The model of paths (Q713621)

P. Littelmann introduced his path model to compute multiplicities in the representation theory of Kac-Moody algebras. The main ingredients are certain paths and certain root operators acting on paths. The present paper introduces new kind of operators on Littelmann's paths: tail-flip operators \(T_{\alpha,x}\), where \(\alpha\) is a real root of an affine Lie algebra and \(x\) is a rational number between \(0\) and \(1\). After giving some properties of these operators and some refinements of this concept, they recover a formula for the character of a simple module with highest weight \(\lambda\). As a corollary they also obtain a decomposition of the tensor product of two irreducible representations into a sum of irreducibles.