Title: A mathematical introduction to conformal field theory
First published: 1997
Description: The first part of this book gives a detailed, self-contained and mathematically rigorous exposition of classical conformal symmetry in n dimensions and its quantization in two dimensions. In particular, the conformal groups are determined and the appearence of the Virasoro algebra in the context of the quantization of two-dimensional conformal symmetry is explained via the classification of central extensions of Lie algebras and groups. The second part surveys some more advanced topics of conformal field theory, such as the representation theory of the Virasoro algebra, conformal symmetry within string theory, an axiomatic approach to Euclidean conformally covariant quantum field theory and a mathematical interpretation of the Verlinde formula in the context of moduli spaces of holomorphic vector bundles on a Riemann surface. This book is an important text for researchers and graduate students.
Subjects: Conformal invariants, Mathematical physics, Quantum field theory, Conformal mapping, Physics beyond the Standard Model, Algebra, Quantum Field Theory Elementary Particles, Global Analysis and Analysis on Manifolds, Mathematical Methods in Physics, Physics, Quantum theory, Global analysis, Quantum computing, Information and Physics Quantum Computing