Topological Field Theories and Stable Diffeomorphism

by Prof. Christopher Schommer-Pries (University Notre Dame)

Tuesday 30 May 2023, 17:00 → 18:00 Europe/Berlin

H4 (Geom)

Abstract: Topological Quantum Field Theories give rise to manifold invariants and it is an interesting philosophical question as to what sort of invariants arise this way. Attempting to answer this question will lead us to connections with representation theory as well as the technique of Mobius inversion. The latter has applications in number theory, combinatorics, and group theory. A generalization of this technique will allow us to prove a positive result, that TQFTs can detect stable diffeomorphism type of manifolds satisfying a certain finiteness condition. No prior experience with TQFTs will be assumed.