On the coadjoint Virasoro action (Q6141348): Difference between revisions

Let \(\mathsf{C}\) be an unparametrized circle: a compact, connected, oriented 1-manifold. The Virasoro Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{vir}(\mathsf{C})\) is the canonical central extension of the Lie algebra \(\textsf{Vect}(\mathsf{C})\) of vector fields on \(\mathsf{C}\). Its smooth dual at level \(1\), denoted \(\mathfrak{vir}^*_1(\mathsf{C})\), has a geometric interpretation as the space of projective structures on \(\mathsf{C}\), and also as a space of Hill operators on \(\mathsf{C}\). The group \(\text{Diff}_+(\mathsf{C})\) of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms acts on \(\mathfrak{vir}^*_1(\mathsf{C})\) by affine-linear transformations, which will be referred to as the coadjoint Virasoro action. The set of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro algebra at level 1 is in bijection with the set of conjugacy classes in a certain open subset \(\widetilde{\text{SL}}(2,\mathbb{R})_+\) of the universal cover of \(\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})\). The authors strengthen this bijection to a Morita equivalence of quasi-symplectic groupoids, integrating the Poisson structure on \(\mathfrak{vir}^*_\mathsf{1}(S^1)\) and the Cartan-Dirac structure on \(\widetilde{\text{SL}}(2,\mathbb{R})_+\), respectively.