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arXiv · hep-th/9312178

Alternative Canonical Formalism for the Wess-Zumino-Witten Model

S. G. Rajeev·G. Sparano·P. Vitale
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Abstract

We study a canonical quantization of the Wess--Zumino--Witten (WZW) model which depends on two integer parameters rather than one. The usual theory can be obtained as a contraction, in which our two parameters go to infinity keeping the difference fixed. The quantum theory is equivalent to a generalized Thirring model, with left and right handed fermions transforming under different representations of the symmetry group. We also point out that the classical WZW model with a compact target space has a canonical formalism in which the current algebra is an affine Lie algebra of non--compact type. Also, there are some non--unitary quantizations of the WZW model in which there is invariance only under half the conformal algebra (one copy of the Virasoro algebra).

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S. G. Rajeev, G. Sparano, P. Vitale. 1993-12-22. Alternative Canonical Formalism for the Wess-Zumino-Witten Model. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0217751x94002211

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