Higher Categorical Tools for Quantum Phases of Matter

An *open-closed tqft* is a tqft with a choice of boundary condition. Example: the sigma model for a sufficiently finite space, with its Neumann boundary. Slogan: every open-closed tqft is (sigma model, Neumann boundary) for some “quantum space”. In this talk, I will construct homotopy groups for every such “quantum space” (and recover usual homotopy groups). More precisely, these “groups” are Hopf in some category. Given a “quantum fibre bundle” (a relative open-closed tqft), I will construct a Puppe long exact sequence. Retracts in 3-categories and a higher Beck-Chevalley condition will make appearances. This project is joint work in progress with David Reutter.

Motivated by the dagger category of Hilbert spaces, we explore the mathematical axiomatization of unitary topological field theory (TFT) using dagger categories. Recent advancements have elucidated the structure of higher dagger categories, paving the way for a precise definition of extended unitary TFTs. I will present an explicit formulation of once extended TFTs utilizing various versions of dagger bicategories. This framework enables a complete classification of unitary extended two-dimensional TFTs with arbitrary symmetry groups in terms of their unitary 2-representations. This is joint work in progress with Lukas Muller.

here are two notions of a symmetry of a group G on a 3d topological order (TO): an "algebraic" symmetry, where G acts by automorphisms on the tensor category defining the (TO), and a "field-theoretic" symmetry, where the TFT corresponding to the TO is extended to manifolds with a principal G-bundle. The "field-theoretic" notion is stronger than the "algebraic" one, and the obstruction is sometimes referred to as the anomaly of the TO. The goal of this talk is to discuss a project joint with Weicheng Ye and Matthew Yu on computing these anomalies for fermionic TOs/spin TFTs: we develop a general framework employing Gaiotto-Kapustin's bosonic shadow construction. I will discuss both the mathematical conjectures our framework rests on as well as its use in examples. The Smith long exact sequence appears in our computations.