IAS CMP/QFT Group Meeting

Abstract: When is an abstract function of Riemannian manifolds the partition function of an honest quantum field theory? I will sketch a proof that any reflection positive partition function uniquely defines a QFT, whose spaces of states are canonically determined up to the action of a symmetry group. The proof is a direct categorification of the classic argument of Coleman, Giddings, and Strominger regarding the appearance of an ensemble from a sum over Euclidean wormholes. The main technical step is the construction of a unitary tensor category of wormhole sectors, followed by an application of the general framework of Tannakian reconstruction.