This book is an introduction to techniques and results in diagrammatic algebra. It starts with abstract tensors and their categorifications, presents diagrammatic methods for studying Frobenius and Hopf algebras, and discusses their relations with topological quantum field theory and knot theory. The text is replete with figures, diagrams, and suggestive typography that allows the reader a glimpse into many higher dimensional processes. The penultimate chapter summarizes the previous material by demonstrating how to braid 3- and 4- dimensional manifolds into 5- and 6-dimensional spaces. The book is accessible to post-qualifier graduate students, and will also be of interest to algebraists, topologists and algebraic topologists who would like to incorporate diagrammatic techniques into their research.

The aim of this book is to give as detailed a description as is possible of one of the most beautiful and complicated examples in low-dimensional topology. This example is a gateway to a new idea of higher dimensional algebra in which diagrams replace algebraic expressions and relationships between diagrams represent algebraic relations. The reader may examine the changes in the illustrations in a leisurely fashion; or with scrutiny, the reader will become familiar and develop a facility for these diagrammatic computations. The text describes the essential topological ideas through metaphors that are experienced in everyday life: shadows, the human form, the intersections between walls, and the creases in a shirt or a pair of trousers. Mathematically informed reader will benefit from the informal introduction of ideas. This volume will also appeal to scientifically literate individuals who appreciate mathematical beauty.

1. A sphere -- 2. Surfaces, folds, and cusps -- 3. The inside and outside -- 4. Dimensions -- 5. Immersed surfaces -- 6. Movies -- 7. Movie moves -- 8. Taxonomic summary -- 9. How not to turn the sphere inside-out -- 10. A physical metaphor -- 11. Sarah's thesis -- 12. The eversion -- 13. The double point and fold surfaces

This text on the use of electron correlation effects in the description of the electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and crystals is intended for graduate students in physical chemistry and physics. Modern theories of electronic structure and methods of incorporating electron correlation contributions are developed using a diagrammatic and algebraic formulation, and the methods developed in the text are illustrated with examples from molecular and solid state quantum mechanics. A brief Introduction is followed by chapters on operator algebra, the independent-particle model, occupation-number formalism, and diagrams. Additional topics include the configuration-interaction method, the many-body perturbation theory, and the coupled-cluster method.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams, Diagrams 2018, held in Edinburgh, UK, in June 2018. The 26 revised full papers and 28 short papers presented together with 32 posters were carefully reviewed and selected from 124 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: generating and drawing Euler diagrams; diagrams in mathematics; diagram design, principles and classification; reasoning with diagrams; Euler and Venn diagrams; empirical studies and cognition; Peirce and existential graphs; and logic and diagrams.

The technique of diagrammatic morphisms is an important ingredient in comprehending and visualizing certain types of categories with structure. It was widely used in this capacity in many areas of algebra, low-dimensional topology and physics. It was also applied to problems in classical and quantum information processing and logic. This volume contains articles based on talks at the Special Session, ``Diagrammatic Morphisms in Algebra, Category Theory, and Topology'', at the AMS Sectional Meeting in San Francisco. The articles describe recent achievements in several aspects of diagrammatic morphisms and their applications. Some of them contain detailed expositions on various diagrammatic techniques. The introductory article by D. Yetter is a thorough account of the subject in a historical perspective.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams, Diagrams 2021, held virtually in September 2021. The 16 full papers and 25 short papers presented together with 16 posters were carefully reviewed and selected from 94 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: design of concrete diagrams; theory of diagrams; diagrams and mathematics; diagrams and logic; new representation systems; analysis of diagrams; diagrams and computation; cognitive analysis; diagrams as structural tools; formal diagrams; and understanding thought processes. 10 chapters are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

At the intersection of physics, mathematics, and computer science, an exciting new field of study has formed, known as “Topological Quantum.” This research field examines the deep connections between the theory of knots, special types of subatomic particles known as anyons, certain phases of matter, and quantum computation. This book elucidates this nexus, drawing in topics ranging from quantum gravity to topology to experimental condensed matter physics. Topological quantum has increasingly been a focus point in the fields of condensed matter physics and quantum information over the last few decades, and the forefront of research now builds on the basic ideas presented in this book. The material is presented in a down-to-earth and entertaining way that is far less abstract than most of what is in the literature. While introducing the crucial concepts and placing them in context, the subject is presented without resort to the highly mathematical category theory that underlies the field. Requiring only an elementary background in quantum mechanics, this book is appropriate for all readers, from advanced undergraduates to the professional practitioner. This book will be of interest to mathematicians and computer scientists as well as physicists working on a wide range of topics. Those interested in working in these field will find this book to be an invaluable introduction as well as a crucial reference.

This book is about the relationship between necessary reasoning and visual experience in Charles S. Peirce’s mathematical philosophy. It presents mathematics as a science that presupposes a special imaginative connection between our responsiveness to reasons and our most fundamental perceptual intuitions about space and time. Central to this view on the nature of mathematics is Peirce’s idea of diagrammatic reasoning. In practicing this kind of reasoning, one treats diagrams not simply as external auxiliary tools, but rather as immediate visualizations of the very process of the reasoning itself. Thus conceived, one's capacity to diagram their thought reveals a set of characteristics common to ordinary language, visual perception, and necessary mathematical reasoning. The book offers an original synthetic approach that allows tracing the roots of Peirce’s conception of a diagram in certain patterns of interrelation between his semiotics, his pragmaticist philosophy, his logical and mathematical ideas, bits and pieces of his biography, his personal intellectual predispositions, and his scientific practice as an applied mathematician.