# Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone

@article{Baez2009PhysicsTL,
title={Physics, Topology, Logic and Computation: A Rosetta Stone},
author={John C. Baez and Michael Stay},
journal={Lecture Notes in Physics},
year={2009},
volume={813},
pages={95-172}
}
• Published 2 March 2009
• Physics
• Lecture Notes in Physics
In physics, Feynman diagrams are used to reason about quantum processes. In the 1980s, it became clear that underlying these diagrams is a powerful analogy between quantum physics and topology. Namely, a linear operator behaves very much like a “cobordism”: a manifold representing spacetime, going between two manifolds representing space. This led to a burst of work on topological quantum field theory and “quantum topology”. But this was just the beginning: similar diagrams can be used to…
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