Tensor Categories and Topological Field Theory

The Atlantic Algebra Centre in St.John’s is hosting a mini course on tensor categories and topological field theory by Professor Christoph Schweigert from the University of Hamburg during the week from March 5 to March 9, 2018. The mini course will connect algebra, where tensor categories frequently arise as representation categories of Hopf algebras, to physics, where topological field theories arise in string theory via the so-called topological twist. Professor Schweigert, who is a physicist by education and also the head of the algebra group at the University of Hamburg, is in a unique position to connect these two topics. In 2008, he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid, where he lectured on related topics. In 2006, he was awarded the Gay-Lussac-Humboldt prize.