Algebraic Structures in Euclidean and Minkowskian Two-Dimensional Conformal Field Theory

We review how modular categories, and commutative and non-commutative Frobenius algebras arise in rational conformal field theory. For Euclidean CFT we use an approach based on sewing of surfaces, and in the Minkowskian case we describe CFT by a net of operator algebras.Comment: 21 pages, contribution to proceedings for "Non-commutative Structures in Mathematics and Physics" (Brussels, July 2008

Positive Stationary Solutions and Spreading Speeds of KPP Equations in Locally Spatially Inhomogeneous Media

The current paper is concerned with positive stationary solutions and spatial spreading speeds of KPP type evolution equations with random or nonlocal or discrete dispersal in locally spatially inhomogeneous media. It is shown that such an equation has a unique globally stable positive stationary solution and has a spreading speed in every direction. Moreover, it is shown that the localized spatial inhomogeneity of the medium neither slows down nor speeds up the spatial spreading in all the directions

Gapless edges of 2d topological orders and enriched monoidal categories

In this work, we give a precise mathematical description of a fully chiral gapless edge of a 2d topological order (without symmetry). We show that the observables on the 1+1D world sheet of such an edge consist of a family of topological edge excitations, boundary CFT's and walls between boundary CFT's. These observables can be described by a chiral algebra and an enriched monoidal category. This mathematical description automatically includes that of gapped edges as special cases. Therefore, it gives a unified framework to study both gapped and gapless edges. Moreover, the boundary-bulk duality also holds for gapless edges. More precisely, the unitary modular tensor category that describes the 2d bulk phase is exactly the Drinfeld center of the enriched monoidal category that describes the gapless/gapped edge. We propose a classification of all gapped and fully chiral gapless edges of a given bulk phase. In the end, we explain how modular-invariant bulk conformal field theories naturally emerge on certain gapless walls between two trivial phases.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, An explanation of the appearance of boundary CFT's on a chiral gapless edge, which is based on a generalized "no-go theorem", is added. Final versio

Modular invariance for conformal full field algebras

Let V^L and V^R be simple vertex operator algebras satisfying certain natural uniqueness-of-vacuum, complete reducibility and cofiniteness conditions and let F be a conformal full field algebra over the tensor product of V^L and V^R. We prove that the q_\tau-\bar{q_\tau}-traces (natural traces involving q_\tau=e^{2\pi i\tau} and \bar{q_\tau}=\bar{e^{2\pi i\tau}}) of geometrically modified genus-zero correlation functions for F are convergent in suitable regions and can be extended to doubly periodic functions with periods 1 and \tau. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for these functions to be modular invariant. In the case that V^L=V^R and F is one of those constructed by the authors in \cite{HK}, we prove that all these functions are modular invariant.Comment: 54 page

A relation between chiral central charge and ground state degeneracy in 2+1-dimensional topological orders

A bosonic topological order on $d$-dimensional closed space $\Sigma^d$ may have degenerate ground states. The space $\Sigma^d$ with different shapes (different metrics) form a moduli space ${\cal M}_{\Sigma^d}$. Thus the degenerate ground states on every point in the moduli space ${\cal M}_{\Sigma^d}$ form a complex vector bundle over ${\cal M}_{\Sigma^d}$. It was suggested that the collection of such vector bundles for $d$-dimensional closed spaces of all topologies completely characterizes the topological order. Using such a point of view, we propose a direct relation between two seemingly unrelated properties of 2+1-dimensional topological orders: (1) the chiral central charge $c$ that describes the many-body density of states for edge excitations (or more precisely the thermal Hall conductance of the edge), (2) the ground state degeneracy $D_g$ on closed genus $g$ surface. We show that $c D_g/2 \in \mathbb{Z},\ g\geq 3$ for bosonic topological orders. We explicitly checked the validity of this relation for over 140 simple topological orders. For fermionic topological orders, let $D_{g,\sigma}^{e}$ ($D_{g,\sigma}^{o}$) be the degeneracy with even (odd) number of fermions for genus-$g$ surface with spin structure $\sigma$. Then we have $2c D_{g,\sigma}^{e} \in \mathbb{Z}$ and $2c D_{g,\sigma}^{o} \in \mathbb{Z}$ for $g\geq 3$.Comment: 8 pages. This paper supersedes Section XIV of an unpublished work arXiv:1405.5858. We add new results on fermionic topological orders and some numerical check

Full field algebras

We solve the problem of constructing a genus-zero full conformal field theory (a conformal field theory on genus-zero Riemann surfaces containing both chiral and antichiral parts) from representations of a simple vertex operator algebra satisfying certain natural finiteness and reductive conditions. We introduce a notion of full field algebra which is essentially an algebraic formulation of the notion of genus-zero full conformal field theory. For two vertex operator algebras, their tensor product is naturally a full field algebra and we introduce a notion of full field algebra over such a tensor product. We study the structure of full field algebras over such a tensor product using modules and intertwining operators for the two vertex operator algebras. For a simple vertex operator algebra V satisfying certain natural finiteness and reductive conditions needed for the Verlinde conjecture to hold, we construct a bilinear form on the space of intertwining operators for V and prove the nondegeneracy and other basic properties of this form. The proof of the nondegenracy of the bilinear form depends not only on the theory of intertwining operator algebras but also on the modular invariance for intertwining operator algebras through the use of the results obtained in the proof of the Verlinde conjecture by the first author. Using this nondegenerate bilinear form, we construct a full field algebra over the tensor product of two copies of V and an invariant bilinear form on this algebra.Comment: 66 pages. One reference is added, a minor mistake on the invariance under \sigma_{23} of the bilinear form on the space of intertwining operators is corrected and some misprints are fixe