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Concept
Vertex operator algebra
Summary
In mathematics, a vertex operator algebra (VOA) is an algebraic structure that plays an important role in two-dimensional conformal field theory and string theory. In addition to physical applications, vertex operator algebras have proven useful in purely mathematical contexts such as monstrous moonshine and the geometric Langlands correspondence.
The related notion of vertex algebra was introduced by Richard Borcherds in 1986, motivated by a construction of an infinite-dimensional Lie algebra due to Igor Frenkel. In the course of this construction, one employs a Fock space that admits an action of vertex operators attached to elements of a lattice. Borcherds formulated the notion of vertex algebra by axiomatizing the relations between the lattice vertex operators, producing an algebraic structure that allows one to construct new Lie algebras by following Frenkel's method.
The notion of vertex operator algebra was introduced as a modification of the notion of vertex algebra, by Frenkel, James Lepowsky, and Arne Meurman in 1988, as part of their project to construct the moonshine module. They observed that many vertex algebras that appear 'in nature' carry an action of the Virasoro algebra, and satisfy a bounded-below property with respect to an energy operator. Motivated by this observation, they added the Virasoro action and bounded-below property as axioms.
We now have post-hoc motivation for these notions from physics, together with several interpretations of the axioms that were not initially known. Physically, the vertex operators arising from holomorphic field insertions at points in two-dimensional conformal field theory admit operator product expansions when insertions collide, and these satisfy precisely the relations specified in the definition of vertex operator algebra. Indeed, the axioms of a vertex operator algebra are a formal algebraic interpretation of what physicists call chiral algebras (not to be confused with the more precise notion with the same name in mathematics) or "algebras of chiral symmetries", where these symmetries describe the Ward identities satisfied by a given conformal field theory, including conformal invariance.
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Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (1)
MATH-680: Monstrous moonshine
The monstrous moonshine is an unexpected connection between the Monster group and modular functions. In the course we will explain the statement of the conjecture and study the main ideas and concepts
Related publications (18)
Related people (1)
Related concepts (3)
Monstrous moonshine
In mathematics, monstrous moonshine, or moonshine theory, is the unexpected connection between the monster group M and modular functions, in particular, the j function. The initial numerical observation was made by John McKay in 1978, and the phrase was coined by John Conway and Simon P. Norton in 1979. The monstrous moonshine is now known to be underlain by a vertex operator algebra called the moonshine module (or monster vertex algebra) constructed by Igor Frenkel, James Lepowsky, and Arne Meurman in 1988, which has the monster group as its group of symmetries.
Leech lattice
In mathematics, the Leech lattice is an even unimodular lattice Λ24 in 24-dimensional Euclidean space, which is one of the best models for the kissing number problem. It was discovered by . It may also have been discovered (but not published) by Ernst Witt in 1940. The Leech lattice Λ24 is the unique lattice in 24-dimensional Euclidean space, E24, with the following list of properties: It is unimodular; i.e., it can be generated by the columns of a certain 24×24 matrix with determinant 1. It is even; i.e.
Monster group
In the area of abstract algebra known as group theory, the monster group M (also known as the Fischer–Griess monster, or the friendly giant) is the largest sporadic simple group, having order 2463205976112133171923293141475971 = 808,017,424,794,512,875,886,459,904,961,710,757,005,754,368,000,000,000 ≈ 8. The finite simple groups have been completely classified. Every such group belongs to one of 18 countably infinite families, or is one of 26 sporadic groups that do not follow such a systematic pattern.