Vertex coalgebras, comodules, cocommutativity and coassociativity (Q952250)

In previous papers the author studied vertex operator coalgebras, which are dual to ordinary vertex operator algebras. In the paper under review the author introduces the notion of vertex coalgebras and \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded vertex coalgebras by omitting the Virasoro conditions. Basic properties such as formal derivatives, skew-symmetry, cocommutativity and coassociativity are discussed. It is shown that the Jacobi identity can be replaced by weak cocommutativity and the \(D^\ast\)-bracket in \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded vertex coalgebras. It is also shown that the Jacobi identity can be replaced by weak coassociativity and skew-symmetry. Moreover, \(\mathbb{Q}\)-graded comodules for \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded vertex coalgebras are considered. These materials are parallel to those in the theory of vertex algebras. Some examples of \(\mathbb{Z}\)-graded vertex coalgebras are presented.