Mathematical Physics

I'll do my best to explain my approach to the BFN construction of (quantum) Coulomb branches.  This approach is based on viewing the BFN algebra as an endomorphism algebra in a larger category that's easier to present (and which we can draw some pretty pictures for).  In particular, this approach is helpful in understanding the representation theory of this algebra, and in constructing and analyzing tilting generators on Coulomb branches.

The talk is based on my recent work with Ryan Aziz. We find a dual version of a previous double-bosonisation theorem whereby each finite-dimensional braided-Hopf algebra in the category of corepresentations of a coquasitriangular Hopf algebra gives a new larger coquasitriangular Hopf algebra, for example taking c_q[SL_2] to c_q[SL_3] for these quantum groups reduced at certain odd roots of unity. As an application we find new generators for c_q[SL2] with the remarkable property that their monomials are essentially a dual basis to the standard PBW basis of the reduced quantum enveloping algebra u_q(sl2). This allows one to calculate  Fourier transform and other results for such quantum groups. Our method also works for even roots of unity where we obtain new finite-dimensional quantum groups, including an 8-dimensional one at q=-1. Our method
can be used to construct  many other new finite-dimensional  quasitriangular Hopf algebras and their duals that could be fed into applications in quantum gravity and quantum computing.

We use the cluster structure on the Grassmannian and the combinatorics of plabic graphs to exhibit a new aspect of mirror symmetry for Grassmannians in terms of polytopes. From a given plabic graph G we have two coordinate systems: we have a network chart for the A-model Grassmannian, and a cluster chart for the B-model (Landau-Ginzburg model) Grassmannian. On the A-model side, we use the network chart from G and an ample divisor D to define an associated Newton-Okounkov polytope NO_G(D). We give explicit formulas for the lattice points in NO_G(D) in terms of the combinatorics of Young diagrams.   We then reinterpret NO_G(D) in terms of the superpotential and the cluster chart for the B- model Grassmannian. *This is joint work with Konstanze Rietsch. 

Kontsevich and Soibelman defined Donaldson-Thomas invariants of a 3d Calabi-Yau category with a stability condition. Any cluster variety gives rise to a family of such categories. Their DT invariants are encapsulated in single formal automorphism of the cluster variety, called the DT-transformation. An oriented surface S with punctures, and a finite number of special points on the boundary give rise to a moduli space, closely related to the moduli space of PGL(m)-local systems on S, which carries a canonical cluster Poisson variety structure. We determine the DT-transformation of this space. This is a joint work with Alexander Goncharov.

I will present some results on three-dimensional gauge theory from the point of view of extended topological field theory. In this setting a theory is specified by describing its collection of boundary conditions - in our case, a collection of categories (standing in for 2d TFTs) with a prescribed symmetry group G. We will apply ideas from Seiberg-Witten geometry to construct a new commutative algebra of symmetries for categorical representations (or line operators in the gauge theory) -  a categorification of Kostant's description of the center of the enveloping algebra. (Joint with Sam Gunningham and David Nadler)

The notion of singular support for coherent sheaves was introduced by Arinkin and Gaitsgory in order to carefully state the geometric Langlands conjecture.  This is a conjectural equivalence of categories of sheaves on certain moduli spaces: in order to make the conjecture reasonable one needs to restrict to sheaves which satisfy a certain "singular support condition".  In this talk I'll explain how to think about this singular support condition from the point of view of boundary conditions in twisted N=4 gauge theory.  Specifically, Arinkin and Gaitsgory's singular support condition arises by considering only those boundary conditions which are compatible with a natural choice of vacuum state.  By allowing this vacuum state to move away from this natural choice we see aspects of a rich additional structure for the geometric Langlands correspondence.  This work is joint with Philsang Yoo.

In this talk, we will discuss an open Gromov-Witten invariant on hyperKahler surfaces, including K3 surfaces and certain Hitchin moduli spaces. The invariant is defined via the Lagrangian Floer theory and satisfy the Kontsevich-Soibelman wall-crossing formula and are expect to recover the generalized Donaldson-Thomas invariants studied in the work of Gaiotto-Moore-Neitzke.

The notion of Positive Representations is a new research program devoted to the representation theory of split real quantum groups, initiated in a joint work with Igor Frenkel. It is a generalization of the special class of representations considered by J. Teschner for Uq(sl(2,R)) in Liouville theory, where it exhibits a strong parallel to the finite-dimensional representation theory of compact quantum groups, but at the same time also serves some new properties that are not available in the compact case. In this talk, I will survey the recent developments and describe some of its relations to other areas of mathematics. 

I will discuss some results on double loop groups that point to geometric phenomena about double affine flag varieties and double affine Grassmannian. One result of this study is a definition of double affine Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials.

This talk concerns a family of special functions common to the study of quantum conformal blocks and hypergeometric solutions to q-KZB type equations.  In the first half, I will explain two methods for their construction -- as traces of intertwining operators between representations of quantum affine algebras and as certain theta hypergeometric integrals we term Felder-Varchenko functions.  I will then explain our proof by bosonization the first case of Etingof-Varchenko's conjecture that these constructions are related by a simple renormalization.

The second half of the talk will concern applications to affine Macdonald theory.  I will present refinements of the denominator and evaluation conjectures for affine Macdonald polynomials proposed by Etingof-Kirillov Jr.  I will then explain how to prove the first non-trivial cases of these conjectures by combining the methods of the first half and well-chosen applications of the elliptic beta integral.   The second half of this talk is joint work with E. Rains and A. Varchenko.

The physics proof of the Atiyah-Singer index theorem relates the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian approaches to quantization of N=1 supersymmetric mechanics. Similar ideas applied to the N=(0,1) supersymmetric sigma model construct two versions of elliptic cohomology: elliptic cohomology at the Tate curve over the integers and the universal elliptic cohomology theory over the complex numbers. Quantization procedures give analytic constructions of wrong-way maps in these cohomology theories. Relating these to the Ando-Hopkins-Strickland-Rezk string orientation of topological modular points to intricate torsion invariants associated with these sigma models.