In mathematics, a Verlinde algebra is a finite-dimensional associative algebra introduced by Erik Verlinde (1988), with a basis of elements φλ corresponding to primary fields of a rational two-dimensional conformal field theory, whose structure constants Nνλμ describe fusion of primary fields.
In terms of the modular S-matrix, the fusion coefficients are given by[1] where
∗
is the component-wise complex conjugate of
If G is a compact Lie group, there is a rational conformal field theory whose primary fields correspond to the representations λ of some fixed level of loop group of G. For this special case Freed, Hopkins & Teleman (2001) showed that the Verlinde algebra can be identified with twisted equivariant K-theory of G.