arXiv subjects

Alessandro Valentino

Publications and source records attributed to Alessandro Valentino.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Morita Bicategories of Algebras and Duality Involutions

The notion of a weak duality involution on a bicategory was recently introduced by Shulman in [arXiv:1606.05058]. We construct a weak duality involution on the fully dualisable part of $\text{Alg}$, the Morita bicategory of finite-dimensional k-algebras. The 2-category $\text{KV}$ of Kapranov-Voevodsky k-vector spaces may be equipped with a canonical strict duality involution. We show that the pseudofunctor $\text{Rep}: \text{Alg}^{fd} \to \text{KV}$ sending an algebra to its category of finite-dimensional modules may be canonically equipped with the structure of a duality pseudofunctor. Thus $\text{Rep}$ is a strictification in the sense of Shulman's strictification theorem for bicategories with a weak duality involution. Finally, we present a general setting for duality involutions on the Morita bicategory of algebras in a semisimple symmetric finite tensor category.

math.CT↗

arXiv2018

The Serre automorphism via homotopy actions and the Cobordism Hypothesis for oriented manifolds

We explicitly construct an SO(2)-action on a skeletal version of the 2-dimensional framed bordism bicategory. By the 2-dimensional Cobordism Hypothesis for framed manifolds, we obtain an SO(2)-action on the core of fully-dualizable objects of the target bicategory. This action is shown to coincide with the one given by the Serre automorphism. We give an explicit description of the bicategory of homotopy fixed points of this action, and discuss its relation to the classification of oriented 2d topological quantum field theories.

math.QA↗

arXiv2017

Frobenius algebras and homotopy fixed points of group actions on bicategories

We explicitly show that symmetric Frobenius structures on a finite-dimensional, semi-simple algebra stand in bijection to homotopy fixed points of the trivial SO(2)-action on the bicategory of finite-dimensional, semi-simple algebras, bimodules and intertwiners. The results are motivated by the 2-dimensional Cobordism Hypothesis for oriented manifolds, and can hence be interpreted in the realm of Topological Quantum Field Theory.

math.QA↗

arXiv2016

Central extensions of mapping class groups from characteristic classes

We characterize, for every higher smooth stack equipped with "tangential structure", the induced higher group extension of the geometric realization of its higher automorphism stack. We show that when restricted to smooth manifolds equipped with higher degree topological structures, this produces higher extensions of homotopy types of diffeomorphism groups. Passing to the groups of connected components, we obtain abelian extensions of mapping class groups and we derive sufficient conditions for these being central. We show as a special case that this provides an elegant re-construction of Segal's approach to $\mathbb{Z}$-extensions of mapping class groups of surfaces that provides the anomaly cancellation of the modular functor in Chern-Simons theory. Our construction generalizes Segal's approach to higher central extensions of mapping class groups of higher dimensional manifolds with higher tangential structures, expected to provide the analogous anomaly cancellation for higher dimensional TQFTs.

math.AT↗

arXiv2015

On the Brauer groups of symmetries of abelian Dijkgraaf-Witten theories

Symmetries of three-dimensional topological field theories are naturally defined in terms of invertible topological surface defects. Symmetry groups are thus Brauer-Picard groups. We present a gauge theoretic realization of all symmetries of abelian Dijkgraaf-Witten theories. The symmetry group for a Dijkgraaf-Witten theory with gauge group a finite abelian group $A$, and with vanishing 3-cocycle, is generated by group automorphisms of $A$, by automorphisms of the trivial Chern-Simons 2-gerbe on the stack of $A$-bundles, and by partial e-m dualities. We show that transmission functors naturally extracted from extended topological field theories with surface defects give a physical realization of the bijection between invertible bimodule categories of a fusion category and braided auto-equivalences of its Drinfeld center. The latter provides the labels for bulk Wilson lines; it follows that a symmetry is completely characterized by its action on bulk Wilson lines.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Boundary Conditions for Topological Quantum Field Theories, Anomalies and Projective Modular Functors

We study boundary conditions for extended topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) and their relation to topological anomalies. We introduce the notion of TQFTs with moduli level $m$, and describe extended anomalous theories as natural transformations of invertible field theories of this type. We show how in such a framework anomalous theories give rise naturally to homotopy fixed points for $n$-characters on $\infty$-groups. By using dimensional reduction on manifolds with boundaries, we show how boundary conditions for $n+1$-dimensional TQFTs produce $n$-dimensional anomalous field theories. Finally, we analyse the case of fully extended TQFTs, and show that any fully extended anomalous theory produces a suitable boundary condition for the anomaly field theory.

math.QA↗

arXiv2014

A geometric approach to boundaries and surface defects in Dijkgraaf-Witten theories

