A Prehistory of n-Categorical Physics
نویسندگان
چکیده
This paper traces the growing role of categories and n-categories in physics, starting with groups and their role in relativity, and leading up to more sophisticated concepts which manifest themselves in Feynman diagrams, spin networks, string theory, loop quantum gravity, and topological quantum field theory. Our chronology ends around 2000, with just a taste of later developments such as open-closed topological string theory, the categorification of quantum groups, Khovanov homology, and Lurie’s work on the classification of topological quantum field theories.
منابع مشابه
A Prehistory of n-Categorical Physics DRAFT VERSION
We begin with a chronology tracing the rise of symmetry concepts in physics, starting with groups and their role in relativity, and leading up to more sophisticated concepts from n-category theory, which manifest themselves in Feynman diagrams and their higher-dimensional generalizations: strings, membranes and spin foams.
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