On the continuous series for \(\widehat{sl(2,\mathbb R)}\) (Q2439697)

The authors introduce certain representations of the untwisted affine Lie algebra \(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb R)}\), which they call the \textit{continuous series} representations. Their construction of these \(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb R)}\)-modules is in some sense an affinization of a special realization of the principal series representations of the Lie algebra \(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb R)}\) on dense subspaces of the compact and non-compact picture. More precisely, in the case of \(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb R)}\), there exist two \(\ast\)-algebras \(\mathcal A\) and \(\mathcal K\) which preserve a dense subspace of the Hilbert space of the representation (which, by hindsight, is the space of square integrable functions on the real line or the circle), and one can obtain an embedding of the Lie algebra \(\widehat{\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb R)}\) in \(\mathcal A\) and \(\mathcal K\). A similar technique is used in the affine case, where the algebras \(\mathcal A\) and \(\mathcal K\) are replaced by suitable algebras \(\widehat{\mathcal A}\) and \(\widehat{\mathcal K}\). It is known that the braided tensor category of finite dimensional representations of the quantum group \(U_q(\mathfrak{su}(2))\) is equivalent to the category of dominant highest weight modules of \(\widehat{\mathfrak{su}(2)}\). The authors suggest that there might exist a similar connection between the modules that they construct and certain categories of \(U_q(\mathfrak{sl}(2,\mathbb R))\)-modules.