W-algebras and finite dimensional quantum groups

Seminar: 
Geometry, Symmetry and Physics
Event time: 
Monday, November 16, 2009 - 11:30am to 12:30pm
Location: 
215LOM
Speaker: 
Antun Milas
Speaker affiliation: 
University of Albany-SUNY
Event description: 

Nonsemisimple (or logarithmic) conformal field theories have attracted a lot interest in recent years. From vertex algebra point of view, a LCFT amounts to a finite tensor category coming from a quasi-rational vertex algebra.

I will explain structure and representations of a family of W-algebras obtained as extensions of the Virasoro vertex algebras, and in particular the c=0 algebra.
These vertex algebras are expected to be in Kazhdan-Lusztig correspondence with certain finite-dimensional quantum groups.

Modular invariant partition function, Verlinde formula, and some surprising applications will be also discussed.

(This is a joint work with D. Adamovic)