Fusion algebras, symmetric polynomials, and \(S_{k}\)-orbits of \(\mathbb Z_N^k\) (Q2370215)

To any affine Kac-Moody algebra \({\mathcal L}\) and any level \(k\geq 1\) there is associated a finite-dimensional fusion algebra \({\mathcal F}({\mathcal L},k)\) (associative, commutative and unitary), with distinguished basis indexed by the level \(k\) weights of \({\mathcal L}\). The structure constants for \({\mathcal F}\), denoted \(N_{a,b}^{(k)c}\), are known as fusion coefficients. This paper shows that, for the fusion algebra \({\mathcal F}(A_{N-1},k)\) associated to the affine algebra \(\hat{{\mathfrak g}}\) of type \(A_{N-1}^{(1)}\) built from \({\mathfrak g}=sl_{N}\) and level \(k\), the fusion coefficients can be calculated using only the arithmetic in \(\mathbb Z_{N}^{k}\) and an iteration. It extends the work of \textit{A. J. Feingold} and \textit{M. D. Weiner} [Contemp. Math. 297, 97-115 (2002; Zbl 1034.17016)], who use a bijection between the level \(k\) weights \(\lambda\) of a type \(A_{N-1}\) affine algebra and the \(S_{k}\)-orbits \([\lambda]\) of \(\mathbb Z_{N}^{k}\) and then define a product on the set of orbits \({\mathcal O}(N,k)\) to find closed formulas for \(A_{1}\) and \(A_{2}\) at all levels \(k\). The fusion algebra \({\mathcal F}(A_{N-1},k)\) is known to be isomorphic to \(\Lambda_{N}/I^{(N,k)}\), the quotient of the algebra of symmetric polynomials in \(N\) variables by the ideal generated by the Schur polynomials \(S_{(1^{N})}\) and \(S_{(\mu)}\), where \(\mu_{1}-\mu_{N}=k+1\). The author defines a map from partitions of length \(\leq N\) to dominant integral weights, and represents partitions as Young diagrams to express conditions on weights and orbits in terms of Young diagrams. The main result (Theorem 9.4) states that the orbit product matches the (level \(k\)) fusion Pieri rule (for multiplying an arbitrary Schur polynomial \(S_{(\mu)}\) by the homogeneous polynomial \(h_{m}\) in \(\Lambda_{N}/I^{(N,k)}\)) if one of the orbits is \([m\lambda_{1}]\), where \(\lambda_{1}\) is the first fundamental weight for \(A_{N-1}\). It is proved using a characterization of orbits with only zeroes and ones (Theorem 3.9). Theorem 9.4 extends to give a closed formula for weights of a certain form (eqn. (51)), but it is not true in general (Sect. 10). However, these weights include generators for the fusion algebra, so the Jacobi-Trudi determinant (which expresses an arbitrary Schur polynomial as a determinant in the \(h_{m}\)) can be used iteratively to determine the fusion coefficients for all \(A_{N}, N\geq 3\) at all levels \(k\) (Sect. 11). The author proves type \(A\) rank-level duality, \({\mathcal F}'(A_{N-1},k)\cong{\mathcal F}'(A_{k-1},N)\), where \({\mathcal F}'\) denotes a certain quotient of the fusion algebra, first by using the isomorphism \({\mathcal F}(A_{N-1},k)\cong\Lambda_{N}/I^{(N,k)}\), and then obtains the same result via the orbits method. He also shows that the orbits method (appropriately modified) matches the classical Pieri rules for the product \(S_{(\mu)}h_{m}\) or, equivalently, \(V^{\mu}\otimes V^{m\lambda_{1}}\). In general, the exposition is detailed and very clear, and there are illustrative examples throughout.