms and show that it admits a completely algebraic description as the free symmetric monoidal category on a twin Frobenius algebra, by providing a description of this category in…
A classical result in quantum topology is that oriented 2-dimensional topological quantum field theories (2-TQFTs) are fully classified by commutative Frobenius algebras. In 2006, Turaev and Turner introduced additional structure on…
We show that the canonical equivalences of categories between 2-dimensional (unoriented) topological quantum field theories valued in a symmetric monoidal category and (extended) commutative Frobenius algebras in that symmetric monoidal…
We give two presentations for bordisms of $S^2$ in the 3-dimensional oriented bordism category $\operatorname{Cob}(3) $, encoding the algebraic structures on $S^2$. After passing through topological field theories, we define two kinds of…
This thesis provides an introduction to the various category theory ideas employed in topological quantum field theory. These theories are viewed as symmetric monoidal functors from topological cobordism categories into the category of…
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…
We consider the extension of classical 2-dimensional topological quantum field theories to Klein topological quantum field theories which allow unorientable surfaces. We approach this using the theory of modular operads by introducing a new…
This is an invited contribution to the 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics. We review the following algebraic structures which appear in two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT): The symmetries of two-dimensional…
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…
(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 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.…
In this paper, we describe a general theory of modules over an algebra over an operad. We also study functors between categories of modules. Specializing to the operad E_d of little d-dimensional disks, we show that each (d-1)-manifold…
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…
The author defined for each (commutative) Frobenius algebra a skein module of surfaces in a $3$-manifold $M$ bounding a closed $1$-manifold $\alpha \subset \partial M$. The surface components are colored by elements of the Frobenius…
When can two strongly rational vertex operator algebras or 1+1d rational conformal field theories (RCFTs) be related by topological manipulations? For vertex operator algebras, the term "topological manipulations" refers to operations like…
These notes offer a lightening introduction to topological quantum field theory in its functorial axiomatisation, assuming no or little prior exposure. We lay some emphasis on the connection between the path integral motivation and the…
These notes offer an introduction to the functorial and algebraic description of 2-dimensional topological quantum field theories `with defects', assuming only superficial familiarity with closed TQFTs in terms of commutative Frobenius…
We formulate rational conformal field theory in terms of a symmetric special Frobenius algebra A and its representations. A is an algebra in the modular tensor category of Moore-Seiberg data of the underlying chiral CFT. The multiplication…
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…
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…