5,149 research outputs found
D-brane categories
This is an exposition of recent progress in the categorical approach to
D-brane physics. I discuss the physical underpinnings of the appearance of
homotopy categories and triangulated categories of D-branes from a string field
theoretic perspective, and with a focus on applications to homological mirror
symmetry.Comment: 37 pages, IJMPA styl
A Prehistory of n-Categorical Physics
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.Comment: 129 pages, 8 eps figure
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