Recently, a duality between Liouville theory and four dimensional N=2 gauge theory has been uncovered by some of the authors. We consider the role of extended objects in gauge theory, surface operators and line operators, under this correspondence. We map such objects to specific operators in Liouville theory. We employ this connection to compute the expectation value of general supersymmetric 't Hooft-Wilson line operators in a variety of N=2 gauge theories.
The modular matrix for the generic 1-point conformal blocks on the torus is expressed in terms of the fusion matrix for the 4-point blocks on the sphere. The modular invariance of the toric 1-point functions in the Liouville field theory with DOZZ structure constants is proved.
The four-point integral of the minimal super Liouville gravity on the sphere is evaluated numerically. The integration procedure is based on the effective elliptic parameterization of the moduli space. The analysis is performed for a few different gravitational four-point amplitudes. The results agree with the analytic results recently obtained using the Higher super Liouville equations of motion.
We present our recent studies on the dynamics of boundary N=2 Liouville theory. We use the representation theory of N=2 superconformal algebra and the method of modular bootstrap to derive three classes of boundary states of the N=2 Liouville theory. Class 1 and 2 branes are analogues of ZZ and FZZT branes of N=0,1 Liouville theory while class 3 branes come from U(1) degrees of freedom. We compare our results with those of SL(2;R)/U(1) supercoset which is known to be T-dual to N=2 Liouville theory and describes the geometry of 2d black hole. We find good agreements with known results in SL(2;R…
We continue the study of quantum Liouville theory through Polyakov's functional integral \cite{Pol1,Pol2}, started in \cite{T1}. We derive the perturbation expansion for Schwinger's generating functional for connected multi-point correlation functions involving stress-energy tensor, give the ``dynamical'' proof of the Virasoro symmetry of the theory and compute the value of the central charge, confirming previous calculation in \cite{T1}. We show that conformal Ward identities for these correlation functions contain such basic facts from Kähler geometry of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, as…
We study the boundary N=2 Liouville theory based on the ``modular bootstrap'' approach. As fundamental conformal blocks we introduce the ``extended characters'' that are defined as the proper sums over spectral flows of irreducible characters of the N=2 superconformal algebra (SCA) and clarify their modular transformation properties in models with rational central charges. We then try to classify the Cardy states describing consistent D-branes based on the modular data. We construct the analogues of ZZ-branes (hep-th/0101152), localized at the strong coupling region, and the FZZT-branes (hep-t…
When we describe non-compact or singular Calabi-Yau manifolds by CFT, continuous as well as discrete representations appear in the theory. These representations mix in an intricate way under the modular transformations. In this article, we propose a method of combining discrete and continuous representations so that the resulting combinations have a simpler modular behavior and can be used as conformal blocks of the theory. We compute elliptic genera of ALE spaces and obtain results which agree with those suggested from the decompactification of K3 surface. Consistency of our approach is assur…
We propose a correspondence between loop operators in a family of four dimensional N=2 gauge theories on S^4 -- including Wilson, 't Hooft and dyonic operators -- and Liouville theory loop operators on a Riemann surface. This extends the beautiful relation between the partition function of these N=2 gauge theories and Liouville correlators found by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa. We show that the computation of these Liouville correlators with the insertion of a Liouville loop operator reproduces Pestun's formula capturing the expectation value of a Wilson loop operator in the corresponding gaug…
The conformal symmetry in the Liouville theory is analysed by using the Hamiltonian light--front formalism. The boundary conditions of dynamical variables are seen to involve an arbitrary function of time, so that the standard methods for studying gauge symmetries do not work. We develop a general method for constructing the gauge generators, which enables a consistent treatment of the boundary conditions present in the case of the conformal symmetry.
We contruct the general formula for a set of discrete gauge states (DGS) in c<1 Liouville theory. This formula reproduces the previously found c=1 DGS in the appropriate limiting case. We also demonstrate the SO(2,C) invariant structure of these DGS in the old covariant quantization of the theory. This is in analogy to the SO(2,C) invariant ring structure of BRST cohomology of the theory.
We conjecture an expression for the Liouville theory conformal blocks and correlation functions on a Riemann surface of genus g and n punctures as the Nekrasov partition function of a certain class of N=2 SCFTs recently defined by one of the authors. We conduct extensive tests of the conjecture at genus 0,1.
