Published May 30, 1988 | Version v1
Journal article

Conformal invariance, the KdV equation and coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro algebra

Creators

  • 1. Texas Univ., Austin (USA). Center for Relativity

Description

We use the transformation properties of the energy-momentum tensor of 2-dimensional conformal field theories to study the symplectic geometry of Diff S1/S1 together with the other coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro algebra in the space of quadratic differentials. Also, we examine orbits of the N=1 and N=2 super-Virasoro algebras and investigate the connections with nonlinear differential equations of KdV type. The importance that the dual of the Virasoro algebra may have in the geometric formulation of string theory is discussed as well. (orig.)

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Nucl. Phys. B, Part. Phys.
Journal Volume
302
Journal Issue
2
Series
Nucl. Phys. B, Part. Phys.
Journal Page Range
189-203
ISSN
0550-3213
CODEN
NUPBB

Optional Information

Contract/Grant/Project number
Grant PHY-84-04931; DE-FG05-80ET53088