Vertex Operator Algebra and Zeta Function
Vertex Operator Algebra and Zeta Function
Vertex Operator Algebra and Zeta Function
Introduction
1
,
12
(1.1)
(s) =
ns
(1.2)
(1.3)
n>0
for s = 0, 1, 2, . . .. The classical number theory behind this analytic continuation is well known to be related to the widely-pervasive issue of regularizing
certain infinities in quantum field theory, in particular, in conformal field
theory. Here we shall announce some general principles of vertex operator
algebra theory that elucidate the passage from the unrigorous but suggestive
formula (1.1) to formula (1.2), and the generalization (1.4). In the process,
we shall explain some recent work of S. Blochs involving zeta-values and
differential operators. The work [L2] contains details and related results.
The material that we shall present involves foundational notions of vertex
operator algebra theory, and we shall try to make this writeup accessible to
nonspecialists by reviewing elementary matters.
We were motivated by a desire to understand some very interesting phenomena found by Bloch [Bl] relating the values (n), n = 1, 3, 5, . . ., of the
zeta function at negative odd integers to the commuatators of certain operators on an infinite-dimensional space. We shall begin with some elementary
background and a brief description of this work, then we shall explain how to
recover and somewhat generalize these results using vertex operator algebra
theory, and finally, we shall place these ideas and results into a very general
context and present some new general results in vertex operator algebra theory. These methods serve incidentally to enhance the many already-existing
motivations for vertex operator algebra theory (see [Bo], [FLM]) and its underlying formal calculus (as developed in [FLM] and [FHL]).
One of our main themes is to always use generating functionsto introduce new formal variables and generating functions in order to try to make
complicated things easier and more natural and at the same time, much more
general, as in the corresponding parts of [FLM]. We use commuting formal
variables rather than complex variables because they provide the most natP
ural way to handle the doubly-infinite series such as (x) = nZ xn that
pervade the natural formulations and proofs. Other central themes are to
d
exploit the formal exponential of the differential operator x dx
as a formal
change-of-variables automorphism (again as in [FLM]); to formulate Eulers
interpretation of the divergent series (1.4) by means of the operator product
expansion in conformal field theory; and to place considerations about Lie
algebras of differential operators into the very general context of what we
termed the Jacobi identity [FLM] for vertex operator algebras. There are
some interesting points of contact between the present work and [KR], [M]
and [FKRW].
2
I am very pleased to dedicate this paper to Howard Garland on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. This work was presented in a talk at Yale
University in fall, 1997 at a seminar in his honor. I would like to mention
here that it was from Howard Garland that Robert Wilson and I, in 1980,
first learned about the idea of using formal delta-function calculus, which
was also used in [DKM]; cf. [FLM]. This was one among many of Howards
insights that have influenced us.
This work was also presented in a talk at the May, 1998 Conference on
Representations of Affine and Quantum Affine Algebras and Related Topics
at North Carolina State University. I would like to thank Naihuan Jing and
Kailash Misra, the organizers, for a stimulating conference.
I am very grateful to Spencer Bloch for informing me about his work and
for many valuable discussions.
This work was partially supported by NSF grants DMS-9401851 and
DMS-9701150.
Background
Consider the commutative associative algebra C[t, t1 ] of Laurent polynomials in an indeterminate t, and consider its Lie algebra d of derivations:
d
= Der C[t, t1 ],
(2.1)
the Lie algebra of formal vector fields on the circle, with basis {tn D|n Z},
where
d
D = Dt = t .
(2.2)
dt
(A preview of one of our main themes: The homogeneous differential operator Dt , rather than dtd , will be the appropriate form of differentiation for
our considerations, and we shall be using it for various variables as well as
t.)
Consider also the Virasoro algebra v, the well-known central extension
0 Cc v d 0,
(2.3)
where v has basis {L(n)|n Z} together with a central element c; the bracket
relations among the L(n) are given by
1
[L(m), L(n)] = (m n)L(m + n) + (m3 m)m+n,0 c
(2.4)
12
3
1
(m3 m), being oneand L(n) maps to tn D in (2.3).
The number 12
half the binomial coefficient m+1
, is closely related to a third derivative,
3
which becomes visible when we use generating functions to write the bracket
relations (2.4), as we review below. The Virasoro algebra is naturally Zgraded, with deg L(n) = n and deg c = 0.
