Vertex representations for Yangians of Kac-Moody algebras (Q2326240)

Vertex operator representations of quantum algebras have a long history, going back to Lepowsky and Wilson's twisted vertex operator construction of the affine Lie algebra \(A_1^{(1)}\) [\textit{J. Lepowsky} and \textit{R. Wilson}, Commun. Math. Phys. 62, 43--53 (1978; Zbl 0388.17006)]. They are a way to realize algebraic structures defined via generators and relations as algebras of concrete operators on explicit vector spaces. In this paper, the authors construct a vertex operator representation of the Yangian \(Y_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\) associated to a simply-laced Kac-Moody algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\), and of its \(\hbar=1\) specialization \(Y(\mathfrak{g})\). This generalizes a construction due to Iohara for \(\mathfrak{g}=\mathfrak{sl}_N\) [\textit{K. Iohara}, J. Phys. A 29, No. 15, 4593--4621 (1996; Zbl 0899.17009)]. Here, the main application is a Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt Theorem for \(Y(\mathfrak{g})\): the authors prove that the graded ring associated to a natural filtration of \(Y(\mathfrak{g})\) is isomorphic to a universal enveloping algebra \(U(\mathfrak{s})\). They show that the Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{s}\) is the universal central extension of \(\mathfrak{g}'[t]\), where \(\mathfrak{g}'\) is the derived algebra of \(\mathfrak{g}\), and moreover that \(U(\mathfrak{s})\) is the classical limit of the Yangian, that is, the \(\hbar=0\) specialization of \(Y_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\). In addition, they show that \(Y_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\) is a flat deformation of \(U(\mathfrak{s})\). The authors' vertex operator representation of \(Y_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\) is actually obtained from a representation of the level-\(1\) centrally-extended Yangian double \(DY^1_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\), into which \(Y_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\) maps (conjecturally embeds). They represent \(DY^1_{\hbar}(\mathfrak{g})\) on a space \(\mathcal{V}[[\hbar]]\) where \(\mathcal{V}\) is the tensor product of a Heisenberg Fock space with a twisted group algebra for the root lattice \(Q\) of \(\mathfrak{g}\), similar to the untwisted vertex operator construction of affine Lie algebras by \textit{I. Frenkel} and \textit{V. Kac} [Invent. Math. 62, 23--66 (1980; Zbl 0493.17010)]. The \(\hbar=1\) specialization of this representation requires replacing \(\mathcal{V}[[\hbar]]\) with an algebraic completion of \(\mathcal{V}\) related to a \(\mathbb{Z}\times Q\)-grading. The \(\hbar =0\) specialization yields a vertex operator representation of \(U(\mathfrak{s})\), and the authors' proof of the PBW theorem for \(Y(\mathfrak{g})\) when \(\mathfrak{g}\) is affine is based on the faithfulness of this \(U(\mathfrak{s})\)-module, proved in [\textit{R. Moody} et al., Geom. Dedicata 35, No. 1--3, 283--307 (1990; Zbl 0704.17011)].