Due to the strong appeal and wide use of this monograph, it is now
available in its third revised edition. The monograph gives a
systematic treatment of 3-dimensional topological quantum field
theories (TQFTs) based on the work of the author with N.
Reshetikhin and O. Viro. This subject was inspired by the discovery
of the Jones polynomial of knots and the Witten-Chern-Simons field
theory. On the algebraic side, the study of 3-dimensional TQFTs has
been influenced by the theory of braided categories and the theory
of quantum groups. The book is divided into three parts. Part I
presents a construction of 3-dimensional TQFTs and 2-dimensional
modular functors from so-called modular categories. This gives a
vast class of knot invariants and 3-manifold invariants as well as
a class of linear representations of the mapping class groups of
surfaces. In Part II the technique of 6j-symbols is used to define
state sum invariants of 3-manifolds. Their relation to the TQFTs
constructed in Part I is established via the theory of shadows.
Part III provides constructions of modular categories, based on
quantum groups and skein modules of tangles in the 3-space. This
fundamental contribution to topological quantum field theory is
accessible to graduate students in mathematics and physics with
knowledge of basic algebra and topology. It is an indispensable
source for everyone who wishes to enter the forefront of this
fascinating area at the borderline of mathematics and physics.
Contents: Invariants of graphs in Euclidean 3-space and of closed
3-manifolds Foundations of topological quantum field theory
Three-dimensional topological quantum field theory Two-dimensional
modular functors 6j-symbols Simplicial state sums on 3-manifolds
Shadows of manifolds and state sums on shadows Constructions of
modular categories
General
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