Related papers: Deformation of string topology into homotopy skein…
The most general gauge-invariant marginal deformation of four-dimensional abelian BF-type topological field theory is studied. It is shown that the deformed quantum field theory is topological and that its observables compute, in addition…
For each skein module we describe a homology theory which, for any three manifold recovers the skein module at its zero level. The theory measures skein-like relations among skein relations, mimicking Hilbert's theory of syzygies. We work…
In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of the Serre spectral sequence with respect to the algebraic structures of string topology in generalized homology theories, specificially with the Chas-Sullivan product and the corresponding…
In this expository paper we discuss a project regarding the string topology of a manifold, that was inspired by recent work of Moore-Segal, Costello, and Hopkins and Lurie, on "open-closed topological conformal field theories". Given a…
Large N duality conjecture between U(N) Chern-Simons gauge theory on $S^3$ and A-model topological string theory on the resolved conifold was verified at the level of partition function and Wilson loop observables. As a consequence, the…
We study skein modules of 3-manifolds by embedding them into the Hilbert spaces of 4d ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theories. When the 3-manifold has reduced holonomy, we present an algorithm to determine the dimension and the list of…
We apply the techniques of totally twisted Khovanov homology to the constructions by M. Asaeda, J. Przytycki, and A. Sikora of Khovanov type homologies for links and tangles in I-bundles over (orientable) surfaces. As a result we describe…
This survey reviews recent advances connecting link homology theories to invariants of smooth 4-manifolds and extended topological quantum field theories. Starting from joint work with Morrison and Walker, I explain how functorial link…
Skein modules are the main objects of an algebraic topology based on knots (or position). In the same spirit as Leibniz we would call our approach "algebra situs." When looking at the panorama of skein modules we see, past the rolling hills…
We prove that on 2-connected closed oriented manifolds, the analytic and algebraic constructions of an IBL$_\infty$ structure associated to a closed oriented manifold coincide. The corresponding structure is invariant under orientation…
This thesis is almost entirely devoted to studying string theory backgrounds characterized by simple geometrical and integrability properties. The archetype of this type of system is given by Wess-Zumino-Witten models, describing string…
Recent progress in string theory has led to a reformulation of quantum-group polynomial invariants for knots and links into new polynomial invariants whose coefficients can be understood in topological terms. We describe in detail how to…
The Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit of the refined topological string on toric Calabi-Yau manifolds and the resulting quantum geometry is studied from a non-perturbative perspective. The quantum differential and thus the quantum periods exhibit…
We introduce a common domain of definition for the loop product and the loop coproduct, reduced loop homology, on which they combine to a unital infinitesimal anti-symmetric bialgebra structure. In particular, a relation conjectured by…
This note explores the interaction between cohomology operations in a generalized cohomology theory and a string topology loop coproduct dual to the Chas--Sullivan loop product. More precisely, we ask for a description for the failure of a…
We study the homotopy aspects of the twisted Chern classes of torsion bundle gerbe modules. Using Sullivan's rational homotopy theory, we realize the twisted Chern classes at the level of classifying spaces. The construction suggests a…
We connect the homotopy type of simplicial moduli spaces of algebraic structures to the cohomology of their deformation complexes. Then we prove that under several assumptions, mapping spaces of algebras over a monad in an appropriate…
Certain two dimensional topological field theories can be interpreted as string theory backgrounds in which the usual decoupling of ghosts and matter does not hold. Like ordinary string models, these can sometimes be given space-time…
In this thesis we probe various interactions between toric geometry and string theory. First, the notion of a top was introduced by Candelas and Font as a useful tool to investigate string dualities. These objects torically encode the local…
The Heterotic twistor string theory of Mason and Skinner is investigated with particular attention given to the role of topological gravity on the world-sheet. The general structure of scattering amplitudes is discussed and expressed in…