In this note, we explore the relation between crossing symmetry and modular invariance in conformal field theory and S-duality in gauge theory. It is shown that partition functions of different S dual theories of N=2 SU(2) gauge theory with four fundamentals can be derived from the crossing symmetry of the Liouville four point function. We also show that the partition function of N=4 SU(2) gauge theory can be derived from the Liouville partition function on torus.
This is the 11th article in the collection of reviews "Exact results in N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories", ed. J. Teschner. It describes an approach to understanding the 4d/2d relations discovered by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa by establishing a triangle of relations between the zero mode quantum mechanics obtained by localisation of class $\cal S$ theories, the quantum theory obtained by quantisation of Hitchin moduli spaces, and conformal field theory.
We study (0,2) deformations of N=2 Liouville field theory and its mirror duality. A gauged linear sigma model construction of the ultraviolet theory connects (0,2) deformations of Liouville field theory and (0,2) deformations of N=2 SL(2,R)/U(1) coset model as a mirror duality. Our duality proposal from the gauged linear sigma model completely agrees with the exact CFT analysis. In the context of heterotic string compactifications, the deformation corresponds to the introduction of a non-trivial gauge bundle. This non-compact Landau-Ginzburg construction yields a novel way to study the gauge b…
We introduce spectral functions that capture the distribution of OPE coefficients and density of states in two-dimensional conformal field theories, and show that nontrivial upper and lower bounds on the spectral function can be obtained from semidefinite programming. We find substantial numerical evidence indicating that OPEs involving only scalar Virasoro primaries in a c>1 CFT are necessarily governed by the structure constants of Liouville theory. Combining this with analytic results in modular bootstrap, we conjecture that Liouville theory is the unique unitary c>1 CFT whose primaries hav…
We study N=1 super Liouville theory on worldsheets with and without boundary. Some basic correlation functions on a sphere or a disc are obtained using the properties of degenerate representations of superconformal algebra. Boundary states are classified by using the modular transformation property of annulus partition functions, but there are some of those whose wave functions cannot be obtained from the analysis of modular property. There are two ways of putting boundary condition on supercurrent, and it turns out that the two choices lead to different boundary states in quality. Some proper…
We study N=2 Liouville theory with arbitrary central charge in the presence of boundaries. After reviewing the theory on the sphere and deriving some important structure constants, we investigate the boundary states of the theory from two approaches, one using the modular transformation property of annulus amplitudes and the other using the bootstrap of disc two-point functions containing degenerate bulk operators. The boundary interactions describing the boundary states are also proposed, based on which the precise correspondence between boundary states and boundary interactions is obtained. …
We model the back-reaction of a static observer in four-dimensional de Sitter spacetime by means of a singular $\mathbb Z_q$ quotient. The set of fixed points of the $\mathbb Z_q$ action consists of a pair of codimension two minimal surfaces given by 2-spheres in the Euclidean geometry. The introduction of an orbifold parameter $q>1$ permits the construction of an effective action for the bulk gravity theory with support on each of these minimal surfaces. The effective action corresponds to that of Liouville field theory on a 2-sphere with a finite vacuum expectation value of the Liouville fie…
The conjecture about the correspondence between instanton partition functions in the N=2 SUSY Yang-Mills theory and conformal blocks of two-dimensional conformal field theories is extended to the case of the N=1 supersymmetric conformal blocks. We find that the necessary modification of the moduli space of instantons requires additional restriction of Z(2)-symmetry. This leads to an explicit form of the N=1 superconformal blocks in terms of Young diagrams with two sorts of cells.
Liouville field theory on an unoriented surface is investigated, in particular, the one point function on a RP^2 is calculated. The constraint of the one point function is obtained by using the crossing symmetry of the two point function. There are many solutions of the constraint and we can choose one of them by considering the modular bootstrap.
The quantum Wess-Zumino-Witten $\to$ Liouville reduction is formulated using the phase space path integral method of Batalin, Fradkin, and Vilkovisky, adapted to theories on compact two dimensional manifolds. The importance of the zero modes of the Lagrange multipliers in producing the Liouville potential and the WZW anomaly, and in proving gauge invariance, is emphasised. A previous problem concerning the gauge dependence of the Virasoro centre is solved.
