Fusion rules in N=1 superconformal minimal models

Knot invariants from rational conformal field theories

We define Hecke operators on vector-valued modular forms of the type that appear as characters of rational conformal field theories (RCFTs). These operators extend the previously studied Galois symmetry of the modular representation and fusion algebra of RCFTs to a relation between RCFT characters. We apply our results to derive a number of relations between characters of known RCFTs with different central charges and also explore the relation between Hecke operators and RCFT characters as solutions to modular linear differential equations. We show that Hecke operators can be used to construct an infinite set of possible characters for RCFTs with two independent characters and increasing central charge. These characters have multiplicity one for the vacuum representation, positive integer coefficients in their q expansions, and are associated to a two-dimensional representation of the modular group which leads to non-negative integer fusion coefficients as determined by the Verlinde formula.

The classification scheme for rational conformal field theories, given by the Mathur-Mukhi-Sen (MMS) program, identifies a rational conformal field theory by two numbers: (n, l). n is the number of characters of the rational conformal field theory. The characters form linearly independent solutions to a modular linear differential equation (which is also labelled by (n, l)); the Wronskian index l is a non-negative integer associated to the structure of zeroes of the Wronskian.In this paper, we compute the (n, l) values for three classes of well-known CFTs viz. the WZW CFTs, the Virasoro minimal models and the mathcal{N} = 1 super-Virasoro minimal models. For the latter two, we obtain exact formulae for the Wronskian indices. For WZW CFTs, we get exact formulae for small ranks (upto 2) and all levels and for all ranks and small levels (upto 2) and for the rest we compute using a computer program. We find that any WZW CFT at level 1 has a vanishing Wronskian index as does the {hat{mathbf{A}}}_{mathbf{1}} CFT at all levels. We find intriguing coincidences such as: (i) for the same level CFTs with {hat{mathbf{A}}}_{mathbf{2}} and {hat{mathbf{G}}}_{mathbf{2}} have the same (n, l) values, (ii) for the same level CFTs with {hat{mathbf{B}}}_{mathbf{r}} and {hat{mathbf{D}}}_{mathbf{r}} have the same (n, l) values for all r ≥ 5.Classifying all rational conformal field theories for a given (n, l) is one of the aims of the MMS program. We can use our computations to provide partial classifications. For the famous (2, 0) case, our partial classification turns out to be the full classification (achieved by MMS three decades ago). For the (3, 0) case, our partial classification includes two infinite series of CFTs as well as fifteen “discrete” CFTs; except three all others have Kac-Moody symmetry.

We consider orientifold actions involving the permutation of two identical factor theories. The corresponding crosscap states are constructed in rational conformal field theory. We study group manifolds, in particular the examples $SU(2) \times SU(2)$ and $U(1)\times U(1)$ in detail, comparing conformal field theory results with geometry. We then consider orientifolds of tensor products of N=2 minimal models, which have a description as coset theories in rational conformal field theory and as Landau Ginzburg models. In the Landau Ginzburg language, B-orientifolds and D-branes are described in terms of matrix factorizations of the superpotential. We match the factorizations with the corresponding crosscap states.

In rational conformal field theory, the Verlinde formula computes the fusion coefficients from the modular S-transformations of the characters of the chiral algebra's representations. Generalising this formula to logarithmic models has proven rather difficult for a variety of reasons. Here, a recently proposed formalism [1] for the modular properties of certain classes of logarithmic theories is reviewed, and refined, using simple examples. A formalism addressing fusion rules in simple current extensions is also reviewed as a means to tackle logarithmic theories to which the proposed modular formalism does not directly apply.

Study of the matrix-level affine algebra Um,K is motivated by conformal field theory and the fractional quantum Hall effect. Gannon completed the classification of Um,K modular-invariant partition functions. Here we connect the algebra U2,K to strings on 2-tori describable by rational conformal field theories. As Gukov and Vafa proved, rationality selects the complex-multiplication tori. We point out that the rational conformal field theories describing strings on complex-multiplication tori have characters and partition functions identical to those of the matrix-level algebra Um,K. This connection makes it obvious that the rational theories are dense in the moduli space of strings on Tm, and may prove useful in other ways.

The limit of families of two-dimensional conformal field theories has recently attracted attention in the context of AdS/CFT dualities. In our work we analyse the limit of N=(2,2) superconformal minimal models when the central charge approaches c=3. The limiting theory is a non-rational N=(2,2) superconformal theory, in which there is a continuum of chiral primary fields. We determine the spectrum of the theory, the three-point functions on the sphere, and the disc one-point functions.

