State-Sum Invariants of 4-Manifolds (Q4351683)

The present paper faces the problem of constructing general topological quantum field theories for 4-dimensional manifolds. In particular -- as already sketched by \textit{L. Crane} and \textit{D. N. Yetter} [in `Quantum Topology', Ser. Knots Everything 3, 120-130 (1993; Zbl 0841.57030)] -- a new 4-dimensional state-sum invariant is formally produced by making use of the category of representations of the quantum group \(SU(2)_q\), \(q\) being a root of unity; moreover, the same construction is proved to work with an arbitrary Artinian semisimple tortile category. Note that the close relation between the new 4-dimensional invariants and both the Euler characteristic and the signature yields a combinatorial expression for the signature of a 4-manifold in terms of a triangulation. Further, the paper carries out interesting comparisons with Broda's 4-dimensional invariant (which is calculated from a surgery description: see [\textit{B. Broda}, in `Quantum topology', D. N. Yetter (ed.), Proc. Conf. Kansas State Univ. 1993, 45-49 (1994; Zbl 0880.57006)] and provides an extension of the Crane-Yetter type invariants to 4-manifolds endowed with 2-dimensional (co)homology classes.