Open-closed strings: Two-dimensional extended TQFTs and Frobenius algebras (Q2426512)

A 2-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT) is a functor for the category whose objects are closed curves and whose morphisms are cobordisms to the category of vector spaces and linear transformations. In this paper, an extension of TQFTs to allow intervals with endpoints as well as closed curves (``open-closed strings''), with morphisms given by manifolds with corners, is studied. The authors introduce an algebraic category called ``knowledgeable Frobenius algebras'' and show that the extended TQFTs are equivalent to these knowledgeable Frobenius algebras.