Parafermions from coset models

Conformally invariant coset models in two dimensions can be described by the gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten lagrangian. We present a semi-classical treatment of these theories in a unitary gauge. In particular, we give an explicit construction of the conserved parafermion fields in the case of an abelian gauge group, and also show that the Poisson brackets between these field close in a simple fashion. We make use of these results to find a free field realization of this Poisson structure. (orig.)