Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

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Description

It’s been suspected for many years that there is a connection between the recursions satisfied by quantum knot invariants and knot contact homology (it’s predicted by holographic duality in string theory).  I’ll explain how we can connect these notions by using a planar limit of the skein module of the sphere for $U_q(sl_N)$, meaning the limit where we send $N\rightarrow \infty$ while keeping $g=q^N$ fixed, expanding on work of Gaiotto, Kannagi and Sanjurjo.   That sounded like a bunch of scary words, but the whole point of the talk will be that once you view things in the right way, this turns into a simple hands-on computation:  sending $N\rightarrow \infty$ may sound fearsome, but it often simplifies things!  I promise no actual string theory will be involved.     Based on joint work with Meri Zaimi.