Related papers: Open strings on knot complements

Exact solution to many problems in mathematical physics and quantum field theory often can be expressed in terms of an algebraic curve equipped with a meromorphic differential. Typically, the geometry of the curve can be seen most clearly…

We study topological string theory on elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau threefolds using mirror symmetry. We compute higher genus topological string amplitudes and express these in terms of polynomials of functions constructed from the…

Deformations of topological open string theories are described, with an emphasis on their algebraic structure. They are encoded in the mixed bulk-boundary correlators. They constitute the Hochschild complex of the open string algebra -- the…

We study the equivariant generalization of topological strings on toric manifolds, focusing in particular on defining the contributions of constant maps in the genus expansion of the partition function. This approach regularizes the…

We use the operator formalism to derive the bosonic contribution to the twisted open string partition function in toroidal compactifications. This amplitude describes, for instance, the planar interaction between g+1 magnetized or…

We propose a version of the volume conjecture that would relate a certain limit of the colored Jones polynomials of a knot to the volume function defined by a representation of the fundamental group of the knot complement to the special…

Computing topological invariants of 3-manifolds is generally intractable, yet specialized algebraic structures can enable efficient algorithms. For Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev (WRT) invariants of torus bundles, we exploit the non-commutative…

The topological string partition function Z=exp(lambda^{2g-2} F_g) is calculated on a compact Calabi-Yau M. The F_g fulfill the holomorphic anomaly equations, which imply that Z transforms as a wave function on the symplectic space…

The physical 3d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theory T[Y] was previously used to predict the existence of some 3-manifold invariants $\hat{Z}_{a}(q)$ that take the form of power series with integer coefficients, converging in the unit disk. Their radial…

Besides offering a friendly introduction to knot homologies and quantum curves, the goal of these lectures is to review some of the concrete predictions that follow from the physical interpretation of knot homologies. In particular, this…

Motivated by string theory connection, a covariant procedure for perturbative calculation of the partition function of the two-dimensional generalized $\sigma$-model is considered. The importance of a consistent regularization of the…

We relate invariants of torus knots to the counts of a class of lattice paths, which we call generalized Schr\"oder paths. We determine generating functions of such paths, located in a region determined by a type of a torus knot under…

We present a string theory that reproduces the large-$N$ expansion of two dimensional Yang-Mills gauge theory on arbitrary surfaces. First, a new class of topological sigma models is introduced, with path integrals localized to the moduli…

In recent work we have developed a new unfolding method for computing one-loop modular integrals in string theory involving the Narain partition function and, possibly, a weak almost holomorphic elliptic genus. Unlike the traditional…

We make a new attempt at the recently suggested program to express knot polynomials through topological vertices, which can be considered as a possible approach to the tangle calculus: we discuss the Macdonald deformation of the relation…

Closed string amplitudes at genus $h\leq 3$ are given by integrals of Siegel modular functions on a fundamental domain of the Siegel upper half-plane. When the integrand is of rapid decay near the cusps, the integral can be computed by the…

We revisit partition functions of closed strings on toroidal backgrounds, including their $\mathbb{Z}_N$ shift orbifolds in the formalism where the dimension of the target space is doubled to make T-duality manifest. In such a T-duality…

We study refined topological string theory in the presence of orientifolds by counting second-quantized BPS states in M-theory. This leads us to propose a new integrality condition for both refined and unrefined topological strings when…

We study closed N=2 strings on orbifolds of the form T^4/Z_2 and C^2/Z_2. We compute the torus partition function and prove its modular invariance. We analyse the BRST cohomology of the theory, construct the vertex operators, and compute…

To each local field (including the real or complex numbers) we associate a quantum dilogarithm and show that it satisfies a pentagon identity and some symmetries. Using an angled version of these quantum dilogarithms, we construct three…