The presence of the antisymmetric background field $B_{μν}$ leads to the noncommutativity of the Dp-brane manifold, while the linear dilaton field in the form $Φ(x)=Φ_0+a_μx^μ$, causes the appearance of the commutative Dp-brane coordinate, $x_c=a_μx^μ$. In the present article we consider the case where the conformal invariance is realized by inclusion of the Liouville term. Then, the theory is conformally invariant even in the presence of the world sheet conformal factor $F$, and it depends on the new parameter, the central charge $c$. As well as in the absence of the Liouville action, for par…
Timelike Liouville theory admits the sphere $\mathbb{S}^{2}$ as a real saddle point, about which quantum fluctuations can occur. An issue occurs when computing the expectation values of specific types of quantities, like the distance between points. The problem being that the gauge redundancy of the path integral over metrics is not completely fixed even after fixing to conformal gauge by imposing $g_{μν} = e^{2\bϕ}\tilde{g}_{μν}$, where $ϕ$ is the Liouville field and $\tilde{g}_{μν}$ is a reference metric. The physical metric $g_{μν}$, and therefore the path integral over metrics still posses…
We propose that N=2 U(2) gauge theories on the A_1 ALE space, with asymptotic holonomies not in SU(2), correspond to the Ramond sector of super Liouville theory. As evidence, we show that the instanton partition functions for the theories with and without a fundamental hypermultiplet, computed with such holonomies, coincide with the norms or the inner products of the Whittaker vectors in the Ramond sector. This correspondence suggests that S-duality of U(2) gauge theories interchanges the sectors with different boundary conditions.
Classical relativistic system of point particles coupled with an electromagnetic field is considered in the three-dimensional representation. The gauge freedom connected with the chronometrical invariance of the four-dimensional description is reduced by use of the geometrical concept of the forms of relativistic dynamics. The remainder gauge degrees of freedom of the electromagnetic potential are analysed within the framework of Dirac's constrained Hamiltonian mechanics in the front form of dynamics. The results are implemented to the problems of relativistic statistical mechanics. Based on t…
A general path integral analysis of the separable Hamiltonian of Liouville-type is reviewed. The basic dynamical principle used is the Jacobi's principle of least action for given energy which is reparametrization invariant, and thus the gauge freedom naturally appears. The choice of gauge in path integral corresponds to the separation of variables in operator formalism. The gauge independence and the operator ordering are closely related. The path integral in this formulation sums over orbits in space instead of space-time. An exact path integral of the Green's function for the hydrogen atom …
We present a relation between N=2 quiver gauge theories on the ALE space O_{P^1}(-2) and correlators of N=1 super Liouville conformal field theory, providing checks in the case of punctured spheres and tori. We derive a blow-up formula for the full Nekrasov partition function and show that, up to a U(1) factor, the N=2^* instanton partition function is given by the product of the character of \hat{SU}(2)_2 times the super Virasoro conformal block on the torus with one puncture. Moreover, we match the perturbative gauge theory contribution with super Liouville three-point functions.
We establish solutions corresponding to AdS4 static charged black holes with inhomogeneous two-dimensional horizon surfaces of constant curvature. Depending on the choice of the 2D constant curvature space, the metric potential of the internal geometry of the horizon satisfies the elliptic wave/elliptic Liouville equations. We calculate the charge diffusion and transport coefficients in the hydrodynamic limit of gauge/gravity duality and observe the exponential suppression in the diffusion coefficient and in the shear viscosity-per-entropy density ratio in the presence of an inhomogeneity on b…
The correspondence between the semiclassical limit of the DOZZ quantum Liouville theory and the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit of the N = 2 (Omega-deformed) U(2) super-Yang-Mills theories is used to calculate the unknown accessory parameter of the Fuchsian uniformization of the 4-punctured sphere. The computation is based on the saddle point method. This allows to find an analytic expression for the N_f = 4, U(2) instanton twisted superpotential and, in turn, to sum up the 4-point classical block. It is well known that the critical value of the Liouville action functional is the generating functio…
We propose a relation between correlation functions in the 2d A_{N-1} conformal Toda theories and the Nekrasov instanton partition functions in certain conformal N=2 SU(N) 4d quiver gauge theories. Our proposal generalises the recently uncovered relation between the Liouville theory and SU(2) quivers. New features appear in the analysis that have no counterparts in the Liouville case.
