Quantum groups and Nichols algebras acting on conformal field theories

DOI10.1016/J.AIM.2020.107517MaRDI QIDQ2219322zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 20 January 2021

Published in Advances in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.06431

conformal field theory Nichols algebra quantum group screening operator

Hopf algebras and their applications (16T05) Quantum groups (quantized enveloping algebras) and related deformations (17B37) Vertex operators; vertex operator algebras and related structures (17B69) Quantum groups and related algebraic methods applied to problems in quantum theory (81R50) Two-dimensional field theories, conformal field theories, etc. in quantum mechanics (81T40)

Abstract: We prove that certain screening operators in conformal field theory obey the algebra relations of a corresponding Nichols algebra with diagonal braiding. Our result proves in particular a long-standing expectation that the Borel parts of small quantum groups appear as the algebra of screening operators. The proof is based on a novel, intimate relation between Hopf algebras, vertex algebras and a class of multivalued analytic special functions, which are generalizations of Selberg integrals. We prove that the zeroes of these special functions correspond to the algebra relations of the respective Nichols algebra, by proving an analytical quantum symmetrizer formula for the functions. Moreover, certain poles of the functions encode module extensions and a Weyl group action. At other poles, the quantum {symmetrizer} formula fails and the screening operators generate an extension of the Nichols algebra. The intended application of our result is the conjectural logarithmic Kazhdan-Lusztig correspondence. More generally, our result seems to suggest that non-local screening operators in an arbitrary vertex algebra should be described by appropriate Nichols algebras, just as local screening operators can be described by Lie algebras.

Review text

This work is motivated by the Kazhdan-Lusztig correspondence, which asks for the construction of a logarithmic vertex algebra \(\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{g},\ell)\) (with \(\mathfrak{g}\) a finite-dimensional semisimple complex Lie algebra and \(\ell\) the order of the root of unity \(q\)) whose representation category is equivalent to that of the small quantum group \(u_q(\mathfrak{g})\). The construction of the screening operators follows the approach introduced by the author in his diploma thesis [Vertex algebras constructed from Hopf algebra structure. LMU Munich (Diploma thesis) (2007)] which encodes the vertex algebra power series combinatorics into Hopf algebra structures. The (non-local) screening operators are obtained as (formal) residues of certain lattice intertwining operators. The main result is that these screening operators satisfy indeed the relations of the Borel part \(u_q(\mathfrak{g})^+\) of \(u_q(\mathfrak{g})\). More precisely: for basis elements \(\alpha_1,\ldots,\alpha_r\) in a positive definite lattice satisfying \(\|\alpha_t\|\le 1\), the screening operators \(\mathfrak{Z}_{\alpha_1},\ldots,\mathfrak{Z}_{\alpha_r}\) fulfill the relations of the Nichols algebra associated to the diagonal braiding matrix \(q_{ij} = e^{i\pi(\alpha_i,\alpha_j)}\). The proof is based on a class of multivalued analytic functions which generalize the Selberg integrals, and it is shown that the zeroes of these functions correspond to the algebraic relations in the respective Nichols algebra.

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