Let O_25 be the vertex algebraic braided tensor category of finite-length modules for the Virasoro Lie algebra at central charge 25 whose composition factors are the irreducible quotients of reducible Verma modules. We show that O_25 is rigid and that its simple objects generate a semisimple tensor subcategory that is braided tensor equivalent to an abelian 3-cocycle twist of the category of finite-dimensional sl_2-modules. We also show that this sl_2-type subcategory is braid-reversed tensor equivalent to a similar category for the Virasoro algebra at central charge 1. As an application, we construct a simple conformal vertex algebra which contains the Virasoro vertex operator algebra of central charge 25 as a PSL_2(C)-orbifold. We also use our results to study Arakawa's chiral universal centralizer algebra of SL_2 at level -1, showing that it has a symmetric tensor category of representations equivalent to Rep PSL_2(C). This algebra is an extension of the tensor product of Virasoro vertex operator algebras of central charges 1 and 25, analogous to the modified regular representations of the Virasoro algebra constructed earlier for generic central charges by I. Frenkel-Styrkas and I. Frenkel-M. Zhu.

Let V⊆A be a conformal inclusion of vertex operator algebras and let C be a category of grading-restricted generalized V-modules that admits the vertex algebraic braided tensor category structure of Huang-Lepowsky-Zhang. We give conditions under which C inherits semisimplicity from the category of grading-restricted generalized A-modules in C, and vice versa. The most important condition is that A be a rigid V-module in C with non-zero categorical dimension, that is, we assume the index of V as a subalgebra of A is finite and non-zero. As a consequence, we show that if A is strongly rational, then V is also strongly rational under the following conditions: A contains V as a V-module direct summand, V is C_2-cofinite with a rigid tensor category of modules, and A has non-zero categorical dimension as a V-module. These results are vertex operator algebra interpretations of theorems proved for general commutative algebras in braided tensor categories. We also generalize these results to the case that A is a vertex operator superalgebra.

We relate commutative algebras in braided tensor categories to braid-reversed tensor equivalences, motivated by vertex algebra representation theory. First, for C a braided tensor category, we give a detailed construction of the canonical algebra in C⊠C^rev: if C is semisimple but not necessarily finite or rigid, then ⨁X∈Irr(C) X′⊠X is a commutative algebra, with X′ a representing object for Hom_C(∙⊗_C X,1_C). Conversely, let A=⨁i∈I U_i ⊠ V_i be a simple commutative algebra in U⊠V with U semisimple and rigid but not necessarily finite, and V rigid but not necessarily semisimple. If the unit objects of U and V form a commuting pair in A, we show there is a braid-reversed equivalence between subcategories of U and V sending U_i to (V_i)*. When U and V are module categories for simple vertex operator algebras U and V, we glue U and V along U⊠V via a map τ: Irr(U)→Obj(V) such that τ(U)=V to create A=⨁X∈Irr(U) X′⊗τ(X). Thus under certain conditions, τ extends to a braid-reversed equivalence between U and V if and only if A is a simple conformal vertex algebra extending U⊗V. As examples, we glue Kazhdan-Lusztig categories at generic levels to obtain new vertex algebras extending the tensor product of two affine vertex algebras, and we prove braid-reversed equivalences between certain module categories for affine vertex algebras and W-algebras at admissible levels.

A two-dimensional chiral conformal field theory can be viewed mathematically as the representation theory of its chiral algebra, a vertex operator algebra. Vertex operator algebras are especially well suited for studying logarithmic conformal field theory (in which correlation functions have logarithmic singularities arising from non-semisimple modules for the chiral algebra) because of the logarithmic tensor category theory of Huang, Lepowsky, and Zhang. In this paper, we study not-necessarily-semisimple or rigid braided tensor categories C of modules for the fixed-point vertex operator subalgebra V^G of a vertex operator (super)algebra V with finite automorphism group G. The main results are that every V^G-module in C with a unital and associative V-action is a direct sum of g-twisted V-modules for possibly several g∈G, that the category of all such twisted V-modules is a braided G-crossed (super)category, and that the G-equivariantization of this braided G-crossed (super)category is braided tensor equivalent to the original category C of V^G-modules. This generalizes results of Kirillov and Müger proved using rigidity and semisimplicity. We also apply the main results to the orbifold rationality problem: whether V^G is strongly rational if V is strongly rational. We show that V^G is indeed strongly rational if V is strongly rational, G is any finite automorphism group, and V^G is C_2-cofinite.

An important goal in studying the relations between unitary VOAs and conformal nets is to prove the equivalence of their ribbon categories. In this article, we prove this conjecture for many familiar examples. Our main idea is to construct new structures associated to conformal nets: the categorical extensions.