The Physics Superselection Principle in Vertex Operator Algebra Theory Original Research Article

We formulate an interpretation of the theory of physics superselection sectors in terms of vertex operator algebra language and prove some initial results. As one of the main results we give a construction of simple currents from a weight-one primary semisimple element. By applying our results to vertex operator algebras associated to affine Lie algebras or to positive-definite even lattices, we construct their simple currents.