The following classical realization of the Lie algebra v is well known: We
start with the Heisenberg Lie algebra with basis consisting of the symbols
h(n) for n Z, n 6= 0 and a central element 1, with the bracket relations
(2.5)
(2.6)
as follows: For n < 0, h(n) acts as the multiplication operator; for n > 0,
(2.7)
1X
h(j)h(n j) for n 6= 0,
2 jZ
(2.8)
1X
h(|j|)h(|j|).
2 jZ
(2.9)
L(0) 7
1 X
h(j)h(n j)
2 jZ
4
(2.10)
for all n Z.
It is an instructive and not-so-trivial (classical) exercise to verify by direct
computation that the operators (2.10) indeed satisfy the bracket relations
(2.4). (This exercise and the related constructions are presented in [FLM],
for example, where the standard generalization of this construction of v using
a Heisenberg algebra based on a finite-dimensional space of operators h(n)
for each n is also carried out.)
Vertex operator algebra theory and conformal field theory place this exercise into a very general, natural setting (among many other things), with
conceptual approaches and techniques (cf. [FLM]). It is standard procedure
to embed operators such as h(n) and L(n) into generating functions and to
compute with these generating functions, using a formal calculus, and to systematically avoid computing with the individual operators. Doing this vastly
simplifies computations that would otherwise be complicated or sometimes
almost impossible. In fact, we shall be using a number of generating-function
ideas below.
The space S carries a natural Z-grading, determined by the rule deg h(j) =
j for j < 0. Then S is in fact graded by the nonpositive integers, and the
v-module S is a graded module. It turns out to be appropriate to use the
negative of this grading, that is, to define a new grading (by conformal
weights) on the space S by the rule wt h(j) = j for j > 0. One reason
why this is natural is that for each n 0, the homogeneous subspace of S of
weight n coincides with the eigenspace of the operator L(0) with eigenvalue
n, as is easy to see. For n Z (or n 0) we define Sn to be the homogeneous
subspace of S of weight n, and we consider the formal power series in the
formal variable q given by
dim S =
(dim Sn )q n
(2.11)
n0
(the graded dimension of the graded space S). Clearly, from the definitions,
dim S =
(1 q n )1 .
(2.12)
n>0
Here are the main points about these classical considerations that we
want to emphasize: As is well known in conformal field theory, removing the
normal ordering in the definition of the operator L(0) introduces an infinity
5
h(j)h(j)
L(0)
=
2 jZ
(2.13)
(2.14)
(2.15)
We rigorize L(0)
by defining it as:
and we define
L(0)
= L(0) + (1),
2
(2.16)
L(n)
= L(n) for n 6= 0,
(2.17)
to get a new basis of the Lie algebra v. (We are identifying the elements of
v with operators on the space S.) The brackets become:
[L(m),
L(n)]
= (m n)L(m
+ n) +
1 3
m m+n,0 ;
12
(2.18)
L(0)
in place of L(0), so that the grading of S is shifted from the previous
1
grading by conformal weights by the subtraction of 24
from the weights. We
let (S) be the corresponding graded dimension, so that
(S) =
where
(q) = q 24
1
,
(q)
(1 q n ).
n>0
(2.19)
(2.20)
The point is that (q) has important (classical) modular transformation propQ
erties, unlike n>0 (1 q n ), when viewed as a function of in the upper
half-plane via the substitution q = e2i ; (q) is Dedekinds eta-function.
Bloch [Bl] extended this classical story in various ways, in particular, the
following: Instead of the Lie algebra d, we consider the larger Lie algbebra
of formal differential operators, spanned by
{tn D m |n Z, m 0}
(2.21)
1X r
j h(j)(n j)r h(n j) for n 6= 0,
2 jZ
(2.22)
1X
(j)r h(|j|)j r h(|j|),
2 jZ
(2.23)
1X r
j h(j)(n j)r h(n j)
2 jZ
(2.24)
L(r) (0) =
that is,
L(r) (n) =
(2.25)
(cf. [KP]). (It is not surprising in retrospect that these operators L(r) (n)
are related to differential operators, because the generating function of these
operators as n ranges through Z is based on D r , as we discuss below.)
