We generalize the tensor product theory for modules for a vertex operator algebra previously developed in a series of papers by the first two authors to suitable module categories for a ``conformal vertex algebra'' or even more generally, for a "Möbius vertex algebra.'' We do not require the module categories to be semisimple, and we accommodate modules with generalized weight spaces. As in the earlier series of papers, our tensor product functors depend on a complex variable, but in the present generality, the logarithm of the complex variable is involved. This first part is devoted to the study of logarithmic intertwining operators and their role in the construction of the tensor product functors. Part II of this work will be devoted to the construction of the appropriate natural associativity isomorphisms between triple tensor product functors, to the proof of their fundamental properties, and to the construction of the resulting braided tensor category structure. This work includes the complete proofs in the present generality and can be read independently of the earlier series of papers.
We describe a logarithmic tensor product theory for certain module categories for a ``conformal vertex algebra.'' In this theory, which is a natural, although intricate, generalization of earlier work of Huang and Lepowsky, we do not require the module categories to be semisimple, and we accommodate modules with generalized weight spaces. The corresponding intertwining operators contain logarithms of the variables.
We construct the representation of Double Affine Hecke Algebra whose symmetrization gives the center of the quantum group U_q(sl(2)) and by Kazhdan--Lusztig duality the Verlinde algebra of (1,p) models of logarithmic conformal field theory.
We discuss some basic problems and conjectures in a program to construct general orbifold conformal field theories using the representation theory of vertex operator algebras. We first review a program to construct conformal field theories. We also clarify some misunderstandings on vertex operator algebras, modular functors and intertwining operator algebras. Then we discuss some basic open problems and conjectures in mathematical orbifold conformal field theory. Generalized twisted modules and their variants, their constructions and some existence results are reviewed. Twisted intertwining op…
This is the eighth part in a series of papers in which we introduce and develop a natural, general tensor category theory for suitable module categories for a vertex (operator) algebra. In this paper (Part VIII), we construct the braided tensor category structure, using the previously developed results.
We review the properties of quantum groups occurring as Kazhdan--Lusztig dual to logarithmic conformal field theory models. These quantum groups at even roots of unity are not quasitriangular but are factorizable and have a ribbon structure; the modular group representation on their center coincides with the representation on generalized characters of the chiral algebra in logarithmic conformal field models.
This is the first in a series of papers where we study logarithmic intertwining operators for various vertex subalgebras of Heisenberg vertex operator algebras. In this paper we examine logarithmic intertwining operators associated with rank one Heisenberg vertex operator algebra $M(1)_a$, of central charge $1-12a^2$. We classify these operators in terms of {\em depth} and provide explicit constructions in all cases. Furthermore, for $a=0$ we focus on the vertex operator subalgebra L(1,0) of $M(1)_0$ and obtain logarithmic intertwining operators among indecomposable Virasoro algebra modules. I…
By extending the methods used in our earlier work, in this paper, we present an explicit realization of logarithmic $\mathcal{W}_{p,p'$}-modules that have L(0) nilpotent rank three. This was achieved by combining the techniques developed in \cite{AdM-2009} with the theory of local systems of vertex operators \cite{LL}. In addition, we also construct a new type of extension of $\mathcal{W}_{p,p'}$, denoted by $\mathcal{V}$. Our results confirm several claims in the physics literature regarding the structure of projective covers of certain irreducible representations in the principal block. This…
We generalize the tensor product theory for modules for a vertex operator algebra previously developed in a series of papers by the first two authors to suitable module categories for a ''conformal vertex algebra'' or even more generally, for a "Möbius vertex algebra.'' We do not require the module categories to be semisimple, and we accommodate modules with generalized weight spaces. As in the earlier series of papers, our tensor product functors depend on a complex variable, but in the present generality, the logarithm of the complex variable is required; the general representation theory of…
In [8], the affine vertex algebra $L_k(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ is realized as a subalgebra of the vertex algebra $Vir_c \otimes Π(0)$, where $Vir_c$ is a simple Virasoro vertex algebra and $Π(0)$ is a half-lattice vertex algebra. Moreover, all $L_k(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$--modules (including, modules in the category $KL_k$, relaxed highest weight modules and logarithmic modules) are realized as $Vir_c \otimes Π(0)$--modules. A natural question is the generalization of this construction in higher rank. In the current paper, we study the case $\mathfrak{g}= \mathfrak{sl}_3$ and present realization of the VO…
I give a short proof of the following algebraic statement: if a vertex algebra is simple, then its underlying Lie conformal algebra is either abelian, or it is an irreducible central extension of a simple Lie conformal algebra.
