most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-26T06:57:23Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/user/12666 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/53988/what-is-the-motivation-for-a-vertex-algebra/53991#53991 J Bass 2011-02-01T15:18:34Z 2011-02-01T15:18:34Z

<p>This may hold you off until a REAL answer comes along. I found something resembling intuition on this subject when I first studied Quantum Field Theory. I'd recommend looking there before trying to tackle the many-headed beast that is conformal field theory. Many (but not all) of the VOA axioms can be seen in the properties of a QFT. As far as a "mathematician-friendly" place to learn about QFT goes I remember liking the book by Ryder. </p>