Gelfand-Zetlin basis, Whittaker vectors and a bosonic formula for the \(\mathfrak{sl}_{n+1}\) principal subspace (Q555210)

Let \(\hat{\mathfrak{g}}\) be the affine Kac-Moody algebra associated to a finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra \(\mathfrak{g}\) and let \(L_k\) be the level \(k\) vacuum representation of \(\hat{\mathfrak{g}}\) with highest weight vector \(v_k\). Moreover, let \(\hat{\mathfrak{n}}_+=\mathfrak{n}_+\otimes\mathbb{C}[t,t^{-1}]\) be the nilpotent subalgebra of \(\hat{\mathfrak{g}}\) corresponding to the positive roots of \(\mathfrak{g}\). Then the \(\hat{\mathfrak{n} }_+\)-submodule \(V^k\) of \(L_k\) generated by \(v_k\) is called the principal subspace in \(L_k\). In the paper under review the authors derive a bosonic formula for the character of the principal subspace \(V^k\) in the case of \(\hat{\mathfrak{sl}}_{n+1}\) from a known fermionic character formula for \(V^k\). In a previous paper [Lett. Math. Phys. 88, No. 1--3, 39--77 (2009; Zbl 1180.37091)], the authors in joint work with \textit{E. Feigin} and \textit{E. Mukhin} have reformulated the fermionic character formula for \(V^k\) in terms of the eigenfunctions of the quantum difference Toda Hamiltonian and these eigenfunctions were expressed as a sum consisting of Shapovalov scalar products of Whittaker vectors in Verma modules for the quantized universal enveloping algebra \(U_v(\mathfrak{gl}_{n+1})\), where \(v\) is a square root of the parameter in the character formula. In this paper these scalar products are obtained in bosonic form by using the decomposition of Whittaker vectors with respect to the Gelfand-Zetlin basis. This decomposition yields the decomposition of the coefficients of the eigenfunctions and each term of this decomposition has a factorized form. As a by-product one obtains some interesting fermionic formulas and their quasi-classical counterparts.