English

Generalized finite and affine $W$-algebras in type $A$

Mathematical Physics 2026-02-23 v2 math.MP Representation Theory

Abstract

We construct a new family of affine WW-algebras Wk(λ,μ)W^k(\lambda,\mu) parameterized by partitions λ\lambda and μ\mu associated with the centralizers of nilpotent elements in glN\mathfrak{gl}_N. The new family unifies a few known classes of WW-algebras. In particular, for the column-partition λ\lambda we recover the affine WW-algebras Wk(glN,f)W^k(\mathfrak{gl}_N,f) of Kac, Roan and Wakimoto, associated with nilpotent elements fglNf\in\mathfrak{gl}_N of type μ\mu. Our construction is based on a version of the BRST complex of the quantum Drinfeld-Sokolov reduction. We show that the application of the Zhu functor to the vertex algebras Wk(λ,μ)W^k(\lambda,\mu) yields a family of generalized finite WW-algebras U(λ,μ)U(\lambda,\mu) which we also describe independently as associative algebras.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.00271,
  title  = {Generalized finite and affine $W$-algebras in type $A$},
  author = {Dong Jun Choi and Alexander Molev and Uhi Rinn Suh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.00271},
  year   = {2026}
}

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31 pages