A Mathematical Introduction to Conformal Field Theory

Mathematical Preliminaries.- Conformal Transformations and Conformal Killing Fields.- The Conformal Group.- Central Extensions of Groups.- Central Extensions of Lie Algebras and Bargmann's Theorem.- The Virasoro Algebra.- First Steps Toward Conformal Field Theory.- Representation Theory of the Virasoro Algebra.- String Theory as a Conformal Field Theory.- Axioms of Relativistic Quantum Field Theory.- Foundations of Two-Dimensional Conformal Quantum Field Theory.- Vertex Algebras.- Mathematical Aspects of the Verlinde Formula.- Appendix A.