Tue, October 28, 2025
1:50 pm - 2:45 pm
Math Tower (MW) 154
Louisa Liles
The Ohio State University
Title
Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev Invariants and Quantum Modular Forms
Abstract
This talk is the first of a three-part series on quantum invariants of 3-manifolds. We will introduce Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev (WRT) invariants, focusing on Lickorish's combinatorial description in terms of the Kauffman bracket. We will then discuss a pioneering q-series of Lawrence and Zagier, which not only unified the WRT invariants of the Poincaré Homology sphere, but was also a key first example Zagier's definition of a quantum modular form.