Topology and physics : Proceedings of the Nankai International Conference in Memory of Xiao-Song Lin, Tianjin, China, 27-31 July 2007

This unique volume, resulting from a conference at the Chern Institute of Mathematics dedicated to the memory of Xiao-Song Lin, presents a broad connection between topology and physics as exemplified by the relationship between low-dimensional topology and quantum field theory. The volume includes works on picture (2+1) - TQFTs and their applications to quantum computing, categorification and Khovanov homology, Gromov - Witten type invariants, twisted Alexander polynomials, Faddeev knots, generalized Ricci flow, Calabi - Yau problems for CR manifolds, Milnor's conjecture on volume of simplexes, Heegaard genera of 3-manifolds, and the (A,B) - slice problem. It also includes five unpublished papers of Xiao-Song Lin and various speeches related to the memorial conference. This unique volume, resulting from a conference at the Chern Institute of Mathematics dedicated to the memory of Xiao-Song Lin, presents a broad connection between topology and physics as exemplified by the relationship between low-dimensional topology and quantum field theory.The volume includes works on picture (2+1)-TQFTs and their applications to quantum computing, Berry phase and Yang-Baxterization of the braid relation, finite type invariant of knots, categorification and Khovanov homology, Gromov-Witten type invariants, twisted Alexander polynomials, Faddeev knots, generalized Ricci flow, Calabi-Yau problems for CR manifolds, Milnor's conjecture on volume of simplexes, Heegaard genera of 3-manifolds, and the (A,B)-slice problem. It also includes five unpublished papers of Xiao-Song Lin and various speeches related to the memorial conference. This unique volume, resulting from a conference at the Chern Institute of Mathematics dedicated to the memory of Xiao-Song Lin, presents a broad connection between topology and physics as exemplified by the relationship between low-dimensional topology and quantum field theory. The volume includes works on picture (2+1)-TQFTs and their applications to quantum computing, Berry phase and Yang-Baxterization of the braid relation, finite type invariant of knots, categorification and Khovanov homology, Gromov-Witten type invariants, twisted Alexander polynomials, Faddeev knots, generalized Ricci flo