A central point of [Bl] is that the formal removal of the normal-ordering
procedure in the definition (2.23) of L(r) (0) adds the infinity (1)r 12 (2r
P
1) = n>0 n2r+1 (generalizing (2.13)(2.15)), and if we correspondingly
define
(r) (0) = L(r) (0) + (1)r 1 (2r 1)
L
(2.26)
2
(r) (n) = L(r) (n) for n 6= 0 (generalizing (2.16) and (2.17)), the commuand L
tators simplify in a remarkable way: As direct computation [Bl] shows, the
7
(r) (m), L
(s) (m)] reduces to
complicated polynomial in the scalar term of [L
a pure monomial in m, by analogy with, and generalizing, the passage from
m3 m to m3 in (2.18). The precise formulas can be found in [Bl], along
with further results; for instance, in [Bl], these considerations and results are
generalized to Dirichlet L-series in place of the zeta function.
Bk
,
k
(3.1)
where the Bk are the Bernoulli numbers, defined by the generating function
ex
X Bk
x
=
xk ,
1 k0 k!
(3.2)
(3.3)
1k k X 2k k
x +
x + .
k0 k!
k0 k!
X
(3.4)
(3.5)
1
(k +1). Also, the coefficient of x0 in (3.4) is formally
which looks like (k1)!
1 + 0!1 (10 + 20 + ), which we formally view as 1 + (0) (and not as (0)).
Thus, formally equating the coefficients of xl for l 0 in (3.2) explains
(3.1) and the fact that (0) = B1 1 (= 12 ); now we know what (1.4)
says.
The key point here is the interplay between the formal geometric series
expansion (in powers of ex ) and the expansion in powers of x.
Now, how do we interpret all of this via vertex operator algebra theory?
First note that the expressions (2.22)(2.24) above for L(r) (n) suggest
th
r derivatives. We have already mentioned that a basic theme in vertex
operator algebra theory is to always use appropriate generating functions (as
we just did, incidentally, in the heuristic discussion above). First we put our
individual operators into generating functions. Using a formal variable x, we
define
X
h(x) =
h(n)xn
(3.6)
nZ
and
L(r) (x) =
L(r) (n)xn ,
(3.7)
nZ
d
and using Dx to denote the operator x dx
(recall the comment after (2.2)),
we observe that
1
(3.8)
L(r) (x) = (Dxr h(x))2 ,
2
where the colons, as always, denote normal ordering (recall (2.10)). (For
other purposes, other versions of these generating functions are used, in parP
ticular, h(x) = nZ h(n)xn1 , as in (4.14) below, in place of (3.6), but we
have chosen the appropriate generating functions for our purposes.)
ey dx f (x) = f (x + y),
(3.9)
(3.10)
with f (x) as above (again cf. [FLM], Proposition 8.3.1), which expresses the
fact that Dx is a formal infinitesimal dilation.
Now (Dxr h(x))2 (recall (3.8)) is hard to put into a good generating
function over r, but we can make the problem easier by making it more
general: Consider independently many derivatives on each of the two factors
h(x) in h(x)2 , use two new independent formal variables y1 and y2 , and
form the generating function
1
1
L(y1 ,y2 ) (x) = (ey1 Dx h(x))(ey2 Dx h(x)) = h(ey1 x)h(ey2 x)
(3.11)
2
2
10
(where we use (3.10)), so that L(r) (x) is a diagonal piece of this generating
function in the sense that it is (r!)2 times the coefficient of y1r y2r in L(y1 ,y2 ) (x).
Using formal vertex operator calculus techniques (generalizing the argument
on pp. 224-226 of [FLM], for example), we can calculate
[ h(ey1 x1 )h(ey2 x1 ) , h(ey3 x2 )h(ey4 x2 ) ].
(3.12)
x2 1 x2 /x1
(3.13)
(an exercise using elementary vertex operator techniques), and it follows that
h(ey1 x1 )h(ey2 x2 ) = h(ey1 x1 )h(ey2 x2 ) + x2
1
.
y
x2 1 e 2 x2 /ey1 x1
(3.14)
differential operator Dx = x x
rather than x
). The expression 1ey2 x12 /ey1 x1
came from, and is, a geometric series expansion (recall (3.13)).
Now we try to set x1 = x2 (= x) in (3.14). The result of this procedure is unrigorous on the left-hand side, as we have pointed out above, but
the result has rigorous meaning on the right-hand side, because the normalordered product h(ey1 x)h(ey2 x) is certainly well defined, and the expression
y 1 1ey1 1 +y2 can be interpreted rigorously as in (3.2) and (3.3); more precisely (the role of x in (3.3) being played here by y1 + y2 ), we take 1ey1 1 +y2
11
(3.15)
1
,
y1 1 ey1 +y2
(3.16)
with the last part of the right-hand side being understood as we just indicated. Again compare this with the heuristic discussion above; this expression came from a geometric series, but it becomes rigorous only when we
expand in the new way (actually, we might alternatively replace the binomial
expansion (y1 y2 )1 by the different expansion of the same formal expression in nonnegative powers of y1 rather than of y2 , but it is more natural to
make the choice that we did).
