The Shimura-Taniyama conjecture and conformal field theory. (Q1414645)

Some recent developments in mathematical physics point to the existence of presumably deep relationships between the arithmetic of certain Calabi-Yau varieties and various conformal field theories, such as the Landau-Ginzburg theory, or E. Witten's approach via sigma models. In fact, it seems that the string-theoretic nature of a spacetime can be made more transparent by studying the arithmetic structure of the respective underlying variety. For example, in his foregoing paper ``Arithmetic of Calabi-Yau Varieties and Rational Conformal Field Theory'' [\textit{R. Schimmrigk}, J. Geom. Phys. 44, 555--569 (2003; Zbl 1092.11028)], the first author of the present paper has succeeded in identifying the quantum dimensions of the chiral primary fields of exactly solvable string models as certain units of a number field determined by the Hasse-Weil \(L\)-function of the corresponding Calabi-Yau variety. In this context, the paper under review is devoted to the general problem of how the possible modularity of a two-dimensional conformal field theory is encoded in the arithmetic geometry of the underlying spacetime. More specifically, the authors deal with elliptic curves, as those provide the simplest examples in a class of Calabi-Yau manifolds which has been conjectured by D. Gepner (1988) to be exactly solvable in terms of certain two-dimensional \(N=2\) superconformal field theories. Even more specifically, and with a view towards the very recent proof of the long-standing Shimura-Taniyama conjecture by the work of A. Wiles, R. Taylor and A. Wiles, and \textit{C. Breuil}, \textit{B. Conrad}, \textit{F. Diamond} and \textit{R. Taylor} [On the modularity of elliptic curves over \(\mathbb{Q}\): wild \(3\)-adic exercises, J. Am. Math. Soc. 14, 843--939 (2001; Zbl 0982.11033)], the authors focus on the cubic plane curve \(C_3 :=\{ z^3_0 + z^3_1 + z^3_2 = 0\} \subset \mathbb{P}^2_{\mathbb{C}}\) of Fermat type, and their main result states that the Hasse-Weil modular form of this curve is naturally related to a modular form arising from the character of a conformal field theory derived from an affine \(SU(2)\) Kac-Moody algebra. This result reveals a string-theoretic significance of the Hasse-Weil modular form of the Fermat torus \(C_3\), thereby supporting the above-mentioned philosophy (and strategy) in conformal field theory by a simple but striking example. Moreover, the link established in this paper between arithmetically defined modular forms and physically derived ones, in combination with the recent proofs of the Shimura-Taniyama conjecture, leads the authors to the good hope that the space of exactly solvable Calabi-Yau varieties at central charge \(c=3\) is dense in the moduli space of Calabi-Yau curves. As to this spectacular conjecture, the challenge lies in a better understanding of the physical part of this relation. Alltogether, in this highly interesting work, the authors use a great deal of contemporary, partly even very recent results of arithmetic geometry in an effective way. However, with respect to motivation, style and strategy, this paper must rather be seen as a major contribution to quantum field theory in mathematical physics, though at the most advanced mathematical level.