The structure and modular properties of N=4 superconformal characters are reviewed and exploited, in an attempt to construct elliptic genera-like functions by decompactifying K3. The construction is tested against expressions obtained in the context of strings propagating in background ALE spaces of type A(n-1), using the underlying superconformal theory, i.e the tensor product of N=2 minimal with N=2 Liouville theory.
We consider unoriented strings in the supersymmetric SL(2,R)/U(1) coset, which describes the two-dimensional Euclidean black hole, and its mirror dual N=2 Liouville theory. We analyze the orientifolds of these theories from several complementary points of view: the parity symmetries of the worldsheet actions, descent from known AdS_3 parities, and the modular bootstrap method (in some cases we can also check our results against known constraints coming from the conformal bootstrap method). Our analysis extends previous work on orientifolds in Liouville theory, the AdS_3 and SU(2) WZW models an…
We reformulate the Omega-deformation of four-dimensional gauge theory in a way that is valid away from fixed points of the associated group action. We use this reformulation together with the theory of coisotropic A-branes to explain recent results linking the Omega-deformation to integrable Hamiltonian systems in one direction and Liouville theory of two-dimensional conformal field theory in another direction.
We prove the equivalence of the SL(2,R)/U(1) Kazama-Suzuki model, which is a fermionic generalization of the 2d Black Hole, and N=2 Liouville theory. We show that this duality is an example of mirror symmetry. The essential part of the derivation is to realize the fermionic 2d Black Hole as the low energy limit of a gauged linear sigma-model. Liouville theory is obtained by dualizing the charged scalar fields and taking into account the vortex-instanton effects, as proposed recently in non-dilatonic models. The gauged linear sigma-model we study has many useful generalizations which we briefly…
We present a Liouville-string approach to confinement in four-dimensional gauge theories, which extends previous approaches to include non-conformal theories. We consider Liouville field theory on world sheets whose boundaries are the Wilson loops of gauge theory, which exhibit vortex and spike defects. We show that world-sheet vortex condensation occurs when the Wilson loop is embedded in four target space-time dimensions, and show that this corresponds to the condensation of gauge magnetic monopoles in target space. We also show that vortex condensation generates a effective string tension c…
Two-dimensional supergravity theory is quantized as an anomalous gauge theory. In the Batalin-Fradkin (BF) formalism, the anomaly-canceling super-Liouville fields are introduced to identify the original second-class constrained system with a gauge-fixed version of a first-class system. The BFV-BRST quantization applies to formulate the theory in the most general class of gauges. A local effective action constructed in the configuration space contains two super-Liouville actions; one is a noncovariant but local functional written only in terms of 2D supergravity fields, and the other contains t…
We show that the structure of the Liouville action on a two dimensional Regge surface of the topology of the sphere and of the torus is determined by the invariance under the transformations induced by the conformal Killing vector fields and under modular transformations.
We present a mechanism to construct four-dimensional charged massless Ramond states using the discrete states of a fivebrane Liouville internal conformal field theory. This conformal field theory has background charge, and admits an inner product which allows positive norm states. A connection among supergravity soliton solutions, Liouville conformal field theory, non-critical string theory and their gauge symmetry properties is given. A generalized construction of the SU(2) super Kac-Moody algebra mixing with the N=1 super Virasoro algebra is analyzed. How these Ramond states evade the DKV no…
The partition function of a two dimensional Abelian gauge model reproducing magnetic vortices is discussed in the harmonic approximation. Classical solutions exhibit conformal invariance, that is broken by statistical fluctuations, apart from an exceptional case. The corresponding ``anomaly'' has been evaluated. Zero modes of the thermal fluctuation operator have been carefully discussed.
It is shown that the two dimensional gravity, described either in the conformal gauge (the Liouville theory) or in the light cone gauge, when coupled to matter possesses an infinite number of twisted $N=2$ superconformal symmetries. The central charges of the $N=2$ algebra for the two gauge choices are in general different. Further, it is argued that the physical states in the light cone gauge theory can be obtained from the Liouville theory by a field redefinition.