Formula (3.16) and its indicated interpretation give a natural explanation of the zeta-function-modified operators defined in (2.26): We use (3.16)
to define the following analogues of the operators (3.11):
(y1 ,y2 ) (x) = 1 + h(ey1 x)h(ey2 x) + ,
L
+
2+
(3.17)
xn ,
(3.18)
nZ
L
(x2 ) y3
2 y2
e x2
y2
e
x
1
(y1 y2 +y4 ,y3 ) (x2 )
.
+L
ey4 x2
(3.19)
[FHL]; the principles that we have found are based heavily on the Jacobi
identity as formulated in [FLM] and [FHL]:
Definition 4.1 A vertex operator algebra (V, Y, 1, ), or simply V (over C),
is a Z-graded vector space (graded by weights)
V =
(4.1)
nZ
such that
dim V(n) < for n Z,
(4.2)
(4.3)
(4.4)
nZ
Y (v, x) denoting the vertex operator associated with v, and equipped also with
two distinguished homogeneous vectors 1 V(0) (the vacuum) and V(2) .
The following conditions are assumed for u, v V : the lower truncation
condition holds:
un v = 0 for n sufficiently large
(4.5)
(or equivalently, Y (u, x)v involves only finitely many negative powers of x);
Y (1, x) = 1 (1 on the right being the identity operator);
(4.6)
(4.7)
(that is, Y (v, x)1 involves only nonnegative integral powers of x and the
constant term is v); with (x) as in (3.18) and with binomial expressions
understood (as above) to be expanded in nonnegative powers of the second
variable, the Jacobi identity (the main axiom) holds:
x1
0
x2 x1
x1 x2
Y (u, x1 )Y (v, x2 ) x1
Y (v, x2 )Y (u, x1 )
0
x0
x0
x1 x0
= x1
Y (Y (u, x0 )v, x2 )
(4.8)
2
x2
14
(note that when each expression in (4.8) is applied to any element of V , the
coefficient of each monomial in the formal variables is a finite sum; on the
right-hand side, the notation Y (, x2 ) is understood to be extended in the
obvious way to V [[x0 , x1
0 ]]); the Virasoro algebra relations hold (acting on
V ):
[L(m), L(n)] = (m n)L(m + n) +
1
(m3 m)n+m,0 (rank V )1
12
(4.9)
for m, n Z, where
L(n) = n+1 for n Z, i.e., Y (, x) =
L(n)xn2
(4.10)
nZ
and
rank V C;
L(0)v = nv = (wt v)v for n Z and v V(n) ;
d
Y (v, x) = Y (L(1)v, x)
dx
(4.11)
(4.12)
(4.13)
h(n)xn1
(4.14)
nZ
introduced in [Bo], except that Borcherds used certain special cases of the
Jacobi identity instead of (4.8). The identity (4.8) is the canonical maximal
axiom: It contains the full necessary information in compact form; it is
analogous to the classical Jacobi identity in the definition of the notion of
Lie algebra; and it is invariant in a natural sense under the symmetric group
on three letters (see [FLM] and [FHL]).
There are also minimal axioms, stemming from the fact that the (suitably formulated) commutativity of the operators Y (u, x1 ) and Y (v, x2 )
implies associativity (again suitably formulated) and hence the Jacobi
identity (see [FLM] and [FHL]; cf. [BPZ] and [G]). The simplest minimal axiom, as found in [DL] (actually, in the greater generality of abelian
intertwining algebras) states that for u, v V , there exists n 0 such that
(x1 x2 )n [Y (u, x1 ), Y (v, x2 )] = 0
(4.15)
(4.16)
(4.17)
where the right-hand side and the generalized analytic continuation have to
be understood in suitable ways (again see [FLM] and [FHL] and cf. [BPZ]
and [G]); the right-hand side of (4.17) is not a well-defined formal series in
x1 and x2 .
On the level of these basic principles, for any vertex operator algebra V
we shall now conceptually formulate and considerably generalize the normalordering procedure (3.16) and we shall formulate a new general Jacobi identity which implies Theorem 3.1 in the very particular case of the vertex
operator algebra S and very special vertex operators. Ideas in Zhus work
[Z1], [Z2] enter into our considerations.
