UIC Graduate Student Seminar
Friday August 31
3:00 pm
636 SEO
Speaker: Lou Kauffman
Title: Knots, Lie Algebras and Feynman Diagrams
Abstract: New approaches to knot theory arose in the 1980's. These methods
are closely tied to certain aspects of physics connected with Lie algebras
(and Hopf algebras). We will show how the combinatorial topology of knots
and links is connected with Lie algebras (in such a way that
representations of Lie algebras give rise to invariants of knots and
links). With appropriate diagrams this is the elementary part of the talk!
Then we will discuss how this way of looking at knot invariants is related
to category theory, statistical mechanics and quantum field theory.