2003/08/31 by Daniel Roggenkamp, Katrin Wendland
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic structures and combinatorial models #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Homotopy and Cohomology in Algebraic Topology #hep-th #math-ph #math.MP
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00220-004-1131-6
published as Commun.Math.Phys. 251 (2004) 589-643 · 57 pages, no figures; minor clarifications and reference added; final version to appear in Commun. Math. Phys
arxiv created 2004/01/11 · openalex publication_date 2004/07/07 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In the present paper, degeneration phenomena in conformal field theories are studied. For this purpose, a notion of convergent sequences of CFTs is introduced. Properties of the resulting limit structure are used to associate geometric degenerations to degenerating sequences of CFTs, which, as familiar from large volume limits of non-linear sigma models, can be regarded as commutative degenerations of the corresponding ``quantum geometries''. As an application, the large level limit of the A-series of unitary Virasoro minimal models is investigated in detail. In particular, its geometric interpretation is determined.