Topological field theories on open-closed \(r\)-spin surfaces (Q2131797)

Topological field theories can increase their structure, intrinsically, when we add topological or geometric structure to the bordisms. In dimension 2, we have the \(r\)-spin structures, \(0<r<\infty\), where the bordisms are equipped with a reduction of structure in the \(r\)-fold cover \(\mathrm{Spin}_r(n)\rightarrow \mathrm{SO}(n)\). These are called 2-dimensional \(r\)-spin topological field theories. There are two points of view: a combinatorial model which takes a polygonal cell decomposition of an oriented surface, called PLCW by \textit{A. Kirillov jun.} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 12, No. 1, 95--108 (2012; Zbl 1283.57026)], equipped with a marking associated to the edges providing the corresponding \(r\)-spin structure; the second combinatorial model considers a surface \(S\) with a finite set of punctures \(M\) and an embedded graph \(\Gamma\) in \(S\setminus M\), with \(|\Gamma|\simeq S\setminus M\), together with torsor trivialization for vertices and edges. The present paper establishes the connection between the two combinatorial models for \(r\)-spin surfaces. This connection is used to proceed to classify open-closed \(r\)-spin topological field theories. The main result of the paper is an equivalence between the symmetric monoidal categories of open-closed \(r\)-spin topological field theories and knowledgeable Frobenius algebras.