Cosets of Bershadsky-Polyakov algebras and rational $\mathcal{W}$-algebras of type $A$

TL;DR

This paper proves that certain rational $ ext{W}$-algebras contain lattice vertex algebras and their cosets are isomorphic to principal rational $ ext{W}$-algebras, confirming a long-standing physics conjecture and constructing new superalgebras.

Contribution

It establishes the structure of cosets of Bershadsky-Polyakov algebras as rational $ ext{W}$-algebras and constructs new rational vertex superalgebras.

Findings

$ ext{W}_{ ext{ell}}$ contains a rank one lattice vertex algebra.

The coset $ ext{Com}(V_L, ext{W}_{ ext{ell}})$ is isomorphic to a principal rational $ ext{W}$-algebra.

Confirmed a 20-year-old physics conjecture about the structure of these algebras.

Abstract

The Bershadsky-Polyakov algebra is the $\mathcal{W}$-algebra associated to $\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}_3$ with its minimal nilpotent element $f_{\theta}$. For notational convenience we define $\mathcal{W}^{\ell} = \mathcal{W}^{\ell - 3/2} (\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}_3, f_{\theta})$. The simple quotient of $\mathcal{W}^{\ell}$ is denoted by $\mathcal{W}_{\ell}$, and for $\ell$ a positive integer, $\mathcal{W}_{\ell}$ is known to be $C_2$-cofinite and rational. We prove that for all positive integers $\ell$, $\mathcal{W}_{\ell}$ contains a rank one lattice vertex algebra $V_L$, and that the coset $\mathcal{C}_{\ell} = \text{Com}(V_L, \mathcal{W}_{\ell})$ is isomorphic to the principal, rational $\mathcal{W}(\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}_{2\ell})$-algebra at level $(2\ell +3)/(2\ell +1) -2\ell$. This was conjectured in the physics literature over 20 years ago. As a byproduct, we construct a new family of rational, $C_2$-cofinite vertex superalgebras from $\mathcal{W}_{\ell}$