Mathematical Physics

I will introduce ($q$-)opers on a projective line in the presence of twists and singularities and will discuss the space of such opers. We will see how Bethe Ansatz equations for quantum spin chains and energy level equations of classical soluble models of Calogero-Ruijsenaars type naturally appear from the oper construction. Both can also be described in terms of so-called $QQ$-systems, which have their origins in algebra and representation theory. Our construction is universal and works for any simple, simply-connected complex Lie group $G$.

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Zoom link https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94393767928?pwd=Qkg2eG5CME5sQjNEV2lDVVNyMktDQT09

Abstract TBA

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Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91816652867?pwd=bnQzYzA0SXBuL3BTTmNUMFBMcEFWdz09

We study the quantum connection in positive characteristic for conical symplectic resolutions. We conjecture the equivalence of the p-curvature of such connections with (equivariant generalizations of) quantum Steenrod operations of Fukaya and Wilkins, which are endomorphisms of mod p quantum cohomology deforming the Steenrod operations. The conjecture is verified in a wide range of examples, including the Springer resolution, thereby providing a geometric interpretation of the p-curvature and a full computation of quantum Steenrod operations. The key ingredients are a new compatibility relation between the quantum Steenrod operations and the shift operators, and structural results for the mod p quantum connection recently obtained by Etingof--Varchenko.

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Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91010341249?pwd=QXJuMlJrWWd0dHpPdUpDUGVqVmYvZz09

In quantum field theories, locality and unitarity are essential properties. For functorial field theories, locality is manifested through compatibility with cutting and gluing of manifolds, which can be fully encoded in the definition of fully extended functorial field theories. However, unitarity or reflection positivity (its Euclidean version) has so far only been defined for non-extended or invertible field theories. In this talk, I will address the challenge of defining reflection positivity for extended topological field theories, proposing a definition based on a version of higher dagger categories.

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Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/93806769415?pwd=TVJFbWlJK0JyZCtjbHMvOWYxVUlRUT09

In this talk I will explain my works with Y. Tachikawa to study anomaly in heterotic string theory via homotopy theory, especially the theory of Topological Modular Forms (TMF). TMF is an E-infinity ring spectrum which is conjectured by Stolz-Teichner to classify two-dimensional supersymmetric quantum field theories in physics. In the previous work (https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.13542), we proved the vanishing of anomalies in heterotic string theory mathematically by using TMF. Furthermore, we have a recent update (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.06196) on the previous work. Because of the vanishing result, we can consider a secondary transformation of spectra, which is shown to coincide with the Anderson self-duality morphism of TMF. This allows us to detect subtle torsion phenomena in TMF by differential-geometric ways, and leads us to new conjectures on the relation between VOAs and TMF.

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Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95550331572?pwd=OW1oYlBvUWVxaGNJRWl5aHVrS0pJZz09

A consequence of the works of Costello and Lurie is that the Hochschild chain complex of a Calabi-Yau category admit the structure of a framed E_2 algebra (the genus zero operations). I will describe a new algebraic point of view on these operations which admits generalizations to the setting of relative Calabi-Yau structures, which do not seem to fit into the framework of TQFTs. In particular, we obtain a generalization of string topology to manifolds with boundary, as well as interesting operations on Hochschild homology of Fano varieties. Time permitting, I will explain some applications to quiver varieties. This is joint work with Christopher Brav.

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Zoom link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/97363589637?pwd=T25YS0ZYQlBSWm5maXhQTklpSm50UT09