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Background

  1. Unitary modular categories (UMC) do not capture the central charge $c_{-}$ of the topological quantum field theory (TQFT). However, there is a relation that fixes, $c_{-}\bmod 8$: \begin{equation} \Theta = D^{-1}\sum_{a}d_{a}^{2}\exp(i 2 \pi s_a)\,=\, D^{-1}\sum_{a}d_{a}^{2}\theta_{a}\,=\, e^{2\pi ic_{-}/8}, \quad \tag{1} \end{equation} where $D = \sqrt{\textstyle\sum_{a}d_{a}^{2}}$, $d_{a}$ is the {quantum dimension} of the superselection sector $a$ (of some line operators of TQFT) and $s_a$ is the topological spin for spin statistics (or exchange statistics). Roughly, $\Theta=S^{-1}TSTST$, where $S$ is a so-called topological modular $S$-matrix and modular $T$-matrix is the diagonal matrix with entries $\theta_{a}$. The $\Theta$ is a root of unity, hence implies that $c_{-}$ is rational.

  2. However, the modular properties of theory seems not to be captured by $$ c_{-} =0 \mod 8 $$ but by $$ c_{-} =0 \mod 24. $$ (Correct me if I was mistaken.) So eq.(1) is not ideal to pin down all $c_{-} \mod 24$.

  3. There is another way to obtain $c_{-} \mod 24$, which is the transformation of the vacuum character under the Dehn twist: $$ \chi_{1}(w+1)\,=\,e^{-2\pi ic_{-}/24}\chi_{1}(w), \tag{2} $$ where $w$ is the modulus of the torus and the subscript $1$ refers to the vacuum sector.

Questions

1). What are the original literature obtaining the formulas of eqs.(1) and (2)?

I believe that it is summarized in reviews or textbooks like:

  • J. Fr ̈ohlich, F. Gabbiani, “Braid statistics in local quantum field theory”, Rev. Math. Phys. 2 no. 3, 251–353 (1990).

  • K.H.Rehren, “Braid group statistics and their superselection rules” in The algebraic theory of superselection sectors, D. Kastler (ed.) Proceedings Palermo 1989, pp. 333–355, World Scientific Publishing (1990).

  • P. Di Francesco, P. Mathieu, D. S ́en ́echal, “Conformal field theory”, Springer (1996).

But I am hoping to know the history and the original literatures.

2). What are some ideas behind to obtaining/deriving the formulas of eqs.(1) and (2)?

Like eq. (2), I know the Dehn twist, but how to prove the phase $e^{-2\pi ic_{-}/24}$.

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  • $\begingroup$ Is this the same factor of three that appears in comparing Thm 1 and Thm 4 in this paper? When you're talking about the TQFT here, exactly what additional structure beyond an orientation are you putting on your manifolds? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 22, 2020 at 22:09
  • $\begingroup$ I mean (2) essentially appears as (3.2) in Verlinde's article sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/… but probably appeared way earlier in conformal field theory high energy physics literature. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 15:24
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    $\begingroup$ I think Rehren once told me that the Palermo Proceedings was an outcome of him trying to understand Verlinde. You can see that he realizes that it does not depend on conformal field theory but is essentially a tensor categorical result (he uses the framework of sectors that's why it gets rarely cited, but every proof effortlessly translates to UMTCs) $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 30, 2020 at 15:35
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks What Refs for "Rehren once told me that the Palermo Proceedings "? $\endgroup$
    – wonderich
    Commented Dec 1, 2020 at 1:53

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