16
(4.18)
Now we observe that while the left-hand side of (4.18) is not a well-defined
formal series in the formal variables y and x2 , the right-hand side of (4.18) is
in fact a well-defined formal series in these formal variables. By replacing x1
by ey x2 we have made the right-hand side of (4.18) rigorous (and the left-hand
side unrigorous). This situation should be compared with our motivation for
introducing the normal-ordering procedure (3.16) above.
Next, instead of the vertex operators Y (v, x), we want the modified vertex
operators defined for homogeneous elements v V by:
X(v, x) = xwt v Y (v, x) = Y (xL(0) v, x),
(4.19)
(4.20)
and this right-hand side is still rigorous (and the left-hand side still unrigorous). But Y (eyL(0) u, ey 1) is exactly Zhus operator Y [u, y] in [Z1], [Z2], so
that
X(u, ey x2 )X(v, x2 ) X(Y [u, y]v, x2).
(4.21)
By Zhus change-of-variables theorem, x 7 Y [u, x] defines a new vertex
operator algebra structure on the same vector space V under suitable conditions; this theorem was a step in Zhus vertex-operator-algebraic proof of
the modular-invariance properties of characters (cf. the comments surrounding (2.19) above). There have been two subsequent treatments of this
change-of-variables theorem, in [L1] and in [H1], [H2]; in the latter works,
17
y21
x1
0 e
x1
y12 x2
X(u, x1)X(v, x2 ) x1
X(v, x2 )X(u, x1)
0 e
x0
x0
1
y01 x1
= x2 e
X(Y [u, y01 ]v, x2 ),
(4.22)
x2
where
y21
x1
x0
x2
, y12 = log 1
, y01 = log 1
.
= log 1
x1
x2
x1
(4.23)
If we want the commutator [X(u, x1), X(v, x2 )], we simply extract the
coefficient of x1
0 (the formal residue in the variable x0 ) on both sides, and it
18
turns out that the resulting right-hand side can be put into an elegant form.
If we replace u and v by expressions of the shape Y [u, y]v, we obtain naturally
a formula that generalizes formula (3.19) (Theorem 3.1) to arbitrary elements
of arbitrary vertex (operator) algebras. That is, interesting as they are, the
phenomena that we have been discussing concerning central extensions of
Lie algebras of differential operators form extremely special cases of general
vertex-operator-algebraic phenomena. The detailed formulations and proofs,
and generalizations, are found in [L2]. Also, my student Antun Milas has
generalized some of these results in a number of directions.
References
[BPZ]
A. A. Belavin, A. M. Polyakov and A. B. Zamolodchikov, Infinite conformal symmetries in two-dimensional quantum field theory, Nucl. Phys. B241 (1984), 333380.
[Bl]
[Bo]
[DKM]
[DL]
I. B. Frenkel, Y.-Z. Huang and J. Lepowsky, On axiomatic approaches to vertex operator algebras and modules, preprint, 1989;
Memoirs Amer. Math. Soc. 104, 1993.
19
[FLM]
I. B. Frenkel, J. Lepowsky and A. Meurman, Vertex Operator Algebras and the Monster, Pure and Appl. Math., Vol. 134, Academic
Press, Boston, 1988.
[G]
P. Goddard, Meromorphic conformal field theory, Infinite Dimensional Lie Algebras and Groups, Advanced Series in Math. Physics,
Vol. 7, ed. V. Kac, World Scientific, Singapore, 1989, 556587.
[Hi]
[H1]
[H2]
[KP]
V. Kac and D. Peterson, Spin and wedge representations of infinitedimensional Lie algebras and groups, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
78 (1981), 33083312.
[KR]
[L1]
J. Lepowsky, Remarks on vertex operator algebras and moonshine, Proc. 20th International Conference on Differential Geometric Methods in Theoretical Physics, New York, 1991, ed. S. Catto
and A. Rocha, World Scientific, Singapore, 1992, 362370.
[L2]
J. Lepowsky, A Jacobi identity for vertex operator algebras related to zeta-function values, to appear.
[Li1]
[Li2]
H. Li, Local systems of twisted vertex operators, vertex superalgebras and twisted modules, Contemporary Math. 193 (1996), 203
236.
[M]
[Z1]
[Z2]
Y. Zhu, Modular invariance of characters of vertex operator algebras, J. Amer. Math. Soc. 9 (1996), 237307.
21