By
Igor Frenkel, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
James Lepowsky, Rutgers University
Arne Meurman, University of Stockholm
Description
This work is motivated by and develops connections between several branches of mathematics and physics--the theories of Lie algebras,
finite groups and modular functions in mathematics, and string theory in physics. The first part of the book presents a new mathematical
theory of vertex operator algebras, the algebraic counterpart of two-dimensional holomorphic conformal quantum field theory. The remaining
part constructs the Monster finite simple group as the automorphism group of a very special vertex operator algebra, called the "moonshine
module" because of its relevance to "monstrous moonshine."
Included in series
Pure and Applied Mathematics
Audience:
Research mathematicians, mathematical physicists, and graduate students.
