Abstract. Perhaps every algebra meeting should have one analysis talk (and vice versa), lest we forget that the other exists. In my role as the outsider, I will tell you today about the other - perturbative - evaluation of path integrals, where instead of hoping that nature will help us compute faster, we approximate nature by things we already can compute quickly.
Specifically I will tell you how in the Chern-Simons-Witten theory you can perturb the base Lie algebra from where it's easy towards where it's strong, leading to the strongest genuinely computable knot invariant we presently have.
I wish I could give my talk in the language of the Kabbalah, but I ain't smart enough for that. So I'll highlight the Kabbalistic points that we're still missing, and then stick to the Talmud.
URL: http://drorbn.net/mv26.
Links: AKT ap APAI atoms cm DD DHOEBL DK DPG Engine ge24 hm HW icbs24 k23 kiw kt ncsu oa Objects Ov qa Scha sl2 Talks theta tk Za
Handout: CSWCCL.html, CSWCCL.pdf.
Talk Video@YouTube.
Talk Video (mp4).
2026.04.26_Malpensa_to_Monte_Verita_along_Lake_Maggiore.
2026.04.26-05.01_Monte_Verita.
2026.04.29_Excursion_to_the_Borromean_Islands.
Sources: pensieve.