Related papers: String nets for twisted pivotal categories
We show that the string representation of the QCD$_2$ partition function satisfies, by virtue of a Young-tableau-transposition symmetry, the topological constraint that any branched covering of an orientable or nonorientable surface without…
We apply the cobordism hypothesis with singularities to the case of affine Rozansky--Witten models, providing a construction of extended TQFTs that includes all line and surface defects. On a technical level, this amounts to proving that…
Using basic homotopy constructions, we show that isomorphism classes of string structures on spin bundles are naturally given by certain degree 3 cohomology classes, which we call string classes, on the total space of the bundle. Using a…
In this chapter we survey some particular topics in category theory in a somewhat unconventional manner. Our main focus will be on monoidal categories, mostly symmetric ones, for which we propose a physical interpretation. These are…
Let $A$ be either a simplicial complex $K$ or a small category $\mathcal C$ with $V(A)$ as its set of vertices or objects. We define a twisted structure on $A$ with coefficients in a simplicial group $G$ as a function $$ \delta\colon…
This paper develops a theory of monoidal categories relative to a braided monoidal category, called augmented monoidal categories. For such categories, balanced bimodules are defined using the formalism of balanced functors. The two main…
We study monoidal categories that enjoy a certain weakening of the rigidity property, namely, the existence of a dualizing object in the sense of Grothendieck and Verdier. We call them Grothendieck-Verdier categories. Notable examples…
The Reshetikhin-Turaev invariant, Turaev's TQFT, and many related constructions rely on the encoding of certain tangles (n-string links, or ribbon n-handles) as n-forms on the coend of a ribbon category. We introduce the monoidal category…
Zhang twists are a common tool for deforming graded algebras over a field in a way that preserves important ring-theoretic properties. We generalize Zhang twists to the setting of closed monoidal categories equipped with their self-enriched…
We develop a notion of iterated monoidal category and show that this notion corresponds in a precise way to the notion of iterated loop space. Specifically the group completion of the nerve of such a category is an iterated loop space and…
A symmetric monoidal category naturally arises as the mathematical structure that organizes physical systems, processes, and composition thereof, both sequentially and in parallel. This structure admits a purely graphical calculus. This…
In this paper automorphic motives are constructed and analyzed with a view toward the understanding of the geometry of compactification manifolds in string theory in terms of the modular structure of the worldsheet theory. The results…
In recent years, a close connection between supergravity, string effective actions and generalized geometry has been discovered that typically involves a doubling of geometric structures. We investigate this relation from the point of view…
In categorified symplectic geometry, one studies the categorified algebraic and geometric structures that naturally arise on manifolds equipped with a closed nondegenerate (n+1)-form. The case relevant to classical string theory is when n=2…
Traced monoidal categories are used to model processes that can feed their outputs back to their own inputs, abstracting iteration. The category of finite dimensional Hilbert spaces with the direct sum tensor is not traced. But…
Invariants of 3-manifolds from a non semi-simple category of modules over a version of quantum $sl(2)$ were obtained by the last three authors in arXiv:1202.3553 . They are invariants of $3$-manifolds together with a cohomology class which…
We consider a pivotal monoidal functor whose domain is a modular tensor category (MTC). We show that the trace of such a functor naturally extends to a representation of the corresponding tube category. As irreducible representations of the…
In this paper we present three new families of smooth Type II string theory backgrounds. These are dual to supersymmetry-preserving deformations of 4d SCFTs. The deformations include a VEV for a global current and a `twisted…
In [arXiv:1509.02937], the notion of a module tensor category was introduced as a braided monoidal central functor $F\colon \mathcal{V}\longrightarrow \mathcal{T}$ from a braided monoidal category $\mathcal{V}$ to a monoidal category…
We construct a monoidal structure on the category of assemblers. As an application of this, we construct a derived local zeta-function which takes a variety over a finite field to the set of points over the separable closure, and use the…