Cardy algebras and sewing constraints. I (Q533642)

This is Part I from two parts of a work concerning two approaches to conformal field theory (CFT) in a two-dimensional open-closed rational setting. In the present part, Kong and Runkel review the definition of a Cardy algebra in a setting that uses a three-dimensional topological field theory to study correlation functions and boundary conditions in the sense of Felder, Fröhlich, Fuchs, and Schweigert. The authors investigate the properties of this algebra and prove existence and uniqueness theorems. One of their results is that, under certain natural assumptions, every rational closed CFT can be extended to an open-closed CFT. In physical terms their results mean that a rational open-closed CFT with a unique vacuum state can be uniquely constructed from its correlators. Part II of this work will concern the relation of the Cardy algebra to the solution of sewing constraints.