Flat Connections and Quantum Groups

Abstract

We review the Kohno-Drinfeld theorem as well as a conjectural analogue relating quantum Weyl groups to the monodromy of a flat connection D on the Cartan subalgebra of a complex, semi-simple Lie algebra g with poles on the root hyperplanes and values in any g-module V. We sketch our proof of this conjecture when g=sl(n) and when g is arbitrary and V is a vector, spin or adjoint representation. We also establish a precise link between the connection D and Cherednik's generalisation of the KZ connection to finite reflection groups.Comment: 20 pages. To appear in the Proceedings of the 2000 Twente Conference on Lie Groups, in a special issue of Acta Applicandae Mathematica