Crossed modular categories and the Verlinde formula for twisted conformal blocks (Q6098048)

This paper is devoted to crossed modular categories and the Verlinde formula for twisted conformal blocks. The authors give a Verlinde formula for computing the ranks of the bundles of twisted conformal blocks associated with a simple Lie algebra equipped with an action of a finite group \(\Gamma\) and a positive integral level \(l\) under the assumption that \(\Gamma\) preserves a Borel. For \(\Gamma=\mathbb{Z}/2\) and double covers of \(\mathbb{P}^1\), this formula was conjectured by \textit{L. Birke} et al. [Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 3, No. 3, 671--726 (1999; Zbl 0972.81164)]. As a motivation for this Verlinde formula, they prove a categorical Verlinde formula which computes the fusion coefficients for any \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular fusion category as defined by Turaev. They relate these two versions of the Verlinde formula by formulating the notion of a \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular functor and show that it is very closely related to the notion of a \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular fusion category. The authors also compute the Atiyah algebra, prove with the same assumptions that the bundles of \(\Gamma\)-twisted conformal blocks associated with a twisted affine Lie algebra define a \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular functor, and prove a useful criterion for rigidity of weakly fusion categories to deduce that the level \(l\Gamma\)-twisted conformal blocks define a \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular fusion category. Along the way, they prove the equivalence between a \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular functor and its topological analogue, and then apply these results to derive the Verlinde formula for twisted conformal blocks. They also describe the \(S\)-matrices of the \(\Gamma\)-crossed modular fusion categories associated with twisted conformal blocks. This article is organized as follows: a section is devoted to an introduction to the subject as well as a detailed description of the results obtained. The paper is divided into two main parts: Part I deals with categorical twisted Verlinde formula and Part II is devoted to conformal blocks for twisted affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras. The paper is supported by two appendices on moduli stacks of covers of curves, and twisted Kac-Moody \(S\)-matrices.