We consider a class of weak modules for vertex operator algebras that we call logarithmic modules. We also construct nontrivial examples of intertwining operators between certain logarithmic modules for the Virasoro vertex operator algebra. At the end we speculate about some possible logarithmic intertwiners at the level $c=0$.
In physics, it is believed that the consistency of two dimensional conformal field theory follows from the bootstrap equation. In this paper, we introduce the notion of a full vertex algebra by analyzing the bootstrap equation, which is a "real analytic" generalization of a $\mathbb{Z}$-graded vertex algebra. We also give a mathematical formulation of the consistency of four point correlation functions in two dimensional conformal field theory and prove it for a full vertex algebra with additional assumptions on the conformal symmetry. In particular, we show that the bootstrap equation togethe…
Based on any chiral vertex operator algebra satisfying a suitable finiteness condition, the semisimplicity of the zero-mode algebra as well as a regularity for induced modules, we construct conformal field theory over the projective line with the chiral vertex operator algebra as symmetries of the theory. We appropriately generalize the argument in [TUY] so that we are able to define sheaves of conformal blocks for chiral vertex operator algebras and study them in detail. We prove the factorization theorem under the fairly general conditions for chiral vertex operator algebras and the zero-mod…
Using some new logarithmic formal calculus, we construct a well known vertex algebra, obtaining the Jacobi identity directly, in an essentially self-contained treatment.
Given a non-semisimple braided tensor category, with oplax tensor functors from known braided tensor categories, we ask : How does this knowledge characterize the tensor product and the braiding? We develop tools that address this question. In particular we prove that the associator is fixed by the oplax tensor functors, and we show that a distinguished role is played by the coalgebra structure on the image of theses tensor functors. Our setup constrains the form of quasi bialgebras appearing in the logarithmic Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture and it applies in particular to the representation categ…
We show that the space of logarithmic intertwining operators among logarithmic modules for a vertex operator algebra is isomorphic to the space of 3-point conformal blocks over the projective line. This is considered as a generalization of Zhu's result for ordinary intertwining operators among ordinary modules.
This paper is a continuation to understand Heisenberg vertex algebras in terms of moduli spaces of their conformal structures. We study the moduli space of the conformal structures on a Heisenberg vertex algebra that have the standard fixed conformal gradation. As we know in Proposition 3.1 in Sect.3, conformal vectors of the Heisenberg vertex algebra $V_{\hatη}(1,0)$ that have the standard fixed conformal gradation is parameterized by a complex vector $h$ of its weight-one subspace. First, we classify all such conformal structures of the Heisenberg vertex algebra $V_{\hatη}(1,0)$ by describin…
We classify all the Heisenberg and conformal vectors and determine the full automorphism group of the free bosonic vertex algebra without gradation. To describe it we introduce a notion of inner automorphisms of a vertex algebra.
A general method for constructing logarithmic modules in vertex operator algebra theory is presented. By utilizing this approach, we give explicit vertex operator construction of certain indecomposable and logarithmic modules for the triplet vertex algebra W(p) and for other subalgebras of lattice vertex algebras and their N=1 super extensions. We analyze in detail indecomposable modules obtained in this way, giving further evidence for the conjectural equivalence between the category of W(p)-modules and the category of modules for the restricted quantum group $\bar{\mathcal{U}}_q(sl_2)$ at ro…
The two pillars of rational conformal field theory and rational vertex operator algebras are modularity of characters on the one hand and its interpretation of modules as objects in a modular tensor category on the other one. Overarching these pillars is the Verlinde formula. In this paper we consider the more general class of logarithmic conformal field theories and $C_2$-cofinite vertex operator algebras. We suggest that their modular pillar are trace functions with insertions corresponding to intertwiners of the projective cover of the vacuum, and that the categorical pillar are finite tens…
Any variety of classical algebras has a so-called conformal counterpart. For example one can consider Lie conformal or associative conformal algebras. Lie conformal algebras are closely related to vertex algebras. We define free objects in the categories of conformal and vertex algebras. In some cases we can explicitly build their Groebner bases.
