Brian Williams: Observables in holomorphic/topological quantum field theory (mini-course), lecture 2

Abstract

 The collection of observables in a QFT is equipped with the structure of a factorization algebra. In the first lecture, we will define factorization algebras in the style of Costello and Gwilliam and consider some basic examples. Following this presentation, in the second lecture we will construct observables leading to a functor from the category of QFTs to the category of factorization algebras. In the third lecture we will discuss applications and examples including a factorization algebra refinement of Noether’s theorem and results about factorization algebras in holomorphic/topological QFTs.