Relaxed highest-weight modules II: classifications for affine vertex algebras

Abstract

This is the second of a series of articles devoted to the study of relaxed highest-weight modules over affine vertex algebras and W-algebras. The first studied the simple "rank-$1$" affine vertex superalgebras $L_k(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ and $L_k(\mathfrak{osp}(1\vert2))$, with the main results including the first complete proofs of certain conjectured character formulae (as well as some entirely new ones). Here, we turn to the question of classifying relaxed highest-weight modules for simple affine vertex algebras of arbitrary rank. The key point is that this can be reduced to the classification of highest-weight modules by generalising Olivier Mathieu's theory of coherent families. We formulate this algorithmically and illustrate its practical implementation with several detailed examples. We also show how to use coherent family technology to establish the non-semisimplicity of category $\mathscr{O}$ in one of these examples.