Conformal deformation by the currents of affine g

We develop a quasi-systematic approach to continuous parameters in conformal and superconformal field theory. The formulation unifies continuous twists, ghosts, and mechanisms of spontaneous breakdown in a general hierarchy of conformal deformations about a given theory by its own currents. Highlights include continuously twisted Sugawara and coset constructions, generalized ghosts, classes of N = 1 and 2 superconformal field theories with continuous central charge, vertex-operators for arbitrarily deformed lattices, operator-valued conformal weights and/or central charages, and generalizations of continuous SO(p,q) families of conformal field theories. copyright 1988 Academic Press, Inc