Beyond the Frenkel-Kac-Segal construction of affine Lie algebras

This contribution reviews recent progress in constructing affine Lie algebras at arbitrary level in terms of vertex operators. The string model describes a completely compactified subcritical chiral bosonic string whose momentum lattice is taken to be the (Lorentzian) affine weight lattice. The main feature of the new realization is the replacement of the ordinary string oscillators by physical DDF operators, whereas the unphysical position operators are substituted by certain linear combinations of the Lorentz generators. As a side result we obtain simple expressions for the affine Weyl translations as Lorentz boosts. Various applications of the construction are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, LaTeX209 with twoside, fleqn, amsmath, amsfonts, amssymb, amsthm style files; contribution to Proceedings of the 30th Int. Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles, Buckow, Germany, August 27-31, 199

Is the classical Bukhvostov-Lipatov model integrable? A Painlev\'e analysis

In this work we apply the Weiss, Tabor and Carnevale integrability criterion (Painlev\'e analysis) to the classical version of the two dimensional Bukhvostov-Lipatov model. We are led to the conclusion that the model is not integrable classically, except at a trivial point where the theory can be described in terms of two uncoupled sine-Gordon models

Sugawara-type constraints in hyperbolic coset models

In the conjectured correspondence between supergravity and geodesic models on infinite-dimensional hyperbolic coset spaces, and E10/K(E10) in particular, the constraints play a central role. We present a Sugawara-type construction in terms of the E10 Noether charges that extends these constraints infinitely into the hyperbolic algebra, in contrast to the truncated expressions obtained in arXiv:0709.2691 that involved only finitely many generators. Our extended constraints are associated to an infinite set of roots which are all imaginary, and in fact fill the closed past light-cone of the Lorentzian root lattice. The construction makes crucial use of the E10 Weyl group and of the fact that the E10 model contains both D=11 supergravity and D=10 IIB supergravity. Our extended constraints appear to unite in a remarkable manner the different canonical constraints of these two theories. This construction may also shed new light on the issue of `open constraint algebras' in traditional canonical approaches to gravity.Comment: 49 page

Kac-Moody algebras in perturbative string theory

The conjecture that M-theory has the rank eleven Kac-Moody symmetry e11 implies that Type IIA and Type IIB string theories in ten dimensions possess certain infinite dimensional perturbative symmetry algebras that we determine. This prediction is compared with the symmetry algebras that can be constructed in perturbative string theory, using the closed string analogues of the DDF operators. Within the limitations of this construction close agreement is found. We also perform the analogous analysis for the case of the closed bosonic string.Comment: 31 pages, harvmac (b), 4 eps-figure

Renormalization group flows and continual Lie algebras

We study the renormalization group flows of two-dimensional metrics in sigma models and demonstrate that they provide a continual analogue of the Toda field equations based on the infinite dimensional algebra G(d/dt;1). The resulting Toda field equation is a non-linear generalization of the heat equation, which is integrable in target space and shares the same dissipative properties in time. We provide the general solution of the renormalization group flows in terms of free fields, via Backlund transformations, and present some simple examples that illustrate the validity of their formal power series expansion in terms of algebraic data. We study in detail the sausage model that arises as geometric deformation of the O(3) sigma model, and give a new interpretation to its ultra-violet limit by gluing together two copies of Witten's two-dimensional black hole in the asymptotic region. We also provide some new solutions that describe the renormalization group flow of negatively curved spaces in different patches, which look like a cane in the infra-red region. Finally, we revisit the transition of a flat cone C/Z_n to the plane, as another special solution, and note that tachyon condensation in closed string theory exhibits a hidden relation to the infinite dimensional algebra G(d/dt;1) in the regime of gravity. Its exponential growth holds the key for the construction of conserved currents and their systematic interpretation in string theory, but they still remain unknown.Comment: latex, 73pp including 14 eps fig

Lectures on conformal field theory and Kac-Moody algebras

This is an introduction to the basic ideas and to a few further selected topics in conformal quantum field theory and in the theory of Kac-Moody algebras.Comment: 59 pages, LaTeX2e, extended version of lectures given at the Graduate Course on Conformal Field Theory and Integrable Models (Budapest, August 1996), to appear in Springer Lecture Notes in Physic

Beyond affine Kac-Moody algebras in string theory

This work is devoted to the study of certain infinite-dimensional Lie algebras arising in string theory. The two investigated models describe a chiral sector of a fully compactified closed bosonic string moving on a subcritical 10-dimensional or a critical 26-dimensional spacetime torus, respectively. To analyze the corresponding Lie algebra of physical states, a discrete version of the DDF construction in the framework of vertex algebras is developed. When applied to the subcritical example, the method yields some new insights into the complicated structure of the hyperbolic Kac-Moody algebra E_1_0 in terms of transversal and longitudinal states. Due to the no-ghost theorem, in 26 dimensions only transversal physical states appear which make up the so-called fake monster Lie algebra. The latter represents an example of a Borcherds algebra, which is a generalized Kac-Moody algebras in the sense that imaginary simple roots are allowed for in the defining relations. It is demonstrated for the example, that this feature can be understood by means of the DDF operators, too. Finally, a new result representation theory of these algebras is proved which is analyzed in view of possible applications to physics. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RA 2999(94-209) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Introduction to vertex algebras, Borcherds algebras and the Monster Lie algebras

The theory of vertex algebras constitutes a mathematically rigorous axiomatic formulation of the algebraic origins of conformal field theory. In this context Borcherds algebras arise as certain ''physical'' subspaces of vertex algebras. The aim of this review is to give a pedagogical introduction into this rapidly-developing area of mathematics. Based on the machinery of formal calculus we present the axiomatic definition of vertex algebras. We discuss the connection with conformal field theory by deriving important implications of these axioms. In particular, many explicit calculations are presented to stress the eminent role of the Jacobi identity axiom for vertex algebras. As a class of concrete examples the vertex algebras associated with even lattices are constructed and it is shown in detail how affine Lie algebras and the fake Monster Lie algebra naturally appear. This leads us to the abstract definition of Borcherds algebras as generalized Kac-Moody algebras and their basic properties. Finally, the results about the simplest generic Borcherds algebras are analysed from the point of view of symmetry in quantum theory and the construction of the Monster Lie algebra is sketched. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RA 2999(93-120) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman