Differential equations and intertwining operators

This is the first part in a series of papers developing a tensor product theory for modules for a vertex operator algebra. The goal of this theory is to construct a ``vertex tensor category'' structure on the category of modules for a suitable vertex operator algebra. The notion of vertex tensor category is essentially a ``complex analogue'' of the notion of symmetric tensor category, and in fact a vertex tensor category produces a braided tensor category in a natural way. Th...

In this exposition, I discuss several developments in the theory of vertex operator algebras, and I include motivation for the definition.

We show that if $\mathcal{U}$ and $\mathcal{V}$ are locally finite abelian categories of modules for vertex operator algebras $U$ and $V$, respectively, then the Deligne tensor product of $\mathcal{U}$ and $\mathcal{V}$ can be realized as a certain category $\mathcal{D}(\mathcal{U},\mathcal{V})$ of modules for the tensor product vertex operator algebra $U\otimes V$. We also show that if $\mathcal{U}$ and $\mathcal{V}$ admit the braided tensor category structure of Huang-Lepow...

In this paper, for a vertex operator algebra $V$ with an automorphism $g$ of order $T,$ an admissible $V$-module $M$ and a fixed nonnegative rational number $n\in\frac{1}{T}\Bbb{Z}_{+},$ we construct an $A_{g,n}(V)$-bimodule $\AA_{g,n}(M)$ and study its some properties, discuss the connections between bimodule $\AA_{g,n}(M)$ and intertwining operators. Especially, bimodule $\AA_{g,n-\frac{1}{T}}(M)$ is a natural quotient of $\AA_{g,n}(M)$ and there is a linear isomorphism bet...

Let $V$ be a simple, non-negatively-graded, rational, $C_2$-cofinite, and self dual vertex operator algebra, $g_1, g_2, g_3$ be three commuting finitely ordered automorphisms of $V$ such that $g_1g_2=g_3$ and $g_i^T=1$ for $i=1, 2, 3$ and $T\in \N$. Suppose $M^1$ is a $g_1$-twisted module. For any $n, m\in \frac{1}{T}\N$, we construct an $A_{g_3, n}(V)$-$A_{g_2, m}(V)$-bimodule $\mathcal{A}_{g_3, g_2, n, m}(M^1)$ associated to the quadruple $(M^1, g_1, g_2, g_3)$. Given an $A...

This is the third part in a series of papers developing a tensor product theory for modules for a vertex operator algebra. The goal of this theory is to construct a ``vertex tensor category'' structure on the category of modules for a suitable vertex operator algebra. The notion of vertex tensor category is essentially a ``complex analogue'' of the notion of symmetric tensor category, and in fact a vertex tensor category produces a braided tensor category in a natural way. In...

We describe the construction of the genus-zero parts of conformal field theories in the sense of G. Segal from representations of vertex operator algebras satisfying certain conditions. The construction is divided into four steps and each step gives a mathematical structure of independent interest. These mathematical structures are intertwining operator algebras, genus-zero modular functors, genus-zero holomorphic weakly conformal field theories, and genus-zero conformal fiel...

This is the sixth part in a series of papers in which we introduce and develop a natural, general tensor category theory for suitable module categories for a vertex (operator) algebra. In this paper (Part VI), we construct the appropriate natural associativity isomorphisms between triple tensor product functors. In fact, we establish a "logarithmic operator product expansion" theorem for logarithmic intertwining operators. In this part, a great deal of analytic reasoning is n...

A cohomological criterion for the complete reducibility of modules of finite length satisfying a composability condition for a meromorphic open-string vertex algebra $V$ has been given by Qi and the author. In order to apply this criterion, one needs to determine what types of $V$-modules satisfy the composability condition. In this paper, we prove that the composability condition is satisfied by generalized modules in a suitable category for a grading-restricted vertex algeb...

We construct projective covers of irreducible V-modules in the category of grading-restricted generalized V-modules when V is a vertex operator algebra satisfying the following conditions: 1. V is C_{1}-cofinite in the sense of Li. 2. There exists a positive integer N such that the differences between the real parts of the lowest conformal weights of irreducible V-modules are bounded by N and such that the associative algebra A_{N}(V) is finite dimensional. This result shows ...