GT seminar: "Functorial QFT and Thom spectra"

Abstract: Thanks to work of Atiyah and Segal in the late '80s, it has
been understood that quantum field theories furnish us with
representations of bordism categories. Some particularly interesting
QFTs are "anomalous" theories. In this talk, I will spend some time
reviewing these ideas, then show how (in certain settings) the language
of Thom spectra can be used to classify anomalous theories.

This is a talk in our Geometry and Topology seminar series