From VOAs to short star products in SCFT

TL;DR

This paper establishes a mathematical connection between vertex operator algebras in 4d SCFTs and associative algebras in 3d SCFTs, revealing how algebraic structures evolve under dimensional reduction and providing a framework for star products.

Contribution

It introduces a novel construction of the 3d Higgs branch algebra from the VOA via a quotient of the Zhu algebra, with a trace map leading to a short star product.

Findings

Higgs branch operators are preserved in cohomology.

Non-Higgs Schur operators are lifted by line operators.

The 3d algebra is a quotient of the Zhu algebra with a twisted trace.

Abstract

We build a bridge between two algebraic structures in SCFT: a VOA in the Schur sector of 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ theories and an associative algebra in the Higgs sector of 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$. The natural setting is a 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFT placed on $S^3\times S^1$: by sending the radius of $S^1$ to zero, we recover the 3d $\mathcal{N}=4$ theory, and the corresponding VOA on the torus degenerates to the associative algebra on the circle. We prove that: 1) the Higgs branch operators remain in the cohomology; 2) all the Schur operators of the non-Higgs type are lifted by line operators wrapped on the $S^1$; 3) no new cohomology classes are added. We show that the algebra in 3d is given by the quotient $\mathcal{A}_H = {\rm Zhu}_{s}(V)/N$, where ${\rm Zhu}_{s}(V)$ is the non-commutative Zhu algebra of the VOA $V$ (for ${s}\in{\rm Aut}(V)$), and $N$ is a certain ideal. This ideal is the null space of the (${s}$-twisted) trace map $T_{s}: {\rm Zhu}_{s}(V) \to \mathbb{C}$ determined by the torus 1-point function in the high temperature (or small complex structure) limit. It therefore equips $\mathcal{A}_H$ with a non-degenerate (twisted) trace, leading to a short star-product according to the recent results of Etingof and Stryker. The map $T_{s}$ is easy to determine for unitary VOAs, but has a much subtler structure for non-unitary and non-$C_2$-cofinite VOAs of our interest. We comment on relation to the Beem-Rastelli conjecture on the Higgs branch and the associated variety. A companion paper will explore further details, examples, and some applications of these ideas.