Higher Virasoro Algebras

Seminar: 
Geometry, Symmetry and Physics
Event time: 
Friday, April 26, 2024 - 2:30pm
Location: 
KT217
Speaker: 
Brian Williams
Speaker affiliation: 
Boston University
Event description: 

I will propose two classes of algebras which are generalizations/enhancements of the Virasoro algebra in conformal field theory. The first class of examples exists in any dimension, and like the Virasoro Lie algebra, are built from central extensions of vector fields. The second example exists only in dimension three and appears as an enhancement of conformal symmetry in the famous AGT correspondence.