The deformed Virasoro algebra at roots of unity (Q1265727)

The authors study representations of the two-parameter deformation \(Vir_{p,q}\) of the Virasoro algebra. In the first part of the paper they prove the Kac determinant formula for the Shapovalov form on Verma modules, conjectured in [Zbl 0867.17010], which gives an irreducibility criterion for Verma modules as a corollary. In particular, it follows that for generic \(p\) and \(q\) the category \(\mathcal{O}\) for \(Vir_{p.q}\) is equivalent to that for the Virasoro algebra \(Vir\). For \(q\) being a root of unity the same formula suggests that \(Vir_{p,q}\) has a large center. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the study of the center of \(Vir_{p.q}\) for \(q\) being a root of unity. The authors describe the center and study the corresponding ``reduced Verma modules'' describing their characters and the behavior of the induced Shapovalov form. In the case \(q=-1\) a character formula for simple quotients of reduced Verma modules is obtained. Finally, the authors derive explicit expressions for the generators of the center in the limit \(t=qp^{-1}\to \infty\) and elucidate the connection to the Hall-Littlewood symmetric functions. The paper has three appendices, the first about symmetric functions, the second about singular vectors in the case \(q=\sqrt[N]{1}\), and the third about some additional properties of the center.