Speaker
Pavel Safronov
(University of Edinburgh)
Description
The Chern—Simons functional is defined on the non-compact infinite-dimensional space of connections and so its Morse homology is not well-defined. However, its critical locus, the moduli space of flat connections, is finite-dimensional. I will explain how one can use shifted symplectic geometry of the moduli space of flat connections to define the relevant Morse homology groups and outline connections to other objects, such as skein modules of 3-manifolds and Donaldson-Thomas invariants. This talk is based on work in progress joint with Sam Gunningham.
