TASI Lectures on the Mathematics of String Dualities

Abstract

In these lecture proceedings, we describe some of the fundamental mathematical concepts that underlie supersymmetric string theory and field theory, and their role in describing and testing dualities. In particular, we provide a pedagogical introduction to topological and holomorphic twisting, descent, and higher algebraic structures. Our primary examples are worldsheet theories of topological strings, namely the A- and B-models, which we briefly review. These proceedings are based on lectures given by the second author at TASI 2021.