We propose an equivalence of the partition functions of two different 3d gauge theories. On one side of the correspondence we consider the partition function of 3d SL(2,R) Chern-Simons theory on a 3-manifold, obtained as a punctured Riemann surface times an interval. On the other side we have a partition function of a 3d N=2 superconformal field theory on S^3, which is realized as a duality domain wall in a 4d gauge theory on S^4. We sketch the proof of this conjecture using connections with quantum Liouville theory and quantum Teichmuller theory, and study in detail the example of the once-pu…
We revisit the question of gauge coupling unification at the string scale in orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string for the supersymmetric Standard Model. In the presence of discrete Wilson lines threshold corrections with modular symmetry that is a subgroup of the full modular group arise. We find that reduced modular symmetries not previously reported are possible. We conjecture that the effects of such threshold corrections can be simulated using sums of terms built from Dedekind eta functions to obtain the appropriate modular symmetry. For the cases of the Z_8-I orbifold and th…
We identify the spectral curve of pure gauge SU(2) Seiberg-Witten theory with the Weierstrass curve $\mathbbm{C}/L \ni z \mapsto (1,\wp(z),\wp(z)')$ and thereby obtain explicitely a modular form from which the moduli space parameter $u$ and lattice parameters $a$, $a_D$ can be derived in terms of modular respectively theta functions. We further discuss its relationship with the $c=-2$ triplet model conformal field theory.
Conformal blocks of Liouville theory have a Coulomb-gas representation as Dotsenko-Fateev (DF) integrals over the positions of screening charges. For q-deformed Liouville, the conformal blocks on a sphere with an arbitrary number of punctures are manifestly the same, when written in DF representation, as the partition functions of a class of 3d U(N) gauge theories with N=2 supersymmetry, in the Omega-background. Coupling the 3d gauge theory to a flavor in fundamental representation corresponds to inserting a Liouville vertex operator; the two real mass parameters determine the momentum and pos…
We study four-point correlation functions with logarithmic behaviour in Liouville field theory on a sphere, which consist of one kind of the local operators. We study them as non-integrated correlation functions of the gravitational sector of two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to an ordinary conformal field theory in the conformal gauge. We also examine, in the (p,q) minimal conformal field theories, a condition of the appearance of logarithmic correlation functions of gravitationally dressed operators.
We discuss the appearance of modular functions at the one-loop gauge and gravitational couplings in (0,2) non-decomposable N=1 four dimensional orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string. We define the limits for the existence of states causing singularities in the moduli space in the perturbative regime for a generic vacuum of the heterotic string. The "proof" provides evidence for the explanation of the stringy Higgs effect.
We study half-BPS surface operators in N=2 supersymmetric QCD in four dimensions with gauge group SU(2) and four fundamental flavours. We compute the twisted chiral superpotential that describes the effective theory on the surface operator using equivariant localization as well as the Seiberg-Witten data. We then use the constraints imposed by S-duality to resum the instanton contributions to the twisted superpotential into elliptic functions and (quasi-) modular forms. The resummed results match what one would obtain from the description of surface operators as the insertion of a degenerate o…
We advance a correspondence between the topological defect operators in Liouville and Toda conformal field theories - which we construct - and loop operators and domain wall operators in four dimensional N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories on S^4. Our computation of the correlation functions in Liouville/Toda theory in the presence of topological defect operators, which are supported on curves on the Riemann surface, yields the exact answer for the partition function of four dimensional gauge theories in the presence of various walls and loop operators; results which we can quantitatively substa…
We consider the ${\cal N}=4$ Liouville theory by varying the linear dilaton coupling constant $\cal{Q}$. It is known that at two different values of coupling constant ${\cal Q}=\sqrt{2\over N},-(N-1)\sqrt{2\over N}$ system exhibits two different small ${\cal N}=4$ superconformal symmetries with central charge $c=6$ and $c=6(N-1)$, respectively. In the context of string theory these two theories are considered to describe Coulumb and Higgs branch of the theory and expected to be dual to each other. We study the Mathieu and umbral moonshine phenomena in these two theories and discuss their dual …
We present an interesting reformulation of a collection of dilaton gravity models in two space-time dimensions into a field theory of two decoupled Liouville fields in flat space, in the presence of a Maxwell gauge field. An effective action is also obtained, encoding the dynamics of the dilaton field and the single gravitational degree of freedom in a decoupled regime. This effective action represents an interesting starting point for future work, including the canonical quantization of these classes of non trivial models of gravity coupled matter systems.