Dijkgraaf-Witten theories are extended three-dimensional topological field theories of Turaev-Viro type. They can be constructed geometrically from categories of bundles via linearization. Boundaries and surface defects or interfaces in quantum field theories are of interest in various applications and provide structural insight. We perform a geometric study of boundary conditions and surface defects in Dijkgraaf-Witten theories. A crucial tool is the linearization of categories of relative bundles. We present the categories of generalized Wilson lines produced by such a linearization procedure. We establish that they agree with the Wilson line categories that are predicted by the general formalism for boundary conditions and surface defects in three-dimensional topological field theories that has been developed in arXive:1203.4568.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

A Serre-Swan theorem for gerbe modules on étale Lie groupoids

Given a bundle gerbe on a compact smooth manifold or, more generally, on a compact étale Lie groupoid $M$, we show that the corresponding category of gerbe modules, if it is non-trivial, is equivalent to the category of finitely generated projective modules over an Azumaya algebra on $M$. This result can be seen as an equivariant Serre-Swan theorem for twisted vector bundles.

math.AT↗

arXiv2013

Bicategories for boundary conditions and for surface defects in 3-d TFT

We analyze topological boundary conditions and topological surface defects in three-dimensional topological field theories of Reshetikhin-Turaev type based on arbitrary modular tensor categories. Boundary conditions are described by central functors that lift to trivializations in the Witt group of modular tensor categories. The bicategory of boundary conditions can be described through the bicategory of module categories over any such trivialization. A similar description is obtained for topological surface defects. Using string diagrams for bicategories we also establish a precise relation between special symmetric Frobenius algebras and Wilson lines involving special defects. We compare our results with previous work of Kapustin-Saulina and of Kitaev-Kong on boundary conditions and surface defects in abelian Chern-Simons theories and in Turaev-Viro type TFTs, respectively.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

T-duality and Differential K-Theory

We give a precise formulation of T-duality for Ramond-Ramond fields. This gives a canonical isomorphism between the "geometrically invariant" subgroups of the twisted differential K-theory of certain principal torus bundles. Our result combines topological T-duality with the Buscher rules found in physics.

math.KT↗

arXiv2009

KO-Homology and Type I String Theory

We study the classification of D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields in Type I string theory by developing a geometric description of KO-homology. We define an analytic version of KO-homology using KK-theory of real C*-algebras, and construct explicitly the isomorphism between geometric and analytic KO-homology. The construction involves recasting the Cl(n)-index theorem and a certain geometric invariant into a homological framework which is used, along with a definition of the real Chern character in KO-homology, to derive cohomological index formulas. We show that this invariant also naturally assigns torsion charges to non-BPS states in Type I string theory, in the construction of classes of D-branes in terms of topological KO-cycles. The formalism naturally captures the coupling of Ramond-Ramond fields to background D-branes which cancel global anomalies in the string theory path integral. We show that this is related to a physical interpretation of bivariant KK-theory in terms of decay processes on spacetime-filling branes. We also provide a construction of the holonomies of Ramond-Ramond fields in Type II string theory in terms of topological K-chains.

hep-th↗

arXiv2008

K-Theory, D-Branes and Ramond-Ramond Fields

This thesis is dedicated to the study of K-theoretical properties of D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields. We construct abelian groups which define a homology theory on the category of CW-complexes, and prove that this homology theory is equivalent to the bordism representation of KO-homology, the dual theory to KO-theory. We construct an isomorphism between our geometric representation and the analytic representation of KO-homology, which induces a natural equivalence of homology functors. We apply this framework to describe mathematical properties of D-branes in type I String theory. We investigate the gauge theory of Ramond-Ramond fields arising from type II String theory defined on global orbifolds. We use the machinery of Bredon cohomology and the equivariant Chern character to construct abelian groups which generalize the properties of differential K-theory defined by Hopkins and Singer to the equivariant setting, and can be considered as a differential extension of equivariant K-theory for finite groups. We show that the Dirac quantization condition for Ramond-Ramond fieldstrengths on a good orbifold is dictated by equivariant K-theory and the equivariant Chern character, and study the group of flat Ramond-Ramond fields in the particular case of linear orbifolds in terms of our orbifold differential K-theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Ramond-Ramond Fields, Fractional Branes and Orbifold Differential K-Theory

We study D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields on global orbifolds of Type II string theory with vanishing H-flux using methods of equivariant K-theory and K-homology. We illustrate how Bredon equivariant cohomology naturally realizes stringy orbifold cohomology. We emphasize its role as the correct cohomological tool which captures known features of the low-energy effective field theory, and which provides new consistency conditions for fractional D-branes and Ramond-Ramond fields on orbifolds. We use an equivariant Chern character from equivariant K-theory to Bredon cohomology to define new Ramond-Ramond couplings of D-branes which generalize previous examples. We propose a definition for groups of differential characters associated to equivariant K-theory. We derive a Dirac quantization rule for Ramond-Ramond fluxes, and study flat Ramond-Ramond potentials on orbifolds.

hep-th↗