Beyond the Frenkel-Kac-Segal construction of affine Lie algebras

This contribution reviews recent progress in constructing affine Lie algebras at arbitrary level in terms of vertex operators. The string model describes a completely compactified subcritical chiral bosonic string whose momentum lattice is taken to be the (Lorentzian) affine weight lattice. The main feature of the new realization is the replacement of the ordinary string oscillators by physical DDF operators, whereas the unphysical position operators are substituted by certain linear combinations of the Lorentz generators. As a side result we obtain simple expressions for the affine Weyl translations as Lorentz boosts. Various applications of the construction are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, LaTeX209 with twoside, fleqn, amsmath, amsfonts, amssymb, amsthm style files; contribution to Proceedings of the 30th Int. Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles, Buckow, Germany, August 27-31, 199

Introduction to Vertex Algebras, Borcherds Algebras, and the Monster Lie Algebra

The theory of vertex algebras constitutes a mathematically rigorous axiomatic formulation of the algebraic origins of conformal field theory. In this context Borcherds algebras arise as certain ``physical'' subspaces of vertex algebras. The aim of this review is to give a pedagogical introduction into this rapidly-developing area of mathemat% ics. Based on the machinery of formal calculus we present the axiomatic definition of vertex algebras. We discuss the connection with conformal field theory by deriving important implications of these axioms. In particular, many explicit calculations are presented to stress the eminent role of the Jacobi identity axiom for vertex algebras. As a class of concrete examples the vertex algebras associated with even lattices are constructed and it is shown in detail how affine Lie algebras and the fake Monster Lie algebra naturally appear. This leads us to the abstract definition of Borcherds algebras as generalized Kac-Moody algebras and their basic properties. Finally, the results about the simplest generic Borcherds algebras are analysed from the point of view of symmetry in quantum theory and the construction of the Monster Lie algebra is sketched.Comment: 55 pages, (two minor changes thanks to comment by R. Borcherds

Ultra-Wide Swath SAR Imaging With Continuous PRF Variation

Innovative multi-channel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) concepts enable high-resolution wide-swath imaging, but the antenna length typically restricts the achievable swath width. This limitation can be overcome by a novel technique which is based on a single azimuth channel but operates the system with a continuously varied pulse repetition frequency (PRF) by this allowing in principle for arbitrary wide swaths. This paper introduces the basic principles and discusses design constraints for such a PRF variation. Further, a systematic performance analysis of an L-band reflector antenna system is carried out with focus on the sensitivity versus different input parameters

Anderson's orthogonality catastrophe

We give an upper bound on the modulus of the ground-state overlap of two non-interacting fermionic quantum systems with $N$ particles in a large but finite volume $L^d$ of $d$-dimensional Euclidean space. The underlying one-particle Hamiltonians of the two systems are standard Schr\"odinger operators that differ by a non-negative compactly supported scalar potential. In the thermodynamic limit, the bound exhibits an asymptotic power-law decay in the system size $L$, showing that the ground-state overlap vanishes for macroscopic systems. The decay exponent can be interpreted in terms of the total scattering cross section averaged over all incident directions. The result confirms and generalises P. W. Anderson's informal computation [Phys. Rev. Lett. 18, 1049--1051 (1967)].Comment: Version as publishe

Realization spaces of 4-polytopes are universal

Let $P\subset\R^d$ be a $d$-dimensional polytope. The {\em realization space} of~$P$ is the space of all polytopes $P'\subset\R^d$ that are combinatorially equivalent to~$P$, modulo affine transformations. We report on work by the first author, which shows that realization spaces of \mbox{4-dimensional} polytopes can be ``arbitrarily bad'': namely, for every primary semialgebraic set~$V$ defined over~$\Z$, there is a $4$-polytope $P(V)$ whose realization space is ``stably equivalent'' to~$V$. This implies that the realization space of a $4$-polytope can have the homotopy type of an arbitrary finite simplicial complex, and that all algebraic numbers are needed to realize all $4$- polytopes. The proof is constructive. These results sharply contrast the $3$-dimensional case, where realization spaces are contractible and all polytopes are realizable with integral coordinates (Steinitz's Theorem). No similar universality result was previously known in any fixed dimension.Comment: 10 page