Vertex algebras (Q4249103)

Vertex algebras were introduced by the author in [Vertex algebras, Kac-Moody algebras, and the monster, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 3068-3071 (1986; Zbl 0613.17012)]. In the present paper the author introduces a higher-dimensional analogous of vertex algebras. He first defines the concepts of a vertex group \(G\), the representations of a vertex group, and the relaxed multilinear category of \(G\)-modules. Then a \(G\) vertex algebra is defined as an associative algebra in the relaxed multilinear category of \(G\)-modules. The author motivates his definitions by presenting a large number of important examples. In particular, he shows that for a certain choice of a vertex group \(G\) the commutative \(G\) vertex algebras are the same as classical vertex algebras. In this way the concept of \(G\) vertex algebras is a generalization of classical vertex algebras. The contents of this paper is as follows: 1. Introduction, 2. Formal groups and Hopf algebras, 3. Vertex groups, 4. Relaxed multilinear categories, 5. The representations of a vertex group, 6. \(G\) vertex algebras, 7. Vertex operators, 8. Free field \(G\) vertex algebras, 9. The main identity, 10. The Yang-Baxter equation, 11. Cohomology of \(G\) vertex algebras, 12. Relation to quantum field theory. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0905.00081].