Modular and conformal invariance constraints in representation theory of affine algebras (Q1112945): Difference between revisions

The basic theme of this long and detailed paper is the study of the restriction of an integrable highest weight representation \({\mathcal L}(\Lambda)\) of an affine Lie algebra \({\mathfrak g}\) to an affine subalgebra \({\mathfrak p}\). More precisely, by the coset construction [\textit{P. Goddard}, \textit{A. Kent} and \textit{D. Olive}, Phys. Lett. B 152, 88-92 (1985; see the preceding review Zbl 0661.17015)], \({\mathcal L}(\Lambda)\) is a representation of the direct sum \({\mathfrak p}\oplus Vir\) and so decomposes as a sum \(L(\Lambda)=\oplus_{V}V\otimes M(V,\Lambda)\) over the integrable highest weight representations V of \({\mathfrak p}\), where M(V,\(\Lambda)\) is a representation of the Virasoro algebra Vir. Giving this decomposition is equivalent to giving the branching functions \(b^ V_{\Lambda}(\tau)=q^{-\pi /24}\chi_{M(V,\lambda)}(q)\) where \(q=e^{2\pi i\tau}\), z is the central charge of the Virasoro on L(\(\Lambda)\), and \(\chi_ M\) is the character of M. It is shown that the \(b^ V_{\Lambda}\) are holomorphic functions on the upper half-plane, and enjoy simple transformation properties under \(SL_ 3(O)\). In particular, they are modular functions with respect to a congruence subgroup. The authors calculate the branching functions in several cases explicitly and study their asymptotic behaviour at the boundary. Along the way, a great deal of background information is given which makes the paper a valuable reference.