Fusion, crossing and monodromy in conformal field theory based on SL (2) current algebra with fractional level Original Research Article

Based on our earlier work on free field realizations of conformal blocks for conformal field theories with SL(2) current algebra and with fractional level and spins, we discuss in some detail the fusion rules which arise. By a careful analysis of the 4-point functions, we find that both the fusion rules previously found in the literature are realized in our formulation. Since this is somewhat contrary to our expectations in our first work based on 3-point functions, we reanalyse the 3-point functions and come to the same conclusion. We compare our results on 4-point conformal blocks in particular with a different realization of these found by O. Andreev, and we argue for the equivalence. We describe in detail how integration contours have to be chosen to obtain convenient bases for conformal blocks, both in his and in our own formulation. We then carry out the rather lengthy calculation to obtain the crossing matrix between s- and t-channel blocks, and we use that to determine the monodromy invariant 4-point Green functions. We use the monodromy coefficients to obtain the operator algebra coefficients for theories based on admissible representations.