Logarithmic Conformal Field Theory - or - How to Compute a Torus Amplitude on the Sphere

Abstract

We review some aspects of logarithmic conformal field theories which might shed some light on the geometrical meaning of logarithmic operators. We consider an approach, put forward by V. Knizhnik, where computation of correlation functions on higher genus Riemann surfaces can be replaced by computations on the sphere under certain circumstances. We show that this proposal naturally leads to logarithmic conformal field theories, when the additional vertex operator insertions, which simulate the branch points of a ramified covering of the sphere, are viewed as dynamical objects in the theory. We study the Seiberg-Witten solution of supersymmetric low energy effective field theory as an example where physically interesting quantities, the periods of a meromorphic one-form, can effectively be computed within this conformal field theory setting. We comment on the relation between correlation functions computed on the plane, but with insertions of twist fields, and torus vacuum amplitudes.

LaTeX, 38 pp. 3 figures (provided as eps and as pdf). Contribution to the Ian Kogan Memorial Volume "From Fields to Strings: Circumnavigating Theoretical Physics"

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