In a recent paper Flohr, Grabow and Koehn conjectured that the characters of the logarithmic conformal field theory c_{k,1}, of central charge c=1-6(k-1)^2/k, admit fermionic representations labelled by the Lie algebra D_k. In this note we provide a simple analytic proof of this conjecture.
We provide a ribbon tensor equivalence between the representation category of small quantum SL(2), at parameter q=exp($π$ i/p), and the representation category of the triplet vertex operator algebra at integral parameter p>1. We provide similar quantum group equivalences for representation categories associated to the Virasoro, and singlet vertex operator algebras at central charge c=1-6(p-1)^2/p. These results resolve a number of fundamental conjectures coming from studies of logarithmic CFTs in type A_1.
We first investigate the algebraic structure of vertex algebroids $B$ when $B$ are simple Leibniz algebras. Next, we use these vertex algebroids $B$ to construct indecomposable non-simple $C_2$-cofinite $\mathbb{N}$-graded vertex algebras $\overline{V_B}$. In addition, we classify $\mathbb{N}$-graded irreducible $\overline{V_B}$-modules and examine conformal vectors of these $\mathbb{N}$-graded vertex algebras $\overline{V_B}$.
We construct a family of vertex algebras associated to the current algebra of finite-dimensional abelian Lie algebras along with their modules and logarithmic modules. We show this family of vertex algebras and their modules are quasi-conformal and strongly $\N$-graded and verify convergence and extension property needed in the logarithmic tensor category theory for strongly graded logarithmic modules developed by Huang, Lepowsky and Zhang.
Motivated by logarithmic conformal field theory and Gromov-Witten theory, we introduce a notion of a twisted module of a vertex algebra under an arbitrary (not necessarily semisimple) automorphism. Its main feature is that the twisted fields involve the logarithm of the formal variable. We develop the theory of such twisted modules and, in particular, derive a Borcherds identity and commutator formula for them. We investigate in detail the examples of affine and Heisenberg vertex algebras.
We give a general criterion for conformal embeddings of vertex operator algebras associated to affine Lie algebras at arbitrary levels. Using that criterion, we construct new conformal embeddings at admissible rational and negative integer levels. In particular, we construct all remaining conformal embeddings associated to automorphisms of Dynkin diagrams of simple Lie algebras. The semisimplicity of the corresponding decompositions is obtained by using the concept of fusion rules for vertex operator algebras.
Herein we study conformal vectors of a Z-graded vertex algebra of (strong) CFT type. We prove that the full vertex algebra automorphism group transitively acts on the set of the conformal vectors of strong CFT type if the vertex algebra is simple. The statement is equivalent to the uniqueness of self-dual vertex operator algebra structures of a simple vertex algebra. As an application, we show that the full vertex algebra automorphism group of a simple vertex operator algebra of strong CFT type uniquely decomposes into the product of certain two subgroups and the vertex operator algebra automo…
Using the Zhu algebra for a certain category of $\mathbb{C}$-graded vertex algebras $V$, we prove that if $V$ is finitely $Ω$-generated and satisfies suitable grading conditions, then $V$ is rational, i.e. has semi-simple representation theory, with one dimensional level zero Zhu algebra. Here $Ω$ denotes the vectors in $V$ that are annihilated by lowering the real part of the grading. We apply our result to the family of rank one Weyl vertex algebras with conformal element $ω_μ$ parameterized by $μ\in \mathbb{C}$, and prove that for certain non-integer values of $μ$, these vertex algebras, wh…
We introduce p-1 pseudocharacters in the space of (1,p) model vacuum torus amplitudes to complete the distinguished basis in the 2p-dimensional fusion algebra to a basis in the whole (3p-1)-dimensional space of torus amplitudes, and the structure constants in this basis are integer numbers. We obtain a generalized Verlinde-formula that gives these structure constants. In the context of theories with boundaries, we identify the space of vacuum torus amplitudes with the space of Ishibashi states. Then, we propose 3p-1 boundary states satisfying the Cardy condition.
