I will explain and state a conjecture of Kontsevich, that relates vertex models from statistical mechanics to $E_n$-algebras (i.e., algebras for the n-dimensional little disks operad). I will also give the main ingredients of the proof of Kontsevich's conjecture, that involve discretized versions of the little disks operad. This is a work in progress with Damien Lejay.

The work presented here has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 768679).[-]

In quantum topology, one usually constructs invariants of knots and 3-manifolds starting with an algebraic structure with suitable properties that can encode braiding and surgery operations in three dimensions. ln this talk, 1 review recent work on q-series invariants of 3-manifolds, associated with quantum groups at generic q, that provide a connection between quantum topology and algebra going in the opposite direction: starting with a 3-manifold and a choice of Spin-C structure, the q-series invariant turns out to be a character of a (logarithmic) vertex algebra that depends on the 3-manifold. [-]

We will give a lattice theoretical interpretation of generalized deep holes of the Leech lattice VOA $V_\Lambda$. We show that a generalized deep hole defines a 'true' automorphism invariant deep hole of the Leech lattice. We will also discuss a correspondence between the set of isomorphism classes of holomorphic VOA $V$ of central charge $24$ having non-abelian $V_1$ and the set of equivalence classes of pairs $(\tau, \tilde{\beta})$ satisfying certain conditions, where $\tau\in Co_0$ and $\tilde{\beta}$ is a $\tau$-invariant deep hole of squared length $2$. It provides a new combinatorial approach towards the classification of holomorphic VOAs of central charge $24$. Finally, we will discuss an observation of G.Höhn, which relates the weight one Lie algebra of holomorphic VOAs of central charge $24$ to certain codewords associated with the glue codes of Niemeier lattices.[-]

The so-called BPS states in a conformal field theory with extended supersymmetry are key when assigning a geometric interpretation to the theory. Standard invariants for such theories arise from a net count of BPS, half or quarter BPS states, according to the Z2 grading into ‘bosons' and ‘fermions'. This allows for boson-fermion pairs of states to cease being BPS under deformation of the theory. The talk will give a review of this phenomenon, arguing that it is ubiquitous in theories with geometric interpretation by a K3 surface. For a particular type of deformations, we propose that the process is channelled by the action of SU(2) on an appropriate subspace of the space of states.
This is joint work with Anne Taormina.[-]