Operator realization of the SU(2) WZNW model Original Research Article

Decoupling the chiral dynamics in the canonical approach to the WZNW model requires an extended phase space that includes left and right monodromy variables M and M. Earlier work on the subject, which traced back the quantum group symmetry of the model to the Lie-Poisson symmetry of the chiral symplectic form, left some open questions: • - How to reconcile the necessity to set MM−1 = 1 (in order to recover the monodromy invariance of the local 2D group valued field g = uu) with the fact the M and M obey different exchange relations? • - What is the status of the quantum symmetry in the 2D theory in which the chiral fields u(x−t) and u(x + t) commute? • - Is there a consistent operator formalism in the chiral (and the extended 2D) theory in the continuum limit? We propose a constructive affirmative answer to these questions for G = SU(2) by presenting the quantum fields u and u as sums of products of chiral vertex operators and q-Bose creation and annihilation operators