Abelianization, exact WKB and link invariants

Abstract: It has been understood in the last decade that various different problems, including

1) the exact WKB method for studying monodromy of linear ODEs,

2) the study of some link invariants, such as the Jones polynomial,

3) the computation of classical Chern-Simons invariants of flat connections,

can all be understood as aspects of a general strategy for reduction from a nonabelian Lie group to its maximal abelian subgroup. I will describe this point of view, emphasizing the common features of the three problems. Parts of the talk are a report of joint works with Dan Freed, Davide Gaiotto, Greg Moore, Lotte Hollands, and Fei Yan.

HEP - theorymathematical physicsalgebraic geometrycombinatoricsexactly solvable and integrable systems

Audience: researchers in the discipline

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IBS-CGP Mathematical Physics Seminar

Series comments: Registration is required at cgp.ibs.re.kr/activities/talkregistration

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