A THREE-DIMENSIONAL BRIDGE BETWEEN PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS
Speaker: Tudor Dimofte, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Location: 1147 MSB
Start time: Fri, Jan 23 2015, 4:10PM
I will discuss aspects of a "3d-3d correspondence" that assigns a three-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory T[M] to any three-manifold M. The assignment is of a functorial nature, and has connected the study of 3d gauge theories to some beautiful mathematics, including "quantum" topological invariants of 3-manifolds, their categorification via a new analogue of Khovanov homology, the combinatorics of ideal triangulations (as first developed by Thurston and Neumann-Zagier), and the study of cluster algebras and their morphisms. In all these cases, the interplay between mathematics and physics has led to new insights, structure, and results.
Refreshments will be served in the room 20 minutes before the talk.
