Elliptic objects, von Neumann algebras, and Functorial Field Theory

This two-week programme will be held from 06 to 17 July 2026. The first week features a series of lecture courses primarily aimed at early-career researchers. The second week is a research conference.

A central theme of the meeting is Functorial Quantum Field Theories beyond TQFTs and the Segal-Stolz–Teichner programme.

The event will highlight recent developments in extended functorial field theories; analytic structures in quantum field theory, including higher categorical analogues of  von Neumann algebras and Hilbert spaces; categorified geometric structures, such as higher vector bundles and stringor bundles; and, supersymmetry and its role in generalized cohomology theories.

The workshop and conference hope to provide an opportunity to advance the interface between homotopy theory, operator algebras, and quantum field theory.

Recordings

Monday 6 July

Davide Gaiotto, Supersymmetry I
Dan Berwick-Evans – Elliptic objects and supersymmetric field theories I
André Henriques – Higher categorical analogs of Hilbert spaces and von Neumann algebras I
Theo Johnson-Freyd – Unitary extended field theories I

Tuesday 7 July

Davide Gaiotto – Supersymmetry II
Dan Berwick-Evans – Elliptic objects and supersymmetric field theories II
André Henriques – Higher categorical analogs of Hilbert spaces and von Neumann algebras II
Theo Johnson-Freyd – Unitary extended field theories II

Wednesday 8 July

Davide Gaiotto, Supersymmetry III
Dan Berwick-Evans – Elliptic objects and supersymmetric field theories III
Graeme Segal Lecture
André Henriques – Higher categorical analogs of Hilbert spaces and von Neumann algebras III

Thursday 9 July

Davide Gaiotto, Supersymmetry IV
Dan Berwick-Evans – Elliptic objects and supersymmetric field theories IV
Theo Johnson-Freyd – Unitary extended field theories III
André Henriques – Higher categorical analogs of Hilbert spaces and von Neumann algebras IV

Friday 10 July

Theo Johnson-Freyd – Unitary extended field theories III

Monday 13 July

Lennart Meier – The string orientation of TMF from an equivariant viewpoint
Constantin Teleman – Central charges in CFT and TQFT
Katrina Barron -Modularity properties of trace-like q-series arising from vertex operator algebras
Nora Ganter – Codes, Whitehead towers, Bott periodicity, Triality, and all that
Gerd Laures – Vertex algebras and topological modular forms of level N

Tuesday 14 July

Geyang Dai – From Loop Spaces to Double Loop Spaces: Elliptic Atiyah–Witten Formulae and Positive Energy Representations
Zen Huan – 2-Equivariant 2-Vector Bundles and 2K-Theories
David Reutter – Fermions and the higher categorical separable closure of the complex numbers
André Henriques – Fully extended 2d CFT
Theo Johnson-Freyd – McNamara-Wang reconstruction of unitary QFTs

Wednesday 15 July

Du Pei – On boundary conditions of quantum field theories
Ulrich Bunke – Six functor formalisms with C*-algebras 
Stephan Stolz

Thursday 16 July

Urs Schreiber – TQFTs of Higher SuGra Gauge Sectors
Matthias Ludewig – The free fermion and its anomaly in functorial field theory
Severin Bunk – On smooth bordisms with topological defects
Daniel Berwick-Evans – Towards equivariant elliptic objects

Friday 17 July

Dmitri Pavlov – Geometric functorial field theories and their moduli stacks
Chetan Vuppulury – Categorical aspects of the chiral free Fermion anomaly  
Laura Murray – Principal 2-group bundles, Chern-Simons theory, and string structures

Start date & time

06/07/2026

End date & time

17/07/2026

Organisers

Domenico Fiorenza, Sapienza Università di Roma
Nivedita, Oxford University
Konrad Waldorf, Greifswald University
Mayuko Yamashita, Perimeter Institute Theoretical Physics

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