Conformal blocks and generalized theta functions (Q1335249)

From MaRDI portal
scientific article
Language Label Description Also known as
English
Conformal blocks and generalized theta functions
scientific article

    Statements

    Conformal blocks and generalized theta functions (English)
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    27 September 1994
    0 references
    Let \(SU_ X (r)\) be the moduli space of semistable rank-\(r\) vector bundles over a compact Riemann surface \(X\) of genus \(g\), whose determinant bundle is trivial. There is a natural polarizing line bundle \(L\) over \(SU_ X (r)\), the so-called generalized theta bundle. The \(\mathbb{C}\)-vector space of sections of \(L^{\otimes k}\), \(k \in \mathbb{N}\), is called the space of generalized theta functions of order \(k\) on \(SU_ X (r)\), and its dimension may be computed by the famous Verlinde formula. The Verlinde formula was first discovered by physicists, in the context of conformal quantum field theory [cf. \textit{E. Verlinde}, ``Fusion rules and modular transformations in \(2d\) conformal field theory'', Nucl. Phys. B 300, No. 3, 360-376 (1988)], served then as a conjectural problem (even for more general semistable vector bundles on curves) in algebraic geometry for some years, and was recently affirmatively established, partly in special cases, by several authors [A. Bertram -- A. Szenes (1991), M. Thaddeus (1992), G. Faltings (1993)]. The aim of the present paper is to give a proof of the Verlinde formula, in the case mentioned above, by explicitly relating the constructions and arguments of the physicists to computing \(H^ 0 (SU_ X(r), L^{\otimes k})\). This is done by establishing a canonical isomorphism between this space and the so-called space of conformal blocks of level \(k\), denoted by \(B_ k (r)\), which naturally arises in the representation theory of Kac-Moody algebras and their applications in conformal quantum field theory. Having constructed this canonical isomorphism in a mathematically rigorous way, the authors derive the Verlinde formula from the dimension formula for \(B_ k (r)\), which has been computed, in a purely combinatorial manner, by \textit{A. Tsuchiya}, \textit{K. Ueno} and \textit{Y. Yamada} [in Integrable systems in quantum field theory and statistical mechanics, Proc. Sympos. 1988, Adv. Stud. Pure Math. 19, 459-566 (1989; Zbl 0696.17010)], and also by \textit{D. Gepner} [Commun. Math. Phys. 141, 381-411 (1991; Zbl 0752.17033)]. At the end of the paper, the results are generalized to the case of semistable vector bundles of arbitrary degree and determinant \({\mathcal O}_ X (dp)\), \(d\) being a fixed integer and \(p \in X\).
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references
    moduli space
    0 references
    compact Riemann surface
    0 references
    generalized theta bundle
    0 references
    Verlinde formula
    0 references
    conformal quantum field
    0 references
    representation theory of Kac-Moody algebras
    0 references
    0 references
    0 references