Operator formalism on general algebraic curves (Q1921972)

The authors consider \(b\)-\(c\) systems of weight \(\lambda\) on those algebraic curves for which the affine part can be realized as the affine plane curve given by the zero set of the polynomial \(F(z,y)=P_n(z)y^n+\cdots+P_1(z)y+P_0(z)\) with \(\deg_z(P_i)\leq n-j\). They call these curves ''general algebraic curves'', which is a misnomer, at least from the point of view of moduli. These algebraic curves, or equivalently, these Riemann surfaces, can be given as \(n\)-sheeted coverings of the projective line (i.e. the Riemann sphere), which are of certain restricted types. The \(b\)-\(c\) fields are meromorphic sections of the \(\lambda\)-tensor power and \((1-\lambda)\)-tensor power, respectively, of the canonical bundle. It is required that they have poles only at the points lying above \(z=0\) and \(z=\infty\). The global holomorphic sections are called zero modes. The dimensions of the spaces of zero modes are given by the Riemann-Roch formula. In this article a basis of the \(b\)-\(c\) fields and a basis of the zero modes are explicitly given with the help of the (dependent) variables \(z\) and \(y\). The basis elements are indexed by the integers and by the sheets of the covering. The authors postulate anticommutation relations for the \(b\)-\(c\) operators in which the different sheets do not interact. With respect to this set-up they calculate the propagators and show for the nondegenerate curves that they have no spurious poles. They give some arguments that this is also true for curves with degenerate polynomials \(F(z,y)\). They realize conformal field theories at genus zero with symmetry group \(\text{Vir}^n\otimes G\), where Vir is the Virasoro group and \(G\) is a discrete group which comes from the monodromy group of the branching. In a concluding section they speculate on the relation of this approach to the Riemann monodromy problem. This article was written by physicists. For a mathematician (like the reviewer) it is not always completely clear what is mathematically proven and what is only expected to be true in general.