A quantum group structure in integrable conformal field theories (Q913935)

The author discusses a quantization prescription of the conformal algebras of a class of \(d=2\) conformal field theories which are integrable. Consideration is given to the geometrical variant of the construction of a classical analogue of W-algebras in which these algebras arise as the Lie algebras of the second Hamiltonian structure of a generalized Korteweg-de Vries hierarchy. These algebras describe the integrability of a Toda field theory and have Hopf algebra structure. The quantization of these algebras can be carried out using the concept of a quantum group. The condition is derived under which a representation of these quantum groups admit a Hilbert space completion using a homomorphism of the quantum group into the braid group. A modification of the Miura transformation is considered which depends on the deformation parameter of the quantum group and which is used to define a quantum W- algebra. This leads to an alternative interpretation of the coset construction for Kac-Moody algebras in terms of nonlinear integrable hierarchies. Finally, the author explores the relation between a certain representation of the braid group and the mapping class group of Riemann surfaces to identify the action of the W-algebra on the moduli space of stable curves. The invariants of this action are given. This provides a generalization of the situation for the Virasoro algebra, where such an invariant is given by the Mumford form.