Quantum theories and geometric topology: A chapter in physical mathematics

Abstract

In recent years, the interaction between geometric topology and classical and quantum field theories has attracted a great deal of attention from both the mathematicians and physicists. We discuss some topics from low-dimensional topology where this has led to new viewpoints as well as new results. They include categorification of knot polynomials and a special case of the gauge theory to string theory correspondence in the Euclidean version of the theories, where exact results are available. We show how the Witten–Reshetikhin–Turaev invariant in SU (n) Chern–Simons theory on S3is related via conifold transition to the all-genus generating function of the topological string amplitudes on a Calabi–Yau manifold. This result can be thought of as an interpretation of TQFT as topological quantum gravity (TQG). After a brief discussion of Perelman's work on the geometrization conjecture and its relation to gravity, we comment on some recent work on black hole radiation and its relation to mock moonshine.