Modular invariance and the spectrum of two dimensional conformal field theories

Abstract

Modular invariance has recently emerged as a powerful tool in conformal field theory. In conjunction with the representation theory of infinite dimensional Lie algebras, the study of modular invariance gave the spectrum of several families of theories. These include the minimal conformal models (Cardy and others), WZW theories which describe string propagation on group manifolds (Gepner and Witten) and parafermionic field theories (Gepner and Qiu). The minimal conformal models models were shown to be a product of two SU(2) WZW theories (Gepner). These results represent a step towards a complete classification of conformal field theories, an important goal both for the study of critical phenomena and string theory.