A (1 + 1)D unitary bosonic rational conformal field theory (RCFT) may be organized according to its genus, a tuple (c,C) consisting of its central charge c and a unitary modular tensor category C which describes the (2 + 1)D topological quantum field theory for which its maximally extended chiral algebra forms a holomorphic boundary condition. We establish a number of results pertaining to RCFTs in “small” genera, by which we informally mean genera with the central charge c and the number of primary operators rank(C) both not too large. We start by completely solving the modular bootstrap problem for theories with at most four primary operators. In particular, we characterize, and provide an algorithm which efficiently computes, the function spaces to which the partition function of any bosonic RCFT with rank(C)≤4 must belong. Using this result, and leveraging relationships between RCFTs and holomorphic vertex operator algebras which come from “gluing” and cosets, we rigorously enumerate all bosonic theories in 95 of the 105 genera (c,C) with c ≤ 24 and rank(C)≤4. This includes as (new) special cases the classification of chiral algebras with three primaries and c < 120/7 ∼ 17.14, and the classification of chiral algebras with four primaries and c < 62/3 ∼ 20.67. We then study two applications of our classification. First, by making use of chiral versions of bosonization and fermionization, we obtain the complete list of purely left-moving fermionic RCFTs with c < 23 as a corollary of the results of the previous paragraph. Second, using a (conjectural) concept which we call “symmetry/subalgebra duality,” we precisely relate our bosonic classification to the problem of determining certain generalized global symmetries of holomorphic vertex operator algebras.

Modular invariance of N = 2 minimal models

We identify the maximal chiral algebra of conformal cyclic orbifolds. In terms of this extended algebra, the orbifold is a rational and diagonal conformal field theory, provided the mother theory itself is also rational and diagonal. The operator content and operator product expansion of the cyclic orbifolds are revisited in terms of this algebra. The fusion rules and fusion numbers are computed via the Verlinde formula. This allows one to predict which conformal blocks appear in a given four-point function of twisted or untwisted operators, which is relevant for the computation of various entanglement measures in one-dimensional critical systems.

We present explicit conjectures for the chiral fusion algebras of the logarithmic minimal models considering Virasoro representations with no enlarged or extended symmetry algebra. The generators of fusion are countably infinite in number but the ensuing fusion rules are quasi-rational in the sense that the fusion of a finite number of representations decomposes into a finite direct sum of representations. The fusion rules are commutative, associative and exhibit an sℓ(2) structure but require so-called Kac representations which are typically reducible yet indecomposable representations of rank 1. In particular, the identity of the fundamental fusion algebra p ≠ 1 is a reducible yet indecomposable Kac representation of rank 1. We make detailed comparisons of our fusion rules with the results of Gaberdiel and Kausch for p = 1 and with Eberle and Flohr for (p, p′) = (2, 5) corresponding to the logarithmic Yang–Lee model. In the latter case, we confirm the appearance of indecomposable representations of rank 3. We also find that closure of a fundamental fusion algebra is achieved without the introduction of indecomposable representations of rank higher than 3. The conjectured fusion rules are supported, within our lattice approach, by extensive numerical studies of the associated integrable lattice models. Details of our lattice findings and numerical results will be presented elsewhere. The agreement of our fusion rules with the previous fusion rules lends considerable support for the identification of the logarithmic minimal models with the augmented (minimal) models defined algebraically.

Recently, Harvey and Wu proposed a suitable Hecke operator for vector-valued SL(2, ℤ) modular forms to connect the characters of different 2d rational conformal field theories (RCFTs). We generalize such an operator to the 2d fermionic RCFTs and call it fermionic Hecke operator. The new Hecke operator naturally maps the Neveu-Schwarz (NS) characters of a fermionic theory to the NS characters of another fermionic theory. Mathematically, it is the natural Hecke operator on vector-valued Γθ modular forms of weight zero. We find it can also be extended to NS~\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\overset{\\sim }{\ extrm{NS}} $$\\end{document} and Ramond (R) sectors by combining the characters of the two sectors together. We systematically study the fermionic Hecke relations among 2d fermionic RCFTs with up to five NS characters and find that almost all known supersymmetric RCFTs can be realized as fermionic Hecke images of some simple theories such as supersymmetric minimal models. We also study the coset relations between fermionic Hecke images with respect to c = 12k holomorphic SCFTs.

Fusion algebras of fermionic rational conformal field theories via a generalized Verlinde formula

We consider two different conformal field theories with central charge c = 7/10. One is the diagonal invariant minimal model in which all fields have integer spins; the other is the local fermionic theory with superconformal symmetry in which fields can have half-integer spin. We construct new conformal (but not topological or factorised) defects in the minimal model. We do this by first constructing defects in the fermionic model as boundary conditions in a fermionic theory of central charge c = 7/5, using the folding trick as first proposed by Gang and Yamaguchi [1]. We then act on these with interface defects to find the new conformal defects. As part of the construction, we find the topological defects in the fermionic theory and the interfaces between the fermionic theory and the minimal model. We also consider the simpler case of defects in the theory of a single free fermion and interface defects between the Ising model and a single fermion as a prelude to calculations in the tri-critical Ising model.

We give a general construction of correlation functions in rational conformal field theory on a possibly nonorientable surface with boundary in terms of three-dimensional topological field theory. The construction applies to any modular category in the sense of Turaev. It is proved that these correlation functions obey modular invariance and factorization rules. Structure constants are calculated and expressed in terms of the data of the modular category.