Abstract
It is shown that the local quantum field theory of the chiral energy-momentum tensor with central chargec = 1 coincides with the gauge invariant subtheory of the chiral SU(2) current algebra at level 1, where the gauge group is the global SU(2) symmetry. At higher level, the same scheme gives rise toW-algebra extensions of the Virasoro algebra.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buchholz, D. and Schulz-Mirbach, H., Haag duality in conformal quantum field theory,Rev. Math. Phys. 2, 105 (1990).
Langerholc, J. and Schroer, B., Can current operators determine a complete theory?Comm. Math. Phys. 4, 123 (1967).
Kac, V. G., Infinite-dimensional Lie algebras and Dedekind'sη-function,Funct. Anal. Appl. 8, 68 (1974).
Pressley, A. and Segal, G.,Loop Groups, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1986.
Kac, V. G.,Infinite Dimensional Lie Algebras, Birkhauser Verlag, Basel, 1983; Fuchs, J.,Affine Lie Algebras and Quantum Groups, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1992.
Segal, G., Unitary representations of some infinite dimensional groups,Comm. Math. Phys. 80, 301 (1981).
Kac, V. G., Contravariant form for the infinite dimensional Lie algebras and superalgebras, in W. Beiglböcket al. (eds)Group Theoretical Methods in Physics, Lecture Notes in Phys. 94, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1979, p. 441.
Doplicher, S., Haag, R., and Roberts, J. E., Fields, observables, and gauge transformations.I, Comm. Math. Phys. 13, 1 (1969); Local observables and particle statistics.I, Comm. Math. Phys. 23, 199 (1971).
Bais, F. A., Bouwknegt, P., Surridge, M., and Schoutens, K., Extensions of the Virasoro algebra constructed from Kac-Moody algebras using higher order Casimir invariants,Nuclear Phys. B 304, 348 (1988).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rehren, K.H. A new view of the virasoro algebra. Lett Math Phys 30, 125–130 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00939700
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00939700