Conformal blocks and generalized theta functions (Q1335249)

Let \(SU_ X (r)\) be the moduli space of semistable rank-\(r\) vector bundles over a compact Riemann surface \(X\) of genus \(g\), whose determinant bundle is trivial. There is a natural polarizing line bundle \(L\) over \(SU_ X (r)\), the so-called generalized theta bundle. The \(\mathbb{C}\)-vector space of sections of \(L^{\otimes k}\), \(k \in \mathbb{N}\), is called the space of generalized theta functions of order \(k\) on \(SU_ X (r)\), and its dimension may be computed by the famous Verlinde formula. The Verlinde formula was first discovered by physicists, in the context of conformal quantum field theory [cf. \textit{E. Verlinde}, ``Fusion rules and modular transformations in \(2d\) conformal field theory'', Nucl. Phys. B 300, No. 3, 360-376 (1988)], served then as a conjectural problem (even for more general semistable vector bundles on curves) in algebraic geometry for some years, and was recently affirmatively established, partly in special cases, by several authors [A. Bertram -- A. Szenes (1991), M. Thaddeus (1992), G. Faltings (1993)]. The aim of the present paper is to give a proof of the Verlinde formula, in the case mentioned above, by explicitly relating the constructions and arguments of the physicists to computing \(H^ 0 (SU_ X(r), L^{\otimes k})\). This is done by establishing a canonical isomorphism between this space and the so-called space of conformal blocks of level \(k\), denoted by \(B_ k (r)\), which naturally arises in the representation theory of Kac-Moody algebras and their applications in conformal quantum field theory. Having constructed this canonical isomorphism in a mathematically rigorous way, the authors derive the Verlinde formula from the dimension formula for \(B_ k (r)\), which has been computed, in a purely combinatorial manner, by \textit{A. Tsuchiya}, \textit{K. Ueno} and \textit{Y. Yamada} [in Integrable systems in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics, Proc. Sympos. 1988, Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 19, 459-566 (1989; Zbl 0696.17010)], and also by \textit{D. Gepner} [Commun. Math. Phys. 141, 381-411 (1991; Zbl 0752.17033)]. At the end of the paper, the results are generalized to the case of semistable vector bundles of arbitrary degree and determinant \({\mathcal O}_ X (dp)\), \(d\) being a fixed integer and \(p \in X\).