We consider $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetric gauge theories on four manifolds admitting an isometry. Generalized Killing spinor equations are derived from the consistency of supersymmetry algebrae and solved in the case of four manifolds admitting a $U(1)$ isometry. This is used to explicitly compute the supersymmetric path integral on $S^2\times S^2$ via equivariant localization. The building blocks of the resulting partition function are shown to contain the three point functions and the conformal blocks of Liouville Gravity.
Classical two-dimensional Liouville gravity is often considered in conformal gauge which has a residual left and right Virasoro symmetry algebra. We consider an alternate, chiral, gauge which has a residual right Virasoro Kac-Moody algebra, and no left Virasoro algebra. The Kac-Moody zero mode is the left-moving energy. Dirac brackets of the constrained Hamiltonian theory are derived, and the residual symmetries are shown to be generated by integrals of the conserved chiral currents. The central charge and Kac-Moody level are computed. The possible existence of a corresponding quantum theory i…
We propose an SL(2,R) Chern-Simons description of Liouville field theory (LFT), whose correlation function duals to partition function of N=2 SU(2) gauge theories. We give the dual expressions for conformal blocks, fusion rules, and Wilson loop operators in Chern-Simons theory. By realizing Wilson loop operator in Liouville as a Hopf link in S^3 on which lives an SL(2,R) Chern-Simons theory, we obtain an alternative description of monodromy of this loop operator in Liouville field theory as the ratio of link invariants. We show how to calculate t'Hooft loops in the simplest example -- the N=4 …
We calculate the instanton partition function of the four-dimensional N=2* SU(N) gauge theory in the presence of a generic surface operator, using equivariant localization. By analyzing the constraints that arise from S-duality, we show that the effective twisted superpotential, which governs the infrared dynamics of the two-dimensional theory on the surface operator, satisfies a modular anomaly equation. Exploiting the localization results, we solve this equation in terms of elliptic and quasi-modular forms which resum all non-perturbative corrections. We also show that our results, derived f…
We study the dual descriptions recently discovered for the Seiberg-Witten theory in the presence of surface operators. The Nekrasov partition function for a four-dimensional N=2 gauge theory with a surface operator is believed equal to the wave-function of the corresponding integrable system, or the Hitchin system, and is identified with the conformal block with a degenerate field via the AGT relation. We verify the conjecture by showing that the null state condition leads to the Schrodinger equations of the integrable systems. Furthermore, we show that the deformed prepotential emerging from …
We study complexified elliptic Calogero-Moser integrable systems. We determine the value of the potential at isolated extrema, as a function of the modular parameter of the torus on which the integrable system lives. We calculate the extrema for low rank B,C,D root systems using a mix of analytical and numerical tools. For so(5) we find convincing evidence that the extrema constitute a vector valued modular form for a congruence subgroup of the modular group. For so(7) and so(8), the extrema split into two sets. One set contains extrema that make up vector valued modular forms for congruence s…
The partition function of a family of four dimensional N=2 gauge theories has been recently related to correlation functions of two dimensional conformal Toda field theories. For SU(2) gauge theories, the associated two dimensional theory is A_1 conformal Toda field theory, i.e. Liouville theory. For this case the relation has been extended showing that the expectation value of gauge theory loop operators can be reproduced in Liouville theory inserting in the correlators the monodromy of chiral degenerate fields. In this paper we study Wilson loops in SU(N) gauge theories in the fundamental an…
While the Euclidean two-dimensional gravitational path integral is in general highly fluctuating, it admits a semiclassical two-sphere saddle if coupled to a matter CFT with large and positive central charge. In Weyl gauge this gravity theory is known as timelike Liouville theory, and is conjectured to be a non-unitary two-dimensional CFT. We explore the semiclassical limit of timelike Liouville theory by calculating the two-sphere partition function from the perspective of the path integral to three-loop order, extending the work in 2106.01665. We also compare our result to the conjectured al…
We discuss the relation between Liouville theory and the Hitchin integrable system, which can be seen in two ways as a two step process involving quantization and hyperkaehler rotation. The modular duality of Liouville theory and the relation between Liouville theory and the SL(2)-WZNW-model give a new perspective on the geometric Langlands correspondence and on its relation to conformal field theory.