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Fortschritte der Physik/Progress of Physics

Open Descendants in Conformal Field Theory

Augusto Sagnotti, Yassen S. Stanev

Published Jan 1, 1996• 45 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Open descendants extend Conformal Field Theory to unoriented surfaces with boundaries. The construction rests on two types of generalizations of the fusion algebra. The first is needed even in the relatively simple case of diagonal models. It leads to a new tensor that satisfies the fusion algebra, but whose entries are signed integers. The second is needed when dealing with non-diagonal models, where Cardy's ansatz does not apply. It leads to a new tensor with positive integer entries, that satisfies a set of polynomial equations and encodes the classification of the allowed boundary operators.

DOI
10.1002/prop.2190440611

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Orientation matters for NIMreps

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The problem of finding boundary states in CFT, often rephrased in terms of "NIMreps" of the fusion algebra, has a natural extension to CFT on non-orientable surfaces. This provides extra information that turns out to be quite useful to give the proper interpretation to a NIMrep. We illustrate this with several examples. This includes a rather detailed discussion of the interesting case of the simple current extension of A_2 level 9, which is already known to have a rich structure. This structure can be disentangled completely using orientation information. In particular we find here and in other cases examples of diagonal modular invariants that do not admit a NIMrep, suggesting that there does not exist a corresponding CFT. We obtain the complete set of NIMreps (plus Moebius and Klein bottle coefficients) for many exceptional modular invariants of WZW models, and find an explanation for the occurrence of more than one NIMrep in certain cases. We also (re)consider the underlying formalism, emphasizing the distinction between oriented and unoriented string annulus amplitudes, and the origin of orientation-dependent degeneracy matrices in the latter.

•Oct 2, 2002•14 citations
Open descendants extend Conformal Field Theory to unoriented surfaces with boundaries. The construction rests on two types of generalizations of the fusion algebra. The first is needed even in the relatively simple case of diagonal models. It leads to a new tensor that satisfies the fusion algebra, but whose entries are signed integers. The second is needed when dealing with non-diagonal models, where Cardy's ansatz does not apply. It leads to a new tensor with positive integer entries, that satisfies a set of polynomial equations and encodes the classification of the allowed boundary operators.
The question of boundary conditions in conformal field theories is discussed, in the light of recent progress. Two kinds of boundary conditions are examined, along open boundaries of the system, or along closed curves or ``seams''. Solving consistency conditions known as Cardy equation is shown to amount to the algebraic problem of finding integer valued representations of (one or two copies of) the fusion algebra. Graphs encode these boundary conditions in a natural way, but are also relevant in several aspects of physics ``in the bulk''. Quantum algebras attached to these graphs contain information on structure constants of the operator algebra, on the Boltzmann weights of the corresponding integrable lattice models etc. Thus the study of boundary conditions in Conformal Field Theory offers a new perspective on several old physical problems and offers an explicit realisation of recent mathematical concepts.
The fundamentals of the conformal symmetry transformations in two dimensions are introduced. From the adapted \textit{Ward identities under conformal constraints}, the \textit{operator product expansion} (OPE) is defined for free fields and the energy momentum tensor (EM). After demonstrating how the energy momentum tensor transforms under conformal invariance, the notion of the \textit{central charge c} is defined. Conformal fields in two dimensions are \textit{radially} quantized on the cylinder within the framework of the second quantization of quantum field theory and are then mapped onto complex plane via a conformal mapping. The \textit{radial ordering} of conformal fields is adopted. The \textit{Virasoro algebra} is derived from the identification of the \textit{conformal generators}, which follow from relations between equal-time commutators and contour integrals of conformal fields. The radial quantization is applied to the free fermionic and bosonic fields, where for the latter the \textit{Vertex operator} is defined and specified. The Fock space of the free boson is constructed through the \textit{operator state correspondence}. Various boundary conditions are applied to free fields, and their effects on the ground-state energy density are detailed, leading to the notion of the \textit{Casimir energy}. The OPEs are regularized for the \textit{interacting} conformal fields, namely the E-M tensor, and the related definition of \textit{normal ordering} is revisited. Utilization of the Virasoro algebra led first to the \textit{descendant states} and subsequently to the \textit{conformal families}. The OPEs are generalized for the conformal families, and it is demonstrated how the three-point function coefficients may be obtained in terms of the two-point functions. The same procedure is employed generically through the definition of the \textit{conformal blocks}. The \textit{conformal Bootstrap method} is introduced to calculate the coefficients of nnn point functions. The Hilbert space of the conformal fields in two dimensions is formally constructed through the \textit{representation theory of Virasoro algebra}. Accordingly, the reducible and irreducible \textit{Verma modules} are specified. Due to the unitarity requirement of the Hilbert space, the famous \textit{Kac determinant} is introduced to obtain constraints on the inner products of the Verma modules, whence on the \textit{conformal weights} and the central charge. The decoupling of the \textit{null states} from rest of the their conformal families is used to obtain \textit{fusion rules} of the families. The \textit{Kac table} for the constrained conformal weights is constructed, and its analysis under the requirement of unitarity leads to the identification of the \textit{minimal models}. The correspondence between the discrete statistical systems at criticality and the minimal models is studied, where special attention is given on the \textit{Ising model}.
Two topics in two-dimensional quantum field theory are presented. The first is a classification of 2- and 3-field rational conformal field theories. Using the fact that the fusion algebra of a RCFT is specified in terms of integers that are related to modular transformation properties, we classify 2- and 3-field chiral RCFT's. We show that the only possibilities for the non-trivial fusion rule in the 2-field case are φ x φ = 1 or φ x φ = 1 + φ. Similar results are obtained for the 3-field case. A partial classification of possible conformal dimensions and central charges for these theories is also obtained. The second topic is in two-dimensional quantum gravity. Explicit computation of the non-perturbative correlation functions of the (1, q) models of KdV-gravity is presented. This computation includes contributions from high genus as well as correlation functions of descendant fields. A ghost number conservation law for these models is derived from purely algebraic considerations. A hint of further selection rules is found.
We review and extend evidence for the validity of a generalized Verlinde formula, in particular, nonrational conformal field theories. We identify a subset of representations of the chiral algebra in nonrational conformal field theories that give rise to an analogue of the relation between modular SSS-matrices and fusion coefficients in rational conformal field theories. To that end we review and extend the Cardy-type brane calculations in bosonic and supersymmetric Liouville theory (and its duals) as well as in H3+{H}_{3}^{+}H3+​. We analyze the three-point functions of Liouville theory and of H3+{H}_{3}^{+}H3+​ in detail to directly identify the fusion coefficients from the operator product expansion. Moreover, we check the validity of a proposed generic formula for localized brane one-point functions in nonrational conformal field theories.
The problem of finding boundary states in CFT, often rephrased in terms of "NIMreps" of the fusion algebra, has a natural extension to CFT on non-orientable surfaces. This provides extra information that turns out to be quite useful to give the proper interpretation to a NIMrep. We illustrate this with several examples. This includes a rather detailed discussion of the interesting case of the simple current extension of A_2 level 9, which is already known to have a rich structure. This structure can be disentangled completely using orientation information. In particular we find here and in other cases examples of diagonal modular invariants that do not admit a NIMrep, suggesting that there does not exist a corresponding CFT. We obtain the complete set of NIMreps (plus Moebius and Klein bottle coefficients) for many exceptional modular invariants of WZW models, and find an explanation for the occurrence of more than one NIMrep in certain cases. We also (re)consider the underlying formalism, emphasizing the distinction between oriented and unoriented string annulus amplitudes, and the origin of orientation-dependent degeneracy matrices in the latter.