Citation: Verlinde, Erik. "Fusion rules and modular transformations in 2D conformal field theory." Nuclear Physics B 300 (1988): 360-376.
Web: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0550321388906037
Tags: Physical, Foundational, Conformal-field-theory
This paper proves the so-called "Verlinde formula" for conformal field theory. This formula is an important foundational result, which has since been generalized and extended to a large number of related areas. In particular, it applies to modular tensor categories.
The Verline formula for modular tensor categories goes back to the definition of modular tensor categories. Immediately after first defining them in
> Moore, Gregory, and Nathan Seiberg. "Lectures on RCFT." Physics, geometry and topology. Boston, MA: Springer US, 1990. 263-361.
Moore and Seiberg assert that, quote, "the above axioms are sufficient for establishing the relation Sa=bS". This formula is proved earlier in the book (as an exercise to the reader) in the language of fusion algebras, and they make no care to repeat the proof for MTCs. Every in-depth treatment of MTCs since has included a proof of the formula.