Speaker
Prof.
Christopher Beem
(University of Oxford)
Description
Four-dimensional N=2 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) give rise, via a cohomological construction, to associated vertex operator algebras (VOAs) that have been much investigated in the last decade. A notable feature of this construction is that for unitary parent SCFT, the VOA so realised is non-unitary. In this talk I will describe a novel structure present for these VOAs that encodes unitarity of the parent theory. Like conventional unitarity, this hidden unitarity imposes strong constraints. I will describe efforts to impose this constraint for simple classes of VOAs leading to (conjectural) classification results. [Based on work in progress with Arash Ardehali, Madalena Lemos, and Leonardo Rastelli.]
