- Francis Bonahon, MSU
- The quantum trace for skein algebras of surfaces
- 02/21/2023
- 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
- C204A Wells Hall
- Michael Shapiro (mshapiro@msu.edu)
The quantum trace homomorphism connects two competing quantizations for the $SL_n$-character variety of a surface, consisting of $SL_n$-local systems over the surface. The first quantization is through the $SL_n$-skein algebra, which is intrinsic but difficult to work with. The second quantization is based on a quantization of Thurston-Fock-Goncharov local coordinates, and is algebraically easier to handle but depends on choices. I will focus on the construction of this quantum trace in the case where $n=2$.
