Sonstige Vorträge

I will introduce a class of topological defects in Liouville / Toda conformal field theory supported on tri-valent networks drawn on a Riemann surface with punctures. In the classical limit, each defect network defines a trace functional on the space of SL(n,R) flat connections on this Riemann surface. In the quantum theory, they are difference operators acting the space of Virasoro / W-algebra conformal blocks, generalising a construction of Verlinde. I will show that the topological defects obey a set of skein relations appearing in the construction of quantum knot invariants. The above considerations are motivated by applications to the correspondence between Liouville / Toda theory and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in four-dimensions. In this context, the topological defects correspond to the expectation values of half-BPS loop operators with both electric and magnetic charge. The skein relations allow a simple computation of the operator product expansion of these loop operators.

Mittwoch, den 23. Oktober 2013 um 13:15 Uhr, in INF288, HS 2 Mittwoch, den 23. Oktober 2013 at 13:15, in INF288, HS 2

Der Vortrag folgt der Einladung von The lecture takes place at invitation by A. Wienhard, D. Roggenkamp