arXiv subjects

Patrick Kinnear

Publications and source records attributed to Patrick Kinnear.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Defects in skein theory and TQFT

Given a 3-manifold $M$ with a network of line and point defects in its boundary, we define the skein module of this configuration, generalizing the well-studied case of 3-manifolds which only admit point defects in the boundary. We prove that when all defects are labelled by semisimple data, our skein module is isomorphic to the state space of $\partial M$ in the defect version of the Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFT constructed by Carqueville-Runkel-Schaumann. Our defect skein modules follow naturally by globalizing the graphical calculus of module categories and functors thereof, and generalize the possible defect data considered in the defect TQFT beyond the semisimple case.

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arXiv2025

Higher tensor categories and their extensions: notes from the Scottish Talbot On Algebra and Topology

These lecture notes are the product of a week-long learning workshop on the work of Johnson-Freyd and Reutter on the problem of the existence of minimal nondegenerate extensions of braided fusion categories (arXiv:2105.15167). They recount the mathematical arguments of the original paper from an expository angle, with background material covering the algebra and homotopy theory required to understand the statement and follow the proof. The notes are aimed at newcomers to the field of (braided) fusion 1- and 2-categories.

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arXiv2024

Non-semisimple Crane-Yetter theory varying over the character stack

We construct a relative version of the Crane-Yetter topological quantum field theory in four dimensions, from non-semisimple data. Our theory is defined relative to the classical $G$-gauge theory in five dimensions -- this latter theory assigns to each manifold $M$ the appropriate linearization of the moduli stack of $G$-local systems, called the character stack. Our main result is to establish a relative invertibility property for our construction. This invertibility generalizes the key invertibility property of the original Crane-Yetter theory which allowed it to capture the framing anomaly of the celebrated Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev theory. In particular our invertibilty statement at the level of surfaces implies a categorical, stacky version of the unicity theorem for skein algebras; at the level of 3-manifolds it equips the character stack with a canonical line bundle. Regarded as a topological symmetry defect of classical gauge theory, our work establishes invertibility of this defect by a gauging procedure.

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arXiv2023

Skein module dimensions of mapping tori of the 2-torus

We determine the dimension of the Kauffman bracket skein module at generic $q$ for mapping tori of the 2-torus, generalising the well-known computation of Carrega and Gilmer. In the process, we give a decomposition of the twisted Hochschild homology of the $G$-skein algebra for $G = \mathrm{SL}_N$ or $\mathrm{GL}_N$, which is a direct summand of the whole skein module, and from which the dimensions follow easily in the cases $G = \mathrm{SL}_2$ and $G = \mathrm{GL}_1$.

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