The Conformal Characters Antoine Bourgeta and Jan Troostb aDepartment of Physics, Universidad de Oviedo, Calle Federico Garc´ıaLorca, 8, 33007 Oviedo, Spain bD´epartement de Physique, Ecole´ Normale Sup´erieure, CNRS, PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universit´es, Paris, France E-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected] Abstract: We revisit the study of the multiplets of the conformal algebra in any di- mension. The theory of highest weight representations is reviewed in the context of the Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand category of modules. The Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials code the relation between the Verma modules and the irreducible modules in the category and are the key to the characters of the conformal multiplets (whether finite dimensional, infi- nite dimensional, unitary or non-unitary). We discuss the representation theory and review in full generality which representations are unitarizable. The mathematical theory that al- lows for both the general treatment of characters and the full analysis of unitarity is made accessible. A good understanding of the mathematics of conformal multiplets renders the treatment of all highest weight representations in any dimension uniform, and provides an overarching comprehension of case-by-case results. Unitary highest weight representations and their characters are classified and computed in terms of data associated to cosets of the Weyl group of the conformal algebra. An executive summary is provided, as well as look-up tables up to and including rank four. arXiv:1712.05415v2 [hep-th]