Boundary minimal models and the Rogers-Ramanujan identities

Abstract

We determine when the irreducible modules $L(c_{p, q}, h_{m, n})$ over the simple Virasoro vertex algebras $\operatorname{Vir}_{p, q}$, where $p, q \ge 2$ are relatively prime with $0 < m < p$ and $0 < n < q$, are classically free. It turns out that this only happens with the boundary minimal models, i.e., with the irreducible modules over $\operatorname{Vir}_{2, 2s + 1}$ for $s \in \mathbb{Z}_+$. We thus obtain a complete description of the classical limits of these modules in terms of the jet algebra of the corresponding Zhu $C_2$-algebra. The Andrews-Gordon generalization of the Rogers-Ramanujan identities is used in the proof, and our results in turn provide a natural interpretation of these identities.