We present recent progress in theory of local conformal nets which is an operator algebraic approach to study chiral conformal field theory. We emphasize representation theoretic aspects and relations to theory of vertex operator algebras which gives a different and algebraic formulation of chiral conformal field theory.
We review the construction of braided tensor categories and modular tensor categories from representations of vertex operator algebras, which correspond to chiral algebras in physics. The extensive and general theory underlying this construction also establishes the operator product expansion for intertwining operators, which correspond to chiral vertex operators, and more generally, it establishes the logarithmic operator product expansion for logarithmic intertwining operators. We review the main ideas in the construction of the tensor product bifunctors and the associativity isomorphisms. F…
Logarithmic conformal field theory is a rich and vibrant area of modern mathematical physics with well-known applications to both condensed matter theory and string theory. Our limited understanding of these theories is based upon detailed studies of various examples that one may regard as archetypal. These include the c=-2 triplet model, the Wess-Zumino-Witten model on SL(2;R) at level k=-1/2, and its supergroup analogue on GL(1|1). Here, the latter model is studied algebraically through representation theory, fusion and modular invariance, facilitating a subsequent investigation of its coset…
We describe explicitly the vertex algebra of (twisted) chiral differential operators on certain nilmanifolds and construct their logarithmic modules. This is achieved by generalizing the construction of vertex operators in terms of exponentiated scalar fields to Jacobi theta functions naturally appearing in these nilmanifolds. This provides with a non-trivial example of logarithmic vertex algebra modules, a theory recently developed by Bakalov.
For a vertex operator algebra $V$ with conformal vector $ω$, we consider a class of vertex operator subalgebras and their conformal vectors. They are called semi-conformal vertex operator subalgebras and semi-conformal vectors of $(V,ω)$, respectively, and were used to study duality theory of vertex operator algebras via coset constructions. Using these objects attached to $(V,ω)$, we shall understand the structure of the vertex operator algebra $(V,ω)$. At first, we define the set $\on{Sc}(V,ω)$ of semi-conformal vectors of $V$, then we prove that $\on{Sc}(V,ω)$ is an affine algebraic variety…
We propose an extension of the definition of vertex algebras in arbitrary space-time dimensions together with their basic structure theory. An one-to-one correspondence between these vertex algebras and axiomatic quantum field theory (QFT) with global conformal invariance (GCI) is constructed.
We consider C-graded vertex algebras, which are vertex algebras V with a C-grading such that V is an admissible V-module generated by 'lowest weight vectors'. We show that such vertex algebras have a 'good' representation theory in the sense that there is a Zhu algebra A(V) and a bijection between simple admissible V-modules and simple A(V)-modules. We also consider pseudo vertex operator algebras, which are C-graded vertex algebras with a conformal vector such that the homogeneous subspaces of V are generalized eigenspaces for L(0); essentially, these are VOAs that lack any semisimplicity or …
We study relationships between the restricted unrolled quantum group $\overline{U}_q^H(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ at $2r$-th root of unity $q=e^{πi/r}, r \geq 2$, and the singlet vertex operator algebra $\mathcal M(r)$. We use deformable families of modules to efficiently compute $(1, 1)$-tangle invariants colored with projective modules of $\overline{U}_q^H(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$. These relate to the colored Alexander tangle invariants studied in [ADO, M1]. It follows that the regularized asymptotic dimensions of characters of $\mathcal M(r)$ coincide with the corresponding modified traces of open Hopf lin…
In this article, we describe the trace formulae of composition of several (up to four) adjoint actions of elements of the Lie algebra of a vertex operator algebra by using the Casimir elements. As an application, we give constraints on the central charge and the dimension of the Lie algebra for vertex operator algebras of class $\mathcal{S}^4$. In addition, we classify vertex operator algebras of class $\mathcal{S}^4$ with minimal conformal weight one under some assumptions.
