An analogue of the Hom functor and a generalized nuclear democracy theorem (Q1974817)

This paper studies intertwining operators, tensor products, and Hom--functors for modules of rational vertex operator algebras. The main result is a generalization of the nuclear democracy theorem of Tsuchiya and Kanie, which in particular implies that fusion rules in the sense of vertex operator algebras coincide with fusion rules in the sense of conformal field theory. The author starts by reviewing basic facts on vertex operator algebras and their modules, rationality, intertwining operators, and the Lie algebra \(g(V)\) associated to a vertex algebra \(V\). Next, the problem of defining tensor products of modules of a vertex operator algebra is studied, and a tensor product for certain weak modules is defined in the rational case. Then the concept of a generalized intertwining operator is introduced, and the space of such operators is shown to be a \(g(V)\) module and a weak \(V\)-module, which has a universal property similar to the one of a tensor product. As a consequence, one obtains a tensor product in the category of \(V\)-modules under certain restriction on \(V\). Using this, the generalized nuclear democracy theorem is proved and some of its consequences are studied. Finally, the author constructs an example which shows that the theorem does not extend to vertex operator algebras which are not rational.