Dorey's rule and the \(q\)-characters of simply-laced quantum affine algebras (Q2430678)

Let \(\mathfrak{g}\) be a simply-laced simple Lie algebra and \(I\) the set of nodes of the Dynkin diagram of \(\mathfrak{g}\). To the root system of \(\mathfrak{g}\) one can associate an affine Toda field theory in such a way that the root system data determine the masses and the fusing rules of the particles of species: if \(i,j \in I\) can interact to form a particle of species \(\bar{k}\), one says that there is a fusing \(j,i\to \bar{k}\). Let \( (\lambda_{i})_{i\in I} \) be the fundamental weights of \(\mathfrak{g}\), \(\omega\) a fixed Coxeter element and \(\Gamma\) the cyclic group generated by \(\omega\). Dorey's rule states that there is a fusing \(j,i\to \bar{k}\) if and only if \(0\in \Gamma \lambda_{i} + \Gamma \lambda_{j} + \Gamma \lambda_{k}\). \textit{V. Chari} and \textit{A. Pressley} proved [Commun. Math. Phys. 181, No. 2, 265--302 (1996; Zbl 0869.17015)] that in all classical cases, a sufficient and necessary condition for \( 0 \in \Gamma \lambda_{i} + \Gamma \lambda_{j} + \Gamma \lambda_{k}\) is that \(\text{Hom}_{U_{q}(\widehat{\mathfrak{g}})}(V_{i,a} \otimes V_{j,b}\otimes V_{k,c},\mathbb{C})\neq 0 \), where \(U_{q}(\widehat{\mathfrak{g}})\) is the (non-twisted) affine algebra associated to \( \mathfrak{g} \) and \( V_{i,a}, V_{j,b}, V_{k,c} \) are evaluation modules. The main result of these notes relates Dorey's rule and the structure of \( q \)-characters of fundamental representations of \( U_{q}(\widehat{\mathfrak{g}})\). Specifically, it states that the rule provides a necessary an sufficient condition for the monomial \(1\) to appear in the \(q\)-character of the tensor product \(V_{i,a} \otimes V_{j,b}\otimes V_{k,c}\). The proof is carried out by analysing Coxeter orbits of the Dynkin diagram and monomials appearing in \(q\)-characters.