Itsy bitsy topological field theory (Q742789)

This paper establishes and studies \textit{sutured quadrangulated field theory} (SQFT). It is an analogue of 2d topological quantum field theory (TQFT). An \textit{occupied square} is a square whose 4 vertices are labeled alternatively as positive and negative. An \textit{occupied surface} is obtained by gluing together occupied squares along their edges. A set of \textit{sutures} are curves of a certain type drawn on an occupied surface. A map between two sutured occupied surfaces preserving their structures is a \textit{decorated morphism}. A SQFT is a rule which associates to an occupied surface \((\Sigma, V)\) a \(Z_2\)-vector space \(\mathcal{V}(\Sigma, V)\), and to a decorated morphism from \((\Sigma, V)\) to \((\Sigma', V')\) a linear map from \(\mathcal{V}(\Sigma, V)\) to \(\mathcal{V}(\Sigma', V')\). It also assigns to each isotopy class of sutures on \((\Sigma, V)\) an element in \(\mathcal{V}(\Sigma, V)\). This rule satisfies some natural conditions of consistency. To show that such a rule does exist, the paper constructs an example of SQFT from the sutured Floer homology, using the TQFT structure introduced by \textit{K. Honda} et al. [Invent. Math. 176, No. 3, 637--676 (2009; Zbl 1171.57031)]. Then it studies the algebraic objects representing SQFT and shows that any map of vector spaces obtained in SQFT is a composition of \textit{digital creation operators} and \textit{general digital annihilation operators} which are a certain linear maps on the tensor product of \(Z_2\)-vector spaces.