This volume contains the proceedings of the NSF-CBMS Regional Conference on Topological and Geometric Methods in QFT, held from July 31–August 4, 2017, at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. In recent decades, there has been a movement to axiomatize quantum field theory into a mathematical structure. In a different direction, one can ask to test these axiom systems against physics. Can they be used to rederive known facts about quantum theories or, better yet, be the framework in which to solve open problems? Recently, Freed and Hopkins have provided a solution to a classification problem in condensed matter theory, which is ultimately based on the field theory axioms of Graeme Segal. Papers contained in this volume amplify various aspects of the Freed–Hopkins program, develop some category theory, which lies behind the cobordism hypothesis, the major structure theorem for topological field theories, and relate to Costello's approach to perturbative quantum field theory. Two papers on the latter use this framework to recover fundamental results about some physical theories: two-dimensional sigma-models and the bosonic string. Perhaps it is surprising that such sparse axiom systems encode enough structure to prove important results in physics. These successes can be taken as encouragement that the axiom systems are at least on the right track toward articulating what a quantum field theory is.

This book is based on a 10-day workshop given by leading experts in hyperbolic geometry, quantum topology and number theory, in June 2009 at Columbia University. Each speaker gave a minicourse consisting of three or four lectures aimed at graduate students and recent PhDs. The proceedings of this enormously successful workshop can serve as an introduction to this active research area in a way that is expository and broadly accessible to graduate students. Although many ideas overlap, the twelve expository/research papers in this volume can be grouped into four rough categories: (1) different approaches to the Volume Conjecture, and relations between the main quantum and geometric invariants; (2) the geometry associated to triangulations of hyperbolic 3-manifolds; (3) arithmetic invariants of hyperbolic 3-manifolds; (4) quantum invariants associated to knots and hyperbolic 3-manifolds. The workshop, the conference that followed, and these proceedings continue a long tradition in quantum and geometric topology of bringing together ideas from diverse areas of mathematics and physics, and highlights the importance of collaborative research in tackling big problems that require expertise in disparate disciplines.

This new book brings together the latest information on intermolecular bonding within molecular crystals, providing a very useful introductory text for graduates.

This book is a journey through the wonders of physics, the special thousandth volume of the renowned Lecture Notes in Physics book series. From quantum physics to solar physics, this volume showcases the beauty of physics in various fields. Written by series editors and colleagues, these essays are accessible to non-specialists and graduate-level students alike, making for an intriguing read for anyone interested in learning about physics beyond their own field of study. Explore the historical development of the series with two insightful forewords. List of essays: A New Era of Quantum Materials Mastery and Quantum Simulators In and Out of Equilibrium Evaluation and Utility of Wilsonian Naturalness The Geometric Phase: Consequences in Classical and Quantum Physics The Coming Decades of Quantum Simulation Insights into Complex Functions Exploring the Hottest Atmosphere with the Parker Solar Probe A Primer on the Riemann Hypothesis

The collection of papers forming this volume is intended to provide a deeper study of some mathematical and physical subjects which are at the core of recent developments in the natural and living sciences. The book explores some far-reaching interfaces where mathematics, theoretical physics, and natural sciences seem to interact profoundly. The main goal is to show that an accomplished movement of geometrisation has enabled the discovery of a great variety of amazing structures and behaviors in physical reality and in living matter. The diverse group of expert mathematicians, physicists and natural scientists present numerous new results and original ideas, methods and techniques. Both academic and interdisciplinary, the book investigates a number of important connections between mathematics, theoretical physics and natural sciences including biology.

Over the last decade new experimental tools and theoretical concepts are providing new insights into collective nonequilibrium behavior of quantum systems. The exquisite control provided by laser trapping and cooling techniques allows us to observe the behavior of condensed bose and degenerate Fermi gases under nonequilibrium drive or after `quenches' in which a Hamiltonian parameter is suddenly or slowly changed. On the solid state front, high intensity short-time pulses and fast (femtosecond) probes allow solids to be put into highly excited states and probed before relaxation and dissipation occur. Experimental developments are matched by progress in theoretical techniques ranging from exact solutions of strongly interacting nonequilibrium models to new approaches to nonequilibrium numerics. The summer school `Strongly interacting quantum systems out of equilibrium' held at the Les Houches School of Physics as its XCIX session was designed to summarize this progress, lay out the open questions and define directions for future work. This books collects the lecture notes of the main courses given in this summer school.

1. E. Marder, Experimenting with theory -- 2. A. Borysuk and J. Rinzel, Understanding neuronal dynamics by geometrical dissection of minimal models -- 3. D. Terman, Geometry singular perturbation analysis of neuronal dynamics -- 4. G. Mato, Theory of neural synchrony -- 5. M. Shelley, Some useful numerical techniques for simulating integrate-and-fire networks -- 6. D. Golomb, Propagation of pulses in cortical networks: the single-spike approximation -- 7. M. Tsodyks, Activity-dependent transmission in neocortical synapses -- 8. H. Sompolinsky and J. White, Theory of large recurrent networks: from spikes to behavior -- 9. C. van Vreeswijk, Irregular activity in large networks of neurons -- 10. N. Brunel, Network models of memory -- 11. P. Bressloff, Pattern formation in visual cortex -- 12. F. Wolf, Symmetry breaking and pattern selection in visual cortical development -- 13. A. Treves and Y. Roudi, On the evolution of the brain -- 14. E. Brown, Theory of point processes for neural syst ...

Anomalies are ubiquitous features in quantum field theories. They can ruin the consistency of such theories and put significant restrictions on their viability, especially in dimensions higher than four. Global gauge and gravitational anomalies are to date, one of the scant powerful and probing tools available to physicists in the pursuit of uniqueness.This monograph is one of the very few that specializes in the study of global anomalies in quantum field theories. A discussion of various issues associated to three dimensional physics — the Chern-Simons-Witten theories — widen the scope of this book. Topics discussed here comprises: the ongoing quest for three-manifolds invariant, the role of the mapping class groups in (a) the detection and cancellation of global anomalies, (b) formulating three-manifolds invariant; the geometric quantization of Chern-Simons-Witten theories; deformation quantization; study of chiral and gravitational anomalies; anomalies and the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer Index theorem; exotic spheres; global gravitational anomalies in some six and ten dimensional supergravity and superstring theories, with an additional case study of Witten SU(2) Global Gauge Anomalies.In addition, five chapters lay out the mathematical basis for a thorough use of the topics above. One chapter focuses on the relationship between Teichmüller spaces, moduli spaces and mapping class groups. Another chapter is devoted to mapping class groups and arithmetic groups. Gauge theories on Riemann surfaces are studies in well over two chapters, the first one centered on the theory of bundles and the second on connections.Many readers will find this a useful book, especially theoretical physicists and mathematicians. The material presented here will be of interest to both the experts who will find complete, detailed and precise descriptions of important topics of current interest in mathematical physics, and to students and newcomers to the field, who will appreciate the vast amount of information provided here, especially on global anomalies.

This is the first edited volume that features two important frameworks, Hückel and quantum chemical topological analyses. The contributors, which include an array of academics of international distinction, describe recent applications of such topological methods to various fields and topics that provide the reader with the current state-of-the-art and give a flavour of the wide range of their potentialities.