Classical conformal blocks, Coulomb gas integrals, and quantum integrable models

Abstract

In this paper, we recall Richardson's solution of the reduced BCS model, its relationship with the Gaudin model, and the known implementation of these models in conformal field theory. The CFT techniques applied here are based on the use of the free field realization, or more precisely, on the calculation of saddle-point values of Coulomb gas integrals representing certain (perturbed) WZW conformal blocks. We identify the saddle-point limit as the classical limit of conformal blocks. We show that this observation implies a new method for calculating classical conformal blocks and can be further used in the study of quantum integrable models.