Quantum Topology and Field Theory Seminar: Abelianization of Virasoro blocks and tau functions

Abstract: I will explain a new scheme for construction of conformal blocks for the Virasoro algebra at central charge c=1. One application is a new recipe for producing isomonodromic tau functions. This scheme is joint work with Qianyu Hao. The talk is intended to be self-contained (you don't have to know in advance what a conformal block or a tau function are).