In this paper we classify, under certain restrictions, all homogeneous conformal subalgebras $\goth L$ of a lattice vertex superalgebra $V_Λ$ corresponding to an integer lattice $Λ$. We require that $\goth L$ is graded by an almost finite root system $Δ\subset Λ$ and that $\goth L$ is stable under the action of the Heisenberg conformal algebra $\goth H\subset V_Λ$. We also describe the root systems of these subalgebras. The key ingredient of this classification is an infinite type conformal algebra $\goth K$ obtained by the Tits-Kantor-Koeher construction from a certain Jordan conformal triple…
We provide a complete classification of unitary subalgebras of even rank-one lattice vertex operator algebras. As a consequence of the correspondence between vertex operator algebras and conformal nets, we also obtain a complete classification of conformal subnets of even rank-one lattice conformal nets.
We prove an equivalence between the following notions: (i) unitary Möbius vertex algebras, and (ii) Wightman conformal field theories on the circle (with finite-dimensional conformal weight spaces) satisfying an additional condition that we call uniformly bounded order. Reading this equivalence in one direction, we obtain new analytic and operator-theoretic information about vertex operators. In the other direction we characterize OPEs of Wightman fields and show they satisfy the axioms of a vertex algebra. As an application we establish new results linking unitary vertex operator algebras wit…
We present explicit global constructions - avoiding power series - of certain chiral CFTs, including current algebras on the projective line. We outline an approach to vertex algebras, inspired by this construction. We construct natural pairings on state spaces.
This is an expository article invited for the ``Commentary'' section of PNAS in connection with Y.-Z. Huang's article, ``Vertex operator algebras, the Verlinde conjecture, and modular tensor categories,'' appearing in the same issue of PNAS. Huang's solution of the mathematical problem of constructing modular tensor categories from the representation theory of vertex operator algebras is very briefly discussed, along with background material. The hypotheses of the theorems entering into the solution are very general, natural and purely algebraic, and have been verified in a wide range of famil…
We develop a calculus of variations for functionals on certain spaces of conformal maps. Such a space Ω is composed of all maps that are conformal on domains containing a fix compact annular set of the Riemann sphere, and that are "sense-preserving". The calculus of variations is based on describing infinitesimal variations of such maps using vector fields. We show that derivatives of all orders with respect to such conformal maps, upon conjugation by an appropriate functional, give rise to the structure of the Virasoro vertex operator algebra. Our construction proceeds in three steps. We firs…
We derive certain systems of differential equations for matrix elements of products and iterates of logarithmic intertwining operators among strongly graded generalized modules for a strongly graded conformal vertex algebra under suitable assumptions. Using these systems of differential equations, we verify the convergence and extension property needed in the logarithmic tensor category theory for such strongly graded generalized modules developed by Huang, Lepowsky and Zhang.
We consider unitary simple vertex operator algebras whose vertex operators satisfy certain energy bounds and a strong form of locality and call them strongly local. We present a general procedure which associates to every strongly local vertex operator algebra V a conformal net A_V acting on the Hilbert space completion of V and prove that the isomorphism class of A_V does not depend on the choice of the scalar product on V. We show that the class of strongly local vertex operator algebras is closed under taking tensor products and unitary subalgebras and that, for every strongly local vertex …
We introduce the notion of a conformal design based on a vertex operator algebra. This notation is a natural analog of the notion of block designs or spherical designs when the elements of the design are based on self-orthogonal binary codes or integral lattices, respectively. It is shown that the subspaces of fixed degree of an extremal self-dual vertex operator algebra form conformal 11-, 7-, or 3-designs, generalizing similar results of Assmus-Mattson and Venkov for extremal doubly-even codes and extremal even lattices. Other examples are coming from group actions on vertex operator algebra…
We introduce several definitions within the framework of vertex and conformal algebras which are analogous to some important concepts of the classical Lie theory. Most importantly, we define formal vertex laws, which correspond to the notion of formal group law. We prove suitable vertex/conformal versions of a number of classical results such as the Milnor-Moore theorem, Cartier duality, and the equivalence between formal group laws and Lie algebras.
