Vertex operator algebras, Higgs branches, and modular differential equations
Journal of High Energy Physics
August 2018, 2018:114 | Cite as
Vertex operator algebras, Higgs branches, and modular differential equations
AuthorsAuthors and affiliations
Christopher BeemLeonardo Rastelli
Open Access
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
First Online: 21 August 2018
Received: 15 June 2018
Accepted: 31 July 2018
29 Downloads 1 Citations
Abstract
Every four-dimensional \( \mathcal{N}=2 \) superconformal field theory comes equipped with an intricate algebraic invariant, the associated vertex operator algebra. The relationships between this invariant and more conventional protected quantities in the same theories have yet to be completely understood. In this work, we aim to characterize the connection between the Higgs branch of the moduli space of vacua (as an algebraic geometric entity) and the associated vertex operator algebra. Ultimately our proposal is simple, but its correctness requires the existence of a number of nontrivial null vectors in the vacuum Verma module of the vertex operator algebra. Of particular interest is one such null vector whose presence suggests that the Schur index of any \( \mathcal{N}=2 \) SCFT should obey a finite order modular differential equation. By way of the “high temperature” limit of the superconformal index, this allows the Weyl anomaly coefficient a to be reinterpreted in terms of the representation theory of the associated vertex operator algebra. We illustrate these ideas in a number of examples including a series of rank-one theories associated with the “Deligne-Cvitanović exceptional series” of simple Lie algebras, several families of Argyres-Douglas theories, an assortment of class \( \mathcal{S} \) theories, and \( \mathcal{N}=2 \) super Yang-Mills with \( \mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{u}(n) \) gauge group for small-to-moderate values of n.
Keywords Conformal and W Symmetry Conformal Field Theory Extended Supersymmetry Supersymmetric Gauge Theory
ArXiv ePrint: 1707.07679
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Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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L. Rastelli, Higgs branches, vertex operator algebras and modular differ (...truncated)