时 间: 2011年8月1、3、5、8、10、12日

每天下午14:00 -- 15:30

地 点: 清华大学高等研究院 科学馆213报告厅

题 目: Derived categories in string theory

报 告 人: Eric Sharpe, Assistant Professor of Physics

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

报告摘要：In recent years, categories have come to play an important role in mathematical string theory. In these lectures, I shall describe one particular example in detail. Specifically, I will describe how derived categories of coherent sheaves appear in physics, as an efficient description of systems of D-branes, anti-D-branes, and tachyons in the open string B model topological field theory. After a short introduction outlining general features of categories in physics, I will work through properties of the closed and open string B model, showing how derived categories arise physically and outlining various applications to e.g. correlation function computations, notions of stability, and defects in CFT. As time permits, I will then discuss B-twisted Landau-Ginzburg models in closed and open strings, matrix factorizations, and the role of derived categories in such theories.