Orbifolds and cosets of minimal $\mathcal{W}$-algebras

Abstract

Let $\mathfrak{g}$ be a simple, finite-dimensional Lie (super)algebra equipped with an embedding of $\mathfrak{s} \mathfrak{l}_2$ inducing the minimal gradation on $\mathfrak{g}$. The corresponding minimal $\mathcal{W}$-algebra $\mathcal{W}^k(\mathfrak{g}, e_{-\theta})$ introduced by Kac and Wakimoto has strong generators in weights $1,2,3/2$, and all operator product expansions are known explicitly. The weight one subspace generates an affine vertex (super)algebra $V^{k'}(\mathfrak{g}^{\natural})$ where $\mathfrak{g}^{\natural} \subset \mathfrak{g}$ denotes the centralizer of $\mathfrak{s} \mathfrak{l}_2$. Therefore $\mathcal{W}^k(\mathfrak{g}, e_{-\theta})$ has an action of a connected Lie group $G^{\natural}_0$ with Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}^{\natural}_0$, where $\mathfrak{g}^{\natural}_0$ denotes the even part of $\mathfrak{g}^{\natural}$. We show that for any reductive subgroup $G \subset G^{\natural}_0$, and for any reductive Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}' \subset \mathfrak{g}^{\natural}$, the orbifold $\mathcal{O}^k = \mathcal{W}^k(\mathfrak{g}, e_{-\theta})^{G}$ and the coset $\mathcal{C}^k = \text{Com}(V(\mathfrak{g}'),\mathcal{W}^k(\mathfrak{g}, e_{-\theta}))$ are strongly finitely generated for generic values of $k$. Here $V(\mathfrak{g}')$ denotes the affine vertex algebra associated to $\mathfrak{g}'$. We find explicit minimal strong generating sets for $\mathcal{C}^k$ when $\mathfrak{g}' = \mathfrak{g}^{\natural}$ and $\mathfrak{g}$ is either $\mathfrak{s} \mathfrak{l}_n$, $\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{p}_{2n}$, $\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}(2|n)$ for $n\neq 2$, $\mathfrak{p}\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}(2|2)$, or $\mathfrak{o}\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{p}(1|4)$. Finally, we conjecture some surprising coincidences among families of cosets $\mathcal{C}_k$ which are the simple quotients of $\mathcal{C}^k$, and we prove several cases of our conjecture.