Solitonic sectors, alpha-induction and symmetry breaking boundaries

We develop a systematic approach to boundary conditions that break bulk symmetries in a general way such that left and right movers are not necessarily connected by an automorphism. In the context of string compactifications, such boundary conditions typically include non-BPS branes. Our formalism is based on two dual fusion rings, one for the bulk and one for the boundary fields. Only in the Cardy case these two structures coincide. In general they are related by a version of alpha-induction. Symmetry breaking boundary conditions correspond to solitonic sectors. In examples, we compute the annulus amplitudes and boundary states.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX2e; v2: typos correcte

Does Integrated Information Lack Subjectivity

I investigate the status of subjectivity in Integrated Information Theory. This leads me to examine if Integrated Information Theory can answer the hard problem of consciousness. On itself, Integrated Information Theory does not seem to constitute an answer to the hard problem, but could be combined with panpsychism to yield a more satisfying theory of consciousness. I will show, that even if Integrated Information Theory employs the metaphysical machinery of panpsychism, Integrated Information would still suffer from a different problem, not being able to account for the subjective character of consciousness

Dualizability in Low-Dimensional Higher Category Theory

These lecture notes form an expanded account of a course given at the Summer School on Topology and Field Theories held at the Center for Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana during the Summer of 2012. A similar lecture series was given in Hamburg in January 2013. The lecture notes are divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of the bulk of these notes, provides an expository account of the author's joint work with Christopher Douglas and Noah Snyder on dualizability in low-dimensional higher categories and the connection to low-dimensional topology. The cobordism hypothesis provides bridge between topology and algebra, establishing important connections between these two fields. One example of this is the prediction that the $n$-groupoid of so-called `fully-dualizable' objects in any symmetric monoidal $n$-category inherits an O(n)-action. However the proof of the cobordism hypothesis outlined by Lurie is elaborate and inductive. Many consequences of the cobordism hypothesis, such as the precise form of this O(n)-action, remain mysterious. The aim of these lectures is to explain how this O(n)-action emerges in a range of low category numbers ($n \leq 3$). The second part of these lecture notes focuses on the author's joint work with Clark Barwick on the Unicity Theorem, as presented in arXiv:1112.0040. This theorem and the accompanying machinery provide an axiomatization of the theory of $(\infty,n)$-categories and several tools for verifying these axioms. The aim of this portion of the lectures is to provide an introduction to this material.Comment: 65 pages, 8 figures. Lecture Note