Week 4: Higher Structures and Field Theory

22.08.2022 09:00 - 26.08.2022 16:30

The programme is devoted to the fruitful interaction between the theory of higher structures and mathematical approaches to field theory. This interaction goes in both directions.

On the one hand, field theory constantly inspires new developments in almost all fields of mathematics. And higher stuctures including the modern homotopy theory and supergeometry are among the first recepients of these ideas. There is also a renewed interest in mathematical approaches to field theory including algebraic perturbative quantum field theory, factorization homology etc.

On the other hand, many tools of the higher stucture theory naturally enter the language of quantum field theory. Among the examples are A-infinity and L-infinity stuctures, Batalin-Vilkovisky structures (first discovered in physics, they made their home in mathematics, and are now back on the physics arena) and many others. An impressive recent development is the use of higher structures in the classification of states of matter.

The programme will bring together specialists in higher structures and classical and quantum field theory to create more interaction on these exciting topics.

Organiser:
A. Alekseev (U Geneve), S. Fredenhagen (U Vienna), N. Reshetikhin (UC, Berkeley), T. Strobl (U Lyon), C. Zhu (U Goettingen)
Location:

ESI, Boltzmann Lecture Hall, Boltzmanngasse 9/2,1090 Wien