diff -r 37f036dda03c -r 291f82fb79b5 text/tqftreview.tex --- a/text/tqftreview.tex Mon Jun 28 08:54:36 2010 -0700 +++ b/text/tqftreview.tex Mon Jun 28 10:03:13 2010 -0700 @@ -209,6 +209,15 @@ with codimension $i$ cells labeled by $i$-morphisms of $C$. We'll spell this out for $n=1,2$ and then describe the general case. +This way of decorating an $n$-manifold with an $n$-category is sometimes referred to +as a ``string diagram". +It can be thought of as (geometrically) dual to a pasting diagram. +One of the advantages of string diagrams over pasting diagrams is that one has more +flexibility in slicing them up in various ways. +In addition, string diagrams are traditional in quantum topology. +The diagrams predate by many years the terms ``string diagram" and ``quantum topology". +\nn{?? cite penrose, kauffman, jones(?)} + If $X$ has boundary, we require that the cell decompositions are in general position with respect to the boundary --- the boundary intersects each cell transversely, so cells meeting the boundary are mere half-cells.