Obstructions to Gapped Boundaries from Three-Manifold Invariants

Abstract: We derive new obstructions to a 2+1d bosonic TQFT (such as the Chern-Simons theory) admitting a gapped boundary. Each such obstruction is labeled by a closed three-manifold, and it arises as the phase of the Reshetikhin–Turaev invariant. Using these new obstructions and earlier results on this subject, we prove the following. (1) An abelian bosonic TQFT admits a gapped boundary iff a finite list of certain "higher central charges" vanish. (2) No power of the Fibonacci anyon (a.k.a. the (G2)_1 Chern-Simons theory) admits a gapped boundary. This talk will be based on work in progress with J. Kaidi, Z. Komargodski, K. Ohmori, S. Seifnashri.

other condensed mattersoft condensed matterstatistical mechanicsstrongly correlated electronssuperconductivitygeneral relativity and quantum cosmologyHEP - theorymathematical physicschaotic dynamicsfluid dynamicsquantum physics

Audience: researchers in